{"product_id":"playground-paperback-1","title":"Playground - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJoe Benevento\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Playground\" picks up momentum from Benevento's previous two books of poetry, his volume of \"selected\" poems, (\u003cem\u003eExpecting Songbirds 1983-2015), \u003c\/em\u003eand his chapbook of poems in his own invented form, \u003cem\u003eAfter, \u003c\/em\u003eby including poems with an even wider range of publication dates than in \u003cem\u003eExpecting Songbirds, \u003c\/em\u003eand the presence of eight new \"After\" poems among its twenty-six lyrics. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThemes such as the after effects of unrequited love, growing up in working class Queens, the redeeming potential in family, all make their appearance. This collection offers far more than recapitulation, though, with poems set in places as varied as a bagel shop in Columbus, a tapas bar in downtown Miami and a barrio in East Oakland, and subjects ranging from rehabbing a shoulder impingement, to participating in a track program for underprivileged youth to inventing a new kind of cake. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThroughout these poems, Benevento affirms, as he has in published work for over thirty-five years now, his obsession with the paradox of poetry's ability to offer hope to a world that seems often hopeless without it. \u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 44\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.11 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 19, 2019\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47977348464861,"sku":"9781947021976","price":22.12,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0811\/9867\/8237\/files\/OStTcam3Bv9781947021976.webp?v=1780077303","url":"https:\/\/handfulofbooks.com\/products\/playground-paperback-1","provider":"Handful of Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}