[R. S. Gwynn]

http://www.amazon.com/Shut-Up-Youre-...0832169&sr=8-1

Ohio State University teacher and poet Andrew Hudgins has been regaling (e-galing?) friends with hilarious poems for years and now he's worked up the gumption to have those funny poems anthologized by the Overlook Press in Shut Up, You're Fine! Poems for Very, Very Bad Children, due out in March.

The collection is illustrated by the inimitable Barry Moser (best known for his brilliant work illustrating Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass).

The poems in Shut Up, You're Fine! are mostly narrated by troubled and/or trouble-making teens, who see their parents as oppressors just as often as they see them as providers (of wisdom, of care, of food). If you thought men were from Mars and women from Venus, in Hudgins' universe the true alien relationship is that of kid to mother and father.

That the poems are snort out loud and choke on your coffee funny may be a subjective call on my part, but in a world over-crowded with navel-gazing poets who smell too much of the lamp, it's refreshing to come upon poems that are risible and yet fathoms deep.

But don't take my word on it. Here's a sample poem, a little something called Dead Things I Have Seen:

I’ve seen a thousand possum skins
pancaked on the road,
a hundred armadillo humps,
and flat squirrels by the load.

But I don’t think it’s fair to count
meat once it’s in the kitchen,
though if it’s in the slaughterhouse
you can count pork or chicken.

I don’t count Daddy’s big-mouth bass
that’s hanging on the wall
or Uncle Bill’s stuffed threadbare moose
bought at the antique mall.

The deer Mom clobbered with the car –
that counts, and counts big time,
because I saw its tongue stick out,
and its nose drip yellow slime.

I count my sister’s parakeet, which chirped
a frightened chirp and died,
increasing scientific knowledge
that afternoon I tried

to see how far his head would turn
before he crossed the bar.
Three hundred and fifty-two degrees,
Is one degree too far.

But I don’t count Aunt Mary Jean,
since lying cold and coffined,
she looked less mean and more alive
and her frown had slightly softened.

[Jim Hayes]

Andrew Hudgins is truly one of the funniest poets alive.

Thanks for this Sam. I'll have to get a copy.

[R. S. Gwynn]

Jim, you were the first potential buyer to leap to my mind.

[Terese Coe]

Yes, Hudgins is multi-talented! Funny stuff.

[FOsen]

One of my better acquisitions from West Chester last year was a copy of [i]Babylon In a Jar. I recommend it to all.

Frank

[Susan McLean]

I've been a fan of Hudgins for many years now. He can be quite funny even in his more serious work, and this book is one I am eagerly looking forward to. I'd say my favorite of his books so far was The Glass Hammer, but I have read all of his books of poetry and a large number of his essays, which also have a humorous take on some rather serious subjects.

Susan