It Wasn't Supposed to Be Like This: Poems

by Greg Masters

In this new book of poems, his ninth from Crony Books, Masters cuts through the lies perpetrated as the American Dream pitched to us like soap detergent over the past 50 years. The title poem is an attempt at a sort of "Howl 2". Written in a wayward trochaic octameter (eight beats a line) it is a grand kvetch to pierce veneer, call out government miscreants and establish truths attesting to perspectives chronically pushed to the margins and excluded from corporate boardrooms and TV fantasies. The bulk of the book is taken up by "My East Village," another epic poem (in trochaic octameter) that chronicles the downtown neighborhood Masters has lived in for the past 45 years, celebrating its cultural riches while bemoaning its blandification.

111 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 16, 2020

Reviews

[Mike DeCapite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each of these poems is so transparent that, as with experience, you don't see the poetry in it until it's over. Their motive is simple, their trick is profound: to remind you that you're here.

[Greg Masters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy receiving positive responses from readers, particularly when it's from someone whose work I so admire, as Michael DeCapite's.

[Clarissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of poems that takes you by the hand and leads you on a glorious journey through select moments of the poet's life. It is very compelling and warm and evokes a true sense of literary and artistic support.