America: A Prophecy

americanaprophecysparrowreaderSoft Skull Press, 2005.

Sparrow is one of my oldest friends and one of the great trickster-poet-savants of New York.  Although he’s mostly known for his poetry, his prose work is hilarious and astute, and I jumped at the chance to collect and edit this work, often published in fairly obscure places, for Soft Skull.

From the Publisher:

America: A Prophecy is the long awaited collection from the writer Robert Christgau called, “one of the funniest men in Manhattan.” From a hilarious spiritual guide to New York City–written after Sparrow tried meditating at a dozen high-traffic landmarks–to the scientific and religious significance of the sky, Sparrow’s unique blend of wit and wisdom gives readers a whole new way of seeing our country at the crossroads.

The author of Republican Like Me, Sparrow challenged Bob Dole for the presidential nomination in 1996 and, remarkably, lost. America: A Prophecy is his follow up, a fantastical look at a country in flux by a mischievous poet and iconoclastic comedian.”

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