A Dozen Lemons In Autotropolis

By John Michael Flynn

This poetry collection brings to mind Nathanael West's novella Day of the Locust. It examines the sun-baked denizens of Hollywood with all their posturing, their sound and fury--all amounting to nothing. This is a world of sad ciphers; ready to make a deal, do lunch, and who never really connect to anything remotely human. Flynn writes with humor, irony and empathy about this strange milieu.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Michael Flynn
• Release date: Nov 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310030949

John Michael Flynn

John Michael Flynn was the 2017 Writer in Residence at Carl Sandburg’s home, Connemara, in North Carolina. In 2015 he completed a one-year English Language Fellowship through the US State Department in Khabarovsk, Russia. Poetry collections include Restless Vanishings, and Keepers Meet Questing Eyes from Leaf Garden Press. (www.leafgarden.blogspot.com), and Blackbird Once Wild Now Tame translated from the Romanian of Nicolae Dabija. He’s published three collections of short stories, his most recent Vintage Vinyl Playlist from Fomite Books (www.fomitepress.com). Fomite has also published his second collection, Off To The Next Wherever. His collection of essays, How The Quiet Breathes, was published in 2021 by New Meridian Arts.( https://www.newmeridianarts.com). He’s earned awards from the New England Poetry Club, and the U.S. Peace Corps. Visit him at https://jmfbr1.blogspot.com/His books can be found from these publisher websiteshttp://leafgardenpress.blogspot.com/https://publerati.com/https://www.fomitepress.com/https://www.newmeridianarts.com/https://jmfbr1.blogspot.com/https://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Michael-Flynn/e/B0C6V89VVVHere is a sample of some comments from readers:“John Michael Flynn’s language dazzles to a very real end: the exploration and delineation of the free-floating breakdown known as ‘America.’ The range of tones and locales he uses is impressive but more impressive is the feeling invested in what almost inevitably slips through time’s fingers. Anyone wondering where the Whitmanesque impulse has gone need look no further.”—Baron Wormser, former poet laureate, state of MaineFlynn’s prose at every turn is crisp and evocative; he has a gift for description of cities, landscapes and characters – the latter seem so real one could almost touch them. I have for years enjoyed his short stories, poems and translations, and I’m delighted he has brought his considerable powers to a wonderfully vivid collection that crackles with energy and insight.-- Geoffrey Clark, author of Wedding In OctoberThere’s something dazzling about how Flynn evokes beauty and isolation, tragedy and triumph, in language that sings and begs us to sing along, too.-- Alyson Hagy, author of BoletoThe work is concrete, seductive, and dramatic in its intensity – drawing the reader in.-- Jack Smith, author of IconFlynn is an author who pays attention to the details. Vivid and engaging, it’s a pleasure to add Off To The Next Wherever to my shelf.-- Kristen-Paige Madonia, author of Fingerprints of You

Book preview

A Dozen Lemons in Autotropolis

John Michael Flynn

Copyright 2005 John Flynn

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved.

To copy any of these poems individually, permission must first be obtained from the author in writing.

Contents

Electro Theatre

Three Portraits From The Elevator

At The Getty Museum

The Tragic Tale Of The Los Feliz Comet

Four Ways To Convince

An Agent A Glib Galoot Like Yourself

Is The Next Big Bang

Cross-Dresser In The Out Of The Closet

Thrift Shop On Vine

Fear Of Clowns

North Of Santa Ray Ban

Over Thirty On Melrose

And You’re Over The Hill

Palisades Cell-Phone Sonnet

A Dozen Lemons In Autotropolis

Electro Theatre

That retro futurist wearing a monocle in the third row

craves second order recycling for Navy ships.

The diva seated next to him yearns for a moral revival

and microtrends that will ease anxieties over dehumanization.

Techno. The new pretentiousness. So slyly aloof, we are.

So afraid. Plasticene irony dot com.

I caught it