Charles Rossiter

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=120 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0ec8dfe1esnpes.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>FootHills Publishing 2009</B></FONT><B>     </B><B>|</B><B>     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FootHills Publishing 2009"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FootHills Publishing 2009"><U>FootHills Publishing 2009</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Books 2009"><U>Books 2009</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id44.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Laury A. Egan"><U>Laury A. 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Carhenge Black Hills.  .  .California to Calgary, Vancouver to Vermont, New York to New Orleans, people and places encountered along the road, wide-eyed moments of joy and wonder all over America.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> From the book:</div> <bR> <div> <B>Things Seen Along the Road</B></div> <bR> <div> dry cracked swimming pools of mom and pop</div> <div> motels alongside two-lane country roads,</div> <div> proud hand-lettered signs proclaiming</div> <div> AMERICAN OWNED AND OPERATED</div> <bR> <div> porches of America backyards of America</div> <div> sidewalks of America empty empty empty,</div> <div> storefronts of America with notes on the door</div> <div> “moved to the mall”</div> <bR> <div> sunrise t'ai chi in Madison, Wisconsin,</div> <div> lawyers waiting for the mail,</div> <div> the late-again clerk, overqualified, underpaid, too young,</div> <div> and too in love with Lake Mendota to ever leave</div> <bR> <div> scrub-faced kids strolling grade school corridors</div> <div> that gleam like seminary wood</div> <div> between walls of crayola art and alphabets,</div> <div> the teacher's wide-eyed tales of other worlds</div> <bR> <div> Dave and Mary Mason in their small town diner</div> <div> handing out free cups of coffee and donuts</div> <div> for a song and dance among empty tables</div> <div> during the mid-morning lull</div> <bR> <div> American Flyer little red wagons with fire hoses used</div> <div> to shoot kegs across the town park lawn for charity,</div> <div> little girls who prance and pray for blue</div> <div> ribbons along the banks of the Ol' Mississippi</div> <bR> <div> laughing high schools festooned for</div> <div> saturday afternoon football fantasies,</div> <div> teams of well trained pom pom girls in cheery face,</div> <div> back row boys dreaming of cartwheels</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Outside Taos</B></div> <bR> <div> Winding streamside along US 64</div> <div>      into the Sangre de Cristos</div> <div> the sky lined with pine tips</div> <div> along the mountain's edge</div> <div> Dust covered, the car</div> <div>      from Bandelier and the High Road</div> <div> suitcases full of dirty clothes</div> <bR> <div> Two weeks on the road</div> <div> and ten pounds lighter</div> <div>      with the easy flow of days</div> <div> under blue Southwest skies</div> <div> light with altitude and freedom</div> <bR> <div>      Jack pulls out his kazoo</div> <div> and honks an old-timey jazz tune,</div> <div> Satchmo or something, as we</div> <div> barrel along side by side</div> <div> from somewhere we didn't have to go</div> <div> to somewhere we don't have to be.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="17ad8fb0.jpg" border=0 width="216" height="251" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Charlie Rossiter, NEA Fellowship recipient and three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, hosts the audio website, <I>poetrypoetry.com</I>.  His work has been featured on NPR and various state-wide public radio networks.  He has performed at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival and was among a handful of poets selected to perform at the 2005 Chicago Blues Festival.  His most recent book of poems, <I>The Night We Danced With the Raelettes,</I> (2007) is published by Foothills Publishing.  Some of his travels around the country are with the performance poetry group “3 Guys from Albany,” as they work to bring their poetry to all of the 18 Albanys in North America.</div> <bR> <div> <I>All Over America:</I></div> <div> <I>Road Poems</I></div> <div> is an 88 page hand-stitched  paper book w/spine.</div> <div> $16.00</div> <bR> <div> <B>(Wholesale pricing available. </B><A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact FHP"><U><B>Contact </B></U></A><B>us for more information.)</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> TO ORDER  ON-LINE                               </div> <div>       </div> <bR> <div> From the US or Canada        <form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/sc-but-01.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!"> <input type="hidden" name="add" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart"> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="fhp@foothillspublishing.com"> <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="All Over America: Road Poems"> <input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="09-09"> <input type="hidden" name="amount" value="16.00"> <input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD"> </form>  </div> <bR> <bR> <div> From Other Countries            <form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/sc-but-01.