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In this collection of poems about temporary jobs, weak bosses, poor pay, and false choices, Jason Baldinger shows himself as a skilled poet of collapsible dreams. He is the ghost brother of David Lerner, another poet of bad luck litanies and fall down finesse. Baldinger offers his Pittsburgh heart, his verbal artistry, and his expansive presence. He offers characters who stubbornly keep driving even when there is no road ahead.
-Mike James, author of Jumping Drawbridges in Technicolor
Jason Baldinger’s poetry is an artifact of a life richly lived with a keen awareness of the intersection of history, individual dreams, and an American realism of a country finally willing to assess itself seriously. Baldinger’s America is one built on the backs of the labor of others, one where the payments only cover the interest and never touch the principal, and one where the class struggles of our grandparents are eternally present if you know where to look. The book you are holding in your hands is a new vision of Kerouac’s dream of the recording angel.
-Matt Ussia, author of The Red Glass Cat
In A History of Backroads Misplaced Jason Baldinger demonstrates his limitless wonder and unyielding weariness with our world almost immediately and the further you travel with him through these selected poems, the more you see how he intricately crosshatches the valleyed expanse between rugged and tender, how he reveals the vulnerable crick in his neck, how he fans out every shade of grey like a riverboat gambler throwing down a full house to the dismay of the rubes sitting at the table with him.
-Steve Brightman, author of The Circus of his Bones
In this gritty, neo-beat-spiritual collection, the poet is searching and scavenging for answers-is heaven really on the other side of the bar, is God’s image found in the toilet water vomit reflection, how many hymns does it take? Whatever the answer, listen to the big voice (that resembles your mother’s) behind these poems: go home, clean yourself up, and saunter along again under the big blue sky tomorrow.
-Linzi Garcia, author of Thank You
In a history of backroads misplaced Jason Baldinger takes us on journeys along the backroads and highways ofAmerica, as well as deep within his hometown of Pittsburgh. Spending time in neighborhood bars, diners, and shit jobs, Baldinger doesn’t just pass through a place, he inhabits it in a way few travelers do with language both precise andrelaxed. It is a gift he shares with us in this generous volume.
-M. J. Arcangelini, author of A Quiet Ghost
