Last Supper

by Aaron Cometbus

Next door to the chain stores are the cheap restaurants with chipped paint and handwritten signs which will never be featured in the Dining section of the Times. Alongside the renovated lofts are thousands of cramped apartments filled with books and cats, and actual studios where artists work with their hands. Ignored by the hype, without a website, the little shops and thrift stores and squats continue to thrive--sometimes at risk of being displaced, but always at risk of being simply overlooked or dismissed. Last Supper is a love letter to these places and the people who inhabit them: the vibrant beat beneath the bullshit that gives the city its charm.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2014

About the author

Aaron Elliott, better known as Aaron Cometbus, is a drummer, lyricist, self-described "punk anthropologist" and author of Cometbus, a seminal punk rock zine.

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be honest, I expected this book to be a minor side project for Aaron, compared to his long-running zine Cometbus. Instead, it's one of the best things he's ever done.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

i was relieved to discover Aaron Cometbus on the poetry shelves of the Ottawa Public Library's Main Branch recently while ransacking the shelves with a dear friend. Relieved because i have been drowning in a sea of practitioners guarded language & Cometbus's poems came at the right time to remind me that rebellion to the status quo still exists. These are poems about people, New York, California, book stores & knish stands. most of all these are poems about freaks & punks. i was heartened to see that Last Supper was published in 2014 by a Winnipeg press. there's still hope after all...

[Jessie McMains · Rating 5 out of 5]

ALL OF THE STARS. Real review to come.

[Heath · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Aaron Cometbus. His prose is generally poetic, so it's a short walk to this slender volume of poetry. Mostly New York-centric, the poems express his love for cities, people, books, and music, all of the lonely and lost. It also reminded me that I need to write Eggplant back.

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cometbus’ poetry is fucking outstanding.

[Vanya Swift · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm still smiling.

[Bob Comparda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poems about bookstores, restaurants, subway trains, city streets, punk music, punks, growing up, moving on, staying still while everything around you moves on, finding peace, missing friends.

[Josette · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful

[Marshall A. Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked up this book at a local bookstore, skimming through the poetry section and the punk-mindset throughout sold me. I'm not certain that this is best called poetry though; it feels more like thoughts and reflections in a poetic-looking structure. It did have emotion, some great description and interesting perspectives. The style and subject reminded me a little of Bukowski.

Favourites:

Peace Reigns
Grief and Release
Hinterlands
This Scene
Modern World

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love Cometbus, especially his more autobiographical and personal work, this will read and touch you similarly. I apmost wanted it to be a novel, but the poems were such wonderful snapshots, that the overall effect was the same. I would not have bought this had I known outright it was poetry, but I am glad I did.

[10thumbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Letting this book languish on my to-read stack was folly. "Poetry?..." I thought, "meh." How foolish. Aaron Cometbus is terrific writer, period. Changing the form doesn't change that one bit. As mysterious, laid bare and powerful as any of his other work I've read — just with out as many conjuctions, side stories, observations and words. Terrific.