Poetry. Spoken word. After last fall's whirlwind tour of the U.S. supporting their book of collaborative poems, NICE HAT, THANKS acclaimed poets Joshua Beckman and Matthew Rohrer return, releasing a collection of the finest new poems created live in various cities and states as they rambled high and low. These poems, created in furious improvisational badinage and contemplative rumination, cover such topics of popular interest as hillbillies, baseball, capitalism, paradise, animals, fruit, spy satellites, cowardice, hurt, and the trials and tribulations of the great American Automobile. The result is an uproarious and continually surprising audio record of two vivid imaginations working overtime for audiences in no less than 19 states.

Author City: BROOKLYN, NY USA

Joshua Beckman was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He is the author of six books, including TAKE IT (Wave Books, 2009), SHAKE and two collaborations with Matthew Rohrer: NICE HAT. THANKS. and ADVENTURES WHILE PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF BEAUTY. He is an editor at Wave Books and has translated numerous works of poetry and prose, including POKER by Tomaž Šalamun, which was a finalist for the PEN America Poetry in Translation Award, and, with Alejandro de Acosta, MICROGRAMS by Jorge Carrera Andrade. He is also the recipient of numerous other awards, including a NYFA fellowship and a Pushcart Prize. He lives in Seattle and New York. Matthew Rohrer is the author of A Hummock in the Malookas (which won the 1994 National Poetry Series Open Competition), SATELLITE, A GREEN LIGHT (shortlisted for the 2005 Griffin International Poetry Prize), RISE UP, A PLATE OF CHICKEN, and DESTROYER AND PRESERVER. He's appeared on NPR's All Things Considered and The Next Big Thing, has been awarded the Avery Hopwood Prize for poetry and a Pushcart Prize, and has been widely anthologized. A chapbook-length action/adventure poem They All Seemed Asleep was published by Octopus Books in 2008. He teaches in the creative writing program at NYU and lives in Brooklyn.