The Revlon Slough, New and Selected Poems
by Ray DiZazzo
with an Introduction by Claire Millikin
APR. 2018 | ISBN: 978-1-940939-69-8 (Print)
JUN. 2018 | ISBN: 978-1-940939-82-7 (eBook)
BOOK INFO | AVAILABLE @ AMAZON
Ray DiZazzo is an interesting guy. He’s a filmmaker, instructor, and has written several books on corporate media production. My acquaintance began with him as a contributor of WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE IN AMERICA (2016).
First the pitch.
Ray started sending me copies of his previously published books, which were very well produced. Although I commented on how well they were done, I didn’t make a commitment one way or the other to publish his work, but I knew “the ask” was coming.
Then, the ask.
No surprise there. Overall, for someone who is not enmeshed in the poetry community, Ray has done pretty well for himself publishing creative work on his own. He’s published three books of poetry, published poetry in prestigious journals and magazines, and is the recipient of the Percival Roberts Book Award, the Rhysling Award, and is a Pushcart Prize nominee. What he needed from me was to become affiliated with a known press that could indoctrinate him into the poetry world, and the extra push to tighten up his work. I liked his poetry, saw value in his work, and I also liked him, so eventually, I said yes.
Working on the book.
When we agreed to work together, the first thing was to focus on tightening the poetry. When our poetry editor, Sean Dillon, raised some points, Ray was all in. In fact, he didn’t just tighten the work, he refined and polished it. While poets, good poets, can be a real big pain in the butt when it comes to excessive changes and corrections (gritting my teeth here), and Ray managed to drive me nuts with his relentless corrections, in this case his efforts were well worth it and the quality of THE REVLON SLOUGH shines through.
Because in the end, it’s always about the book.
THE REVLON SLOUGH is the quietest loudest collection of poetry I’ve ever published. As it quietly mediates between the natural dichotomy of beauty and ugliness, it loudly makes proclamations about life, love and all creatures great and small. THE REVLON SLOUGH is an invitation to sit back, listen to chill music (jazz, folk or classical), sip a glass of wine, and take in this thing we call poetry, written eloquently by Ray DiZazzo.
