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Breathe In, Breathe Out

(and try to whistle as best you can)

by George Karos

photos by George Karos

36 pages (2010)

trade paper, stapled

ISBN 978-1-891387-06-7

$10.00

About the Book

In his third book of poetry, George Karos continues to trace his life’s journey in verse with characteristic parallels in personal growth and societal transformation. His portrayal of the conflicts in the observations and values of his rural upbringing and his pursuit of the creative arts generated in the pulse of city living, provide a metaphorical interpretation of modernism for the 21st century.

Contents

Sign Languages • Came from a Town • We, Life Pilgrims • In Cold Night’s Easy Tumult • In the Streets of the Nation’s Capital • Inside the Public Library • Morning Today • After Media • Sitting around a Table at Work • Waiting for the Return Call • Watching Cars • Searching for Holy Light • Visiting New York City • Quiet, really • Lived in D.C. then moved to New York City • Married to the Job • My Angry Observance • When Sarah and I would visit the Pigs • Getting away from Florida • Remembering Conditions as One • Drunk on Friendship • Sometimes, I choose to forget • Oh, that Game • Visiting the Old World • Remember when You were Creative? • Getting Out of the Way • Time Points • By Half and by Whole • Lost in the City • When We mattered • You, Them, and Others

Sample

Inside the Public Library

Inside the public library

I involuntarily twitch and sit and watch the civil servants.

Some on computers, others reading old books.

The mix and match of all the startled generations

Shadow the outcomes to previous starts.

Fresh from the bathroom I can see the secret agent.

He makes a copy of his farcical resume.

Inside the public library,

I hear a baby crying.

Mother drinks from a water fountain.

Later, I’m asked twice if I need condoms

From the young AIDES activist.

Uniquely aware of my stable affairs,

I receive communion for the time to never come.

He’s looking after me, or someone in need.

Inside the public library,

Flabbergasted, I’m informed by staff,

Joseph Fletcher’s book Situation Ethics is out of print

Or, rather, been pulled from the shelf.

I guess the times have changed from forward thinking to fascism.

Oh shit! I guess I’ll never eat or drink in the library again.