Torrid Blue

by William Zink

"Distilled seaside observations, broadened into sea-folk polaroids, marching straight toward the heart of the matter: land-locked trilobite sensuality." So Zink, a.k.a. Marco Polio, describes his most recent book, Torrid Blue. "I suppose I'm a modern druid, but I don't go for any such rituals or sentimentalities of the past. Writing about the natural world of he-man/she-man outs and ins--it's not something I even think about doing; it's just what I live each day, it's what we're all doing whether we stop to think about it on the way to gas up the family Sherman tank or not."

In a fresh disdain for shock, convention, or imitation, Zink combines rhythm and imagery in concise "polaroids" of common seaside moments, then pushes these into the more visceral arena of human passion. His poems follow no current trend, but seem to arise from the mud and sand itself, born from unadorned burps and spouts--whispers from the earth's consciousness.

112 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2002

About the author

"Zink is one hell of a writer." — Andrei Codrescu

William Zink is the author of numerous books, including The Hole, Ballad of the Confessor, Ohio River Dialogues, Pieta, and Wild Grapes. His books have been praised by Booklist, Andrei Codrescu, The Charleston City Paper, The Main Street Rag, Donald Ray Pollock, Dagoberto Gilb, and others. His novel, Ohio River Dialogues, was a finalist for the Ohioana Fiction Award.