{"id":83,"date":"2019-12-15T15:01:18","date_gmt":"2019-12-15T15:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonnmore.net\/sleet\/?page_id=83"},"modified":"2019-12-21T16:10:05","modified_gmt":"2019-12-21T16:10:05","slug":"cailler-v11n2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sleetmagazine.com\/archives\/v11_2\/home\/issue\/cailler-v11n2\/","title":{"rendered":"Mathieu Cailler"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\nBooks,\nBlurbs, and Curbing Boredom<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

\nBooks\nand blurbs are as much a part of each other as Wolf Blitzer and the\nwords \u201cBreaking News.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAt\nlibraries and stores, patrons scan titles, leaf through pages, and\nflip to the back cover to take in authors\u2019 opinions: \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u201cPage\nafter page, I found myself hankering for more. Another triumph!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u201cThis\nnarrative pushes forwards, leaving a reader\u2019s heart simultaneously\nsplintered and swollen\u2026\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u201cThe\npoems in this collection bubble with real life and pathos. One to be\ntreasured. Or gifted. Or re-gifted.\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWell,\nmaybe not that last one. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAt\nleast the literary arts uses quotes that are informative. A reader\ncan make up his or her mind based on a few testimonials from writers\nthat he or she may know and respect. It\u2019s not the movies. Last\nyear, a blockbuster was labeled as a \u201cWizbang delight!\u201d Wizbang<\/em>?\nDo we need more wizbang <\/em>in our lives? Shouldn\u2019t our\nphysicians be contacted first? \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe\nquestion is whether these blurbs are doing anything in the first\nplace. Everything and everyone has its adherents. Mein Kampf<\/em>\nwas probably sent out to reviewers, accompanied by a threatening\npress release. But wouldn\u2019t it be something if from now on ordinary\nfolks got the chance to voice their opinions? Tell us what they\nthought of a literary work? Wouldn\u2019t it even be more helpful?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n \u201cHadn\u2019t\nread Charlotte\u2019s Web <\/em>since I was a kid, so I didn\u2019t\nremember much. How \u2018bout a warning label? Hell, even charcoal\nbriquettes tell you not to light them indoors. After we finished the\nbook, my son threw out all the meat in the house. That mortadella was\n14.99 a pound! Better hope I don\u2019t run into you, E.B White.\u201d\n\u2013Carl, Construction Worker, Poughkeepsie<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u201cThe\ntitle Little Women <\/em>left me befuddled. The women weren\u2019t\nlittle at all. They were normal, human-sized. The only thing that was\nlittle was the type. I had to sit in the kitchen, near the fridge,\nwhere the lighting is the best in the house.\u201d \u2013Horace,\nGrandfather of Five, Akron<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u201cFifty\nShades of Grey<\/em>\u2026 soooo not a coloring book.\u201d \u2013Betty,\nSubstitute Art Teacher, Houston<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nOr\nbetter yet, movies and books could go the route of Taco Bell, when\nthe company hired real-life Ronald McDonalds to endorse their\nbreakfast items. Imagine the possibilities, using living people with\nfamous authors\u2019 names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u201cThis\nNotebook <\/em>thingwas pretty sad and good. My girlfriend\nliked it a ton. She cried for like, three days. I didn\u2019t tell her\nthat I thought it was going to be about an actual<\/em> notebook. I\nthink I\u2019m so used to these Pixar movies now\u2026 the way they always\nbring ordinary things to life and give them feelings. Thought this\nmight be a story about notebooks and pens and index cards that come\nalive in an office-supply store. Who knows? Not a bad idea, right?\u201d\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u2013Vick\nHugo, Butcher at Meat My Cleaver<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u201cThe\nnew Harry Potter book was fun. I\u2019m glad we got another one. I\nwonder how many more there will be. If you see my dad tell him I\u2019m\nhappy he bought me the book, but what I really wanted was a pony.\nTell him to talk to mom. She knows the one. Her name is Petunia.\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u2013Emily\nDickinson, Third Grader at Lincoln Elementary<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u201cHey,\nif my daughter wants to look for Waldo all afternoon, that\u2019s fine\nby me. I mean, I think if a man wants to hide that bad, maybe we\nshould just leave him alone. Who knows what he\u2019s done? Plus, my\nfather told me never to trust a man who wears a beanie with a\npom-pom.\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u2013Toni\nMorrison, Hairdresser at Curl Up and Dye<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nA\nquick Google search pinpointed about thirty Ernest Hemingways (a few\nErnies, too), near twenty Robert Frosts (some who prefer \u201cBobby\u201d),\na dozen or so Langston Hughes (one who works as a basketball\ncoach\u2014imagine the halftime speeches), and even a Stephen King who\nworks as a dentist\u2026 fillings anyone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mathieu Cailler is an award-winning author whose poetry and prose have been widely featured in over seventy national and international publications, including the Los Angeles Times <\/em>and The Saturday Evening Post<\/em>. A graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts, he is the winner of a Short Story America Prize and a Shakespeare Award. He is the author of the short-story collection, Loss Angeles<\/em> (Short Story America Press), which has been honored by the Hollywood, New York, London, Paris, Best Book, and International Book Awards; the poetry collection, May I Have This Dance? <\/em>(About Editions), winner of the 2017 New England Book Festival Poetry Prize; and the children\u2019s book, The (Underappreciated) Life of Humphrey Hawley<\/em> (About Editions), which has been nominated for the Caldecott Medal and the Newbery Award, among other notable prizes. He has two books forthcoming in 2020: a children\u2019s picture book titled Hi, I\u2019m Night<\/em> (Olympia) and a poetry collection, Catacombs of the Heart<\/em> (Spartan Press). For more information, please visit mathieucailler.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Books, Blurbs, and Curbing Boredom Books and blurbs are as much a part of each other as Wolf Blitzer and the words \u201cBreaking News.\u201d At libraries and stores, patrons scan titles, leaf through pages, and flip to the back cover to take in authors\u2019 opinions: \u201cPage after page, I found myself hankering for more. Another … <\/p>\n

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