Bottomlands

by Matt Bialer

In the heart of a small town in South Carolina, something is lurking, something hideous, snakelike; previously this thing caused mass hysteria. Now new sightings have sparked the interest of a television show hunting folkloric monsters. Ernie and Wade want the scoop first for their show before the similar more popular show gets there first. Wade’s life is in domestic turmoil; his twelve-year-old son with Asperger’s, the wife who left him, and trying to figure things out is the heavier burden to go along with the higher ratings for the television show. Bialer’s folk-horror epic poem spins a personal matter into a contemporary; heartfelt, monstrous competition while elucidating the main question. Is the infamous Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp real or fake?

356 pages, Paperback

Published November 11, 2020

About the author

Matt Bialer is the author of eight books of poetry including Radius (Les Editions du Zaporogue), Already Here, Ark, Black Powder, (all from Black Coffee Press) Bridge (Leaky Boot Press) ,Tell Them What I Saw (PS Publishing, UK) He Walks On All Fours (Dynatox Ministries) and Ascent (Bizarro Pulp Press). His poems have appeared in many print and online journals including La Zaporogue, Green Mountains Review, Gobbet, Forklift Ohio, Cultural Weekly and H_NGM_N. He is also an acclaimed black and white street photographer and watercolorist who has exhibited widely. Some of his photographs are in the permanent collections of The Brooklyn Museum, The Museum of the City of New York and the The New York Public Library and his watercolors are in many private collections. His photographic monograph, More Than You Know, was published in 2011 by Les Editions du Zaporogue and Shadowbrook, a book of his paintings was issued by the same publisher in 2012. Matt lives with his wife Lenora Lapidus and daughter Izzy in Park Slope, Brooklyn. His website is www.mattbialer.com

Reviews

[Janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cryptid in this epic poem might be real, but it shares its backstory with humans who desperately want to prove themselves at their careers and to fit in with normal society. Life is not fair, and the those who dream continue to struggle. Matt Bialer has written a fine and apt search for both the strange and the normal. Soak up the atmosphere and meet the monster.