Blood and Gypsies

In this two-part study of a dysfunctional Italian family living in New York and through a dream-like series of vignettes, Lenny DellaRocca blends the hard-nosed with the atmospheric. In one world he is both a character in his own lower class, uneducated cast of sisters, brothers, parents, aunts and uncles and also an observer of fragmentary, dark and sometimes sinister stories set in imaginary towns and landscapes.Lenny DellaRocca's work has appeared in Fairy Tale Review, Albatross, Nimrod and The Potomac. DellaRocca was instrumental in bringing to South Florida such poets as Denise Duhamel, Albert Goldbarth, Yusef Komunyakka, Carolyn Wright and Lyn Lishin. A Pushcart nominee, his Electric Chair Poetry Reading was a popular South Florida event which featured hand-picked poets reading before audiences. DellaRocca currently works for a blood center and lives in Delray Beach, Florida with his wife, Marie Herrera.From the clear gaze of childhood to the dark stare of a man looking back, Lenny DellaRoc-ca's Blood and Gypsies offers poems of discovery and loss, arranged into two distinct sections, opposing halves of a personal narrative. Crafted with warmth and humor, the 'Blood' section brings us snapshots of his New York-Italian family, affectionately rendered and steeped in the small mysteries of the ordinary. In contrast, 'Gypsies' uses dreamy, often haiku-like vignettes to bring to life a string of characters that seem to have stepped off a surrealist painting. With searing imagery and a gift for the strange detail, DellaRocca works both ends of the spectrum in this quirky and affecting collection that shows off his large spirit and considerable range. -Silvia Curbelo, author of Falling Landscape and The Secret History of WaterThe Sleep Talker invents an entirely new genre of fairy tales, prose poems that push and pull at the ghosts that dance in our dreamscapes. These poems blend the everyday and the unearthly magical in a way that not only constantly surprises but opens doors into ecstatic newly-formed universes. -Michael Trammell, Editor, Apalachee Review