{"product_id":"strongman-contest-paperback","title":"Strongman Contest - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eSteven M. Smith\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt has been said we spend all our lives recovering from childhood. Moment by accessible moment, the reader is challenged to reconcile their own growing pains. These poems shine a light on disenfranchised and desperate parents, the ghost of nonage, and layers of one family's coming apart. Mostly, there is no judgement. If it's possible to stop \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003ethe sins of the father, \u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e Smith has done so by becoming a parent with understanding and remembrance. He works to make it right. In \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eStrongman Contest\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e we read what human beings rarely have the audacity to say, let alone leave a trail of poems that ache with truth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Stellasue Lee, author of \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eQueen of Jacks\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSteven M. Smith's \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eStrongman Contest\u003c\/i\u003e is a book of fathers and sons, of mothers and wives, of Limburger and onion on paper plates, of violence and redemption. Prepare yourself for an electrifying journey as the speaker navigates his father's rage, risky teenage games, lakes of beer and thunderclouds of cigarette smoke, and his own marriage and parenthood making a home amidst \"sugar maples and kneeling weeds.\" Stand by him as he flinches beside his father who's just shotgunned the family photo album to bits, as he waits with his rake \"to gather up the\u003cbr\u003eleaves, \/ the dead pictures, [his] father's empty shell.\" Recognize the boy in the man as his imagination continues to transform the details of his life into clarity, into magic, as he resists turning into his father, as he bequeaths tenderness upon his own son, as he transmutes life's \"barking \/ Doberman into a white dove.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Christopher Citro, author of \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eIf We Had a Lemon We'd Throw It and Call That the Sun\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFamily tensions and the enduring poignancy of those relationships are evoked in \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eStrongman Contest.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e A boy's complicated love for his father is central; that love is tinged with confusion, competition, and even fear. Steven M. Smith's imagery stands out when the boy goes bowling with his dad, catches him with other women, finds him drunk yet again, or is belted by him. The odds might seem stacked against these fallible humans, but what ultimately resonates is empathy and resilience as one generation burdens and enlightens the next.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Donna Steiner, author of \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eLost and Found in Ocean County, New Jersey\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eElements\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 92\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.22 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 13, 2021\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302261444805,"sku":"9781639800445","price":33.68,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0757\/6718\/5605\/files\/KtT351d9kR9781639800445.webp?v=1780434130","url":"https:\/\/selloorium.com\/products\/strongman-contest-paperback","provider":"Selloorium","version":"1.0","type":"link"}