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!"> <input type="hidden" name="add" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart"> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="fhp@foothillspublishing.com"> <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="All Over America: Road Poems"> <input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="09-09"> <input type="hidden" name="amount" value="16.00"> <input type="hidden" name="shipping" value="5.00"> <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD"> </form>  <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >      </FONT></div> <bR> <div>      <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ordering By Mail"><U>To order through mail click here.</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *****************************************</div> <div>  <A NAME="charles_rossiter"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> Charles Rossiter</div> <bR> <div> The Night </div> <div> We Danced </div> <div> With the Raelettes</div> <bR> <div> Occurrences In and Around College Park Maryland </div> <div> in the 1960s  For the Most Part</div> <div> To the Best of My Recollection</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="1752cdf0.jpg" border=0 width="300" height="479" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> It's all here: leaving home for the first time, hanging out with guys from the dorm; road trips; summer jobs as diverse and improbable as delivering yeast for Budweiser, supervising a pick-your-own strawberry patch, and sweating it out in the coal fields of Bethlehem Steel.  There are also musings about life, literature, friendship, and the bliss and pain that comes with searching for, finding, and losing love.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> "Charlie Rossiter's book takes us a high-speed journey into memory and the past. It makes the 60's come alive again. More importantly, it makes us laugh and cry. Tender, funny, evocative, this book is one not to be missed." </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Maria Mazziotti Gillan</div> <div> Founder & Executive Director, Poetry Center, Passaic Co. CC, </div> <div> Paterson, NJ and editor, Paterson Literary Review.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> From the Book:</div> <bR> <div> When Someone Asks Me Who Was First</div> <bR> <div> We still lived in dorms</div> <div> segregated by sex</div> <div> but I lived on the first floor</div> <div> in back</div> <div> which meant that</div> <div> once we decided</div> <div> it was easy</div> <div> to lift her through the window</div> <div> walk around</div> <div> and come in the front door</div> <div> as if nothing monumental</div> <div> were about to happen</div> <div> but it did</div> <div> right there</div> <div> in my narrow iron dorm bed</div> <div> just a wall away</div> <div> from the distant din</div> <div> of rowdy dorm guys</div> <div> without dates</div> <div> on saturday night.</div> <bR> <div> When someone asks me</div> <div> who was first</div> <div> I think of Nanya</div> <div> and that night</div> <div> which is not precisely true.</div> <div> There was someone or two</div> <div> before her, I'm almost certain.</div> <div> I forget the details</div> <div> and the names.</div> <bR> <div> But the night I lifted</div> <div> Nanya through the window</div> <div> as if she were</div> <div> a princess, Lady Guenivere,</div> <div> Rapunsel-in-Reverse,</div> <div> and I were Galahad</div> <div> or Robin Hood</div> <div> or any stirring figure</div> <div> out of myth or legend.</div> <bR> <div> That night</div> <div> she became the first.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> The Night We Danced With the Raelettes</div> <bR> <div> is a 60 page hand-sewn book with spine - $14.00</div> <bR> <bR> <div> TO ORDER  ON-LINE<FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFBF0" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >   </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>                           <form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/sc-but-01.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!"> <input type="hidden" name="add" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart"> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="fhp@foothillspublishing.com"> <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="The Night We Danced With the Raelettes"> <input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="07-21"> <input type="hidden" name="amount" value="14.00"> <input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD"> </form>     </B></div> <bR> <div>          <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFBF0" FACE="Comic Sans MS" > </FONT></div> <div>       </div> <bR> <div>                                      <form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart"> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="fhp@foothillspublishing.com"> <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/images/view_cart.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!"> <input type="hidden" name="display" value="1"> </form>  </div> <bR> <div>      <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ordering By Mail"><U>To order through mail click here.</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>