A True Story

You cant say enough about Bill Gainers poetry. He is a keen observer armed for gentle combat with words and how they shine the light on our sense of being. A True Story is a powerful gathering destined for many readers.Neeli Cherkovski author of Elegy for My Beat GenerationBill Gainers latest book A True Story is wonderfully multi-faceted; ranging from self-deprecation to slice o life insightfulness to anecdotal and raw honesty. The reader should remember that all this is the measure of a fully realized man - all fang and claw and heart and soul.RD Armstrong Publisher Lummox PressIm a longtime fan of Bill Gainer (as a human being and a poet) and this collection of his work is a most welcome antidote to these troublesome days that have found us. For me Bills poetry is a kind of literary comfort food as I always know he will bring the goods. His writing rarely fails to expose the heart of the human condition with his unique mixture of humor melancholy and profundity. His poems are filled with laughter and sighs. Bill mines both the complex and simple stuff of everyday life and never fails to come up with gold. William Taylor Jr. author of Pretty Things to SayBill Gainer has his own magic. Sometimes his poems are like fireflies quick shots in the dark sometimes they are as bright as muzzle blasts from a pistol in an alley. Sometimes they are like lightning strikes in the middle of the night. What they have in common is a sense of the noir. His abbreviated style is very engaging. But he has a much wider range as well. He can be insightful and compassionate and able to look deeply into the heart of the matter. With this book youll encounter the entire range of his unique style.D.R. Wagner poet musician visual artistThis is a true story; the poetry of Bill Gainer captures scenes from a lifetime as a poet in crisp clear images. Gainer is a master of the short poem with the ability to say a lot to tell a story with brevity and clarity. The language is matter-of-fact nothing is obscure here and still Gainer always finds the music of the spoken word the beauty of the way people speak and react the way people love and feel. A True Story by Bill Gainer is a collection of polished gems short poems from across a long and admirable career.James Lee Jobe Poet Laureate Davis CA