Postcards from Los Angeles: Poems

by Nick Marcotte

Postcards from Los Angeles is a poetic memoir of years spent living in L.A. by Nick Marcotte. Affecting and vulnerable in its simplicity, Marcotte weaves a journey of a young man’s passage from youth to experience — moving from past to present to past again; underscoring the way in which these time frames influence each other. Los Angeles provides a backdrop to Marcotte’s meditations on romantic longing, honest pain, and many things in between. Ultimately, this is a joyful affair from an emerging writer whose subsequent work is worth watching for.

101 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2019

Reviews

[Sasha Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Postcards From Los Angeles," by Nick Marcotte is one of the best books of contemporary poetry I've ever read. Nick inhabits all of his senses and with a gentle rawness pours out personal prose with an unabashed honesty so poignant it evokes both deep emotions and a lightness of being. I began the book slowly, savoring each morsel, then part-way through, I could not inhale his intimate and vulnerable words fast enough. His poems mesmerize, entice, and entrance in a natural, free-verse dance; each story transports me into Nick's highly humane world in which, as a boy, he moves trepidatiously to a new state as his heart soaks in the fresh wonders of childhood; he grows into a teen with who embodies a trifecta of joy, awkwardness, and self-consciousness awareness; and matures into a reflective, expressive man who generously shares with us his journey that is simple without being simple at all.

There are a plethora of quotable lines, here are a few:

"I don’t claim to never be afraid— but I’m brave when it comes to you."

"I only give myself what I need when I’m hurt."