We Needed a Night Out

by Timothy Gager

Working class in perspective, the poet Timothy Gager does not linger endless in bars because there are other events of import, like a child s birthday, divorce, and the contemplation of life. Sensitive and pondering the poet deals with these instances. And they are poems. Still, it is the grail of love that this poet wants. And his seeking touches our endless thirsting hunt. Michael Basinski s The Hold Book Reviews His work is super-realistic, I hate to say the Beat-Buk school, but, in general, that's where he's coming from. At the same time, though, there is a touch of lyricism in his work that hearkens back to romantic classics. All these little glimpses of Beauty in the midst of the sordid, heavy "Love/will walk/into this bar/(and it will)/maybe/a funny drunk gal....her hip bone/against my stomach/her face suddenly/exquisite, sensual/until she leaves.../she is/ IT HER SOMETHING ELSE/all rolled/into/one. /She is/about/thirty minutes/of hope caught/within the/blink of my eye." ("The Same Corner of the Bar"). Hugh Fox Plainspoken, often ribald, but always committed to the keen felt-life observation, the poems Tim Gager writes are poems about the way you live your life, which also happens to be his, and everyone's. Rusty Barnes, Night Train Magazine Selected poetry of Timothy Gager -- We pretty much hate poetry. We don't understand it. But we like Timothy Gager because Gager busts his balls to help writers in the New York/New England area -- including our own Will Leitch, who reads with Tom Perrotta and Jennifer Haigh at Gager's DireReader series on August 6th. So if any of you like poetry, we recommend his. RA Miller, Arriviste Press Tim Gager, the host of the hugely successful reading series DIRE READER in Cambridge, is mostly known for his short stories and works of fiction. But for the longest time Tim has been a "closet" poet as well. His poems range from sharp riffs on life after divorce, the war between the sexes, the ravages of drugs and booze, the pleasures of the flesh, to the responsibilities and joys of parenthood. Tim doesn't always paint a pretty picture, but what he gives to the reader is a "regular Joe's" voice from the battlefield of life Doug Holder/ Ibbetson Street Press

152 pages, paperback

First published October 2, 2006

About the author

Bestselling Author, Timothy Gager has published 20 books of fiction and poetry, which includes his fourth novel, Shadows of the Seen, and his most recent book of poetry, Almost Bluing for X-Tra Whiteness. He hosted the successful Dire Literary Series in Cambridge, MA from 2001 to 2018, and started a weekly virtual series in 2020. He has had over 1000 works of fiction and poetry published, 19 nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His work also has been nominated for a Massachusetts Book Award, The Best of the Web, The Best Small Fictions Anthology and has been read on National Public Radio.

In 2023, Big Table Publishing published an anthology of twenty years of his selected work, with 175 pages of new material: The Best of Timothy Gager.

Timothy is the former Fiction Editor of The Wilderness House Literary Review, and the founding co-editor of The Heat City Literary Review. He also co-hosts the podcast, "the 2 deans: Dating, Dread and Disasters." A graduate of the University of Delaware, Timothy lives in Dedham, Massachusetts,and is employed as a social worker.

In 2023, Big Table Publishing published an anthology of twenty years of his selected work, with 175 pages of new material: The Best of Timothy Gager.

Timothy is the former Fiction Editor of The Wilderness House Literary Review, and the founding co-editor of The Heat City Literary Review. A graduate of the University of Delaware, Timothy lives in Dedham, Massachusetts,and is employed as a social worker.