{"id":413626,"date":"2024-09-10T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-10T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=413626"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"SEEING-IN-A-SMALL-TOWN-A-Poetic-Journey-Through-Life-s-Daily-Routine-in-Small-Town-Bars-Diners-Parks-and-Main-Streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/SEEING-IN-A-SMALL-TOWN-A-Poetic-Journey-Through-Life-s-Daily-Routine-in-Small-Town-Bars-Diners-Parks-and-Main-Streets\/","title":{"rendered":"SEEING\u2014IN A SMALL-TOWN: A Poetic Journey Through Life\u2019s Daily Routine in Small-Town Bars, Diners, Parks, and Main Streets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsusa.com\">(NewsUSA)<\/a><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/trackit.newsusa.com\/track.gif?id=54054\" \/> &#8211; Have you ever played a game where you see a person, couple, or group and begin to make a story around them? It\u2019s a great way to meet spies, murderers, vagabonds, lovers, and thieves. The running dialogue of this game is best imagined with your date or significant other. What you learn about your accomplice is always surprising as the plot thickens.<\/p>\n<p>In <em>Seeing\u2014In A Small-Town<\/em>, poet Pasquale Trozzolo takes this game to a new level. He explores life\u2019s daily routine through the eyes of a visiting explorer, and each vignette is written based on the story game.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Trozzolo\" data-align=\"left\" data-entity-type=\"file\" style=\"padding: 5px;\" data-entity-uuid=\"a5ef7c83-e122-4ab1-aad7-b2f4295e9534\" src=\"https:\/\/newsflow.newsusa.com\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/Pasquale%20Trozzolo_resize_1.jpg\" class=\"align-left\" \/>Trozzolo writes conversationally as if the reader is accompanying the explorer on the journey. Each vignette is a story the explorer imagines based on the person\u2019s appearance, behavior, and interactions with others. Through these stories, the reader is given a glimpse into the lives of small-town Americans and the daily routines that make up their lives. The stories are engaging, thought-provoking, and often surprising. Each poem is introduced by a short reflection from the explorer, commenting on what they learned from the experience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope the reader recognizes that every person\u2019s life carries joys, burdens, and secrets,\u201d Trozzolo says. \u201cWe should judge slowly and carefully, if at all. While passing through, we often make assumptions based on our predisposed expectations, quickly judging each person by their cover and not allowing the story to develop. And, just like judging books, it\u2019s almost always a mistake \u2013even if we are playing the story game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The poems explore judgment, assumptions, and the importance of seeing beyond the surface. The stories remind us that every person has a story and that we should be slow to judge and quick to listen. We never know what burdens someone carries or what joys they celebrate. Everyone is more than just their appearance; we should take the time to get to know them before forming opinions.<\/p>\n<p>Poet Catherine Abbey Hodges, author of <em>In a Rind of Light<\/em>, says, \u201cAt a polarized moment in our culture, these poems suggest an alternative to knee-jerk judgment and condemnation of \u2018the other.\u2019 What might happen if we brought curiosity, imagination, and deference to our regard for those outside our circle? Vignette by vignette, these poems\u2014generous, poignant, humorous, and slyly wise\u2014do just that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kirkus Reviews says: \u201cThe form and style of the work are as quaint as the small-town bars, diners, parks, and Main Streets the collection inhabits. It\u2019s tempting to board a Greyhound bus to nowhere in particular after luxuriating in these verses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The book celebrates the diversity and complexity of human life and reminds us that there is always more to see if we are willing to look beyond the surface. To learn more, visit pasqualetrozzolo.com. Finishing Line Press will release the book on November 15, 2024, and it is now available for pre-sale orders at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.finishinglinepress.com\/product\/seeing-in-a-small-town-by-pasquale-trozzolo\/\">https:\/\/www.finishinglinepress.com\/product\/seeing-in-a-small-town-by-pasquale-trozzolo\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/imgupload\/b9e78d6fdbffd2b68d81bad59c8e2ca2.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><br \/>SEEING\u2014IN A SMALL-TOWN: A Poetic Journey Through Life\u2019s Daily Routine in Small-Town Bars, Diners, Parks, and Main Streets<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(NewsUSA) &#8211; Have you ever played a game where you see a person, couple, or&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-413626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}