Author photo ©2006 Mike Starling
Glad to see Milwaukee poet
Jeff Winke is getting lots of accolades for his new book of haibun called
I'll Tell You So. I think
Norb Blei, the famed Door County writer who recruited Jeff's latest literary gems for his
Cross+Roads Press, summed it up best when he said "the man is a master." To me, Winke has always been a true writer's writer, in the purest sense of the word.Before reading early samples of these poetic prose pieces, I had no idea what
haibun was, but as soon as I saw the sample below, I was hooked, at least on Jeff's finely-honed version of the form:
Certain parts of the city are becoming trendy now. Buildings built for heavy loads, soapy wash downs and real work are now cleaned up, burnished, and sealed with polyurethane. Beautiful people with soft hands and ocean-breeze-deodorized bodies now eat, drink, and dance where machines ground, churned, and spat out gears, fittings and couplings. Strong workers not afraid to sweat gave the space its patina where flavored martinis are now sipped.neon litthe faint odor of dieseldrifts pastJeff will be signing copies of his book tonight at
VP Photo Gallery in the P.H. Dye Building during Milwaukee's Spring 2010
Gallery Night festivities. A portion of the profits will go to the
Coalition of Photographic Arts, a Milwaukee-based nonprofit whose annual members exhibition will be on display of the 4th floor of the building, showcasing recent work by some of the area's best fine art photographers.
Read a review of the book by the Outlaw Poetry Network
