Swimmer's Prayer

Swimmer's Prayer is a collection of poetry about Chicago by Cynthia Gallaher. Published by Missing Spoke Press, Seattle.   "I'm a long-time fan of Cynthia Gallaher's poetry. Heir to Nelson Algren, Gallaher is a funny and unsentimental observer of the secret side of Chicago--conversations in its all-night diners, blue-collar stories, with humor as sharp as the biting Lake Michigan wind. An accomplished writer of persona poems, Gallaher is able to slip into the dreams and heartbreaks of an amazing variety of people: women 'shedding men, by death or decree/dangling children, by love/or circumstance'; 'toothpick-leg girls' trying to walk in Marilyn Monroe's shoes; teenagers making out on avocado-green shag carpeting in the lava light glow of basement rec rooms; Polish immigrant men in the lunch-hour 'Lucky Man Cafe.'" --Julie Parson-Nesbitt, executive director of The Guild Complex and author of Finders and Clark Street Lullaby

"Cynthia Gallaher is one of the few living American poets I really care about. She is intelligent, warm, compassionate and knows what poetry is all about. In Swimmer's Prayer, she rises to new heights. She pulls me into her urban world and I go gladly wherever she takes me, amazed and delighted. This new collection is a big winner."   --Dave Etter, recipient of the Theodore Roethke Award and Carl Sandburg Award and author of Alliance, Illinois.   Order from amazon.com or your local independent bookstore   This project is partially supported by a Community Arts Assistance Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.