Shooting Gallery Vultures is a collaboration between the Oregon based poet Scott Wozniak and the American graphic artist Andrew Nutini. The collection consists of 74 poems, 31 of which are fully illustrated by Nutini. Most of his work is predominately in black and white and he cleverly represents each of these Wozniak's poems through a collage of striking and highly relevant images.
In the interview with Wozniak which follows this review, he says of Nutini and their intentions in creating the book:
“I first came across Andrew while stumbling drunk down a sidewalk in Tucson, Az in 1996. As far as I recall, he had the same swerving gait. We were both a couple of homeless kids at the time who became friends and shared many a bottle underneath bridges and overpasses. We lost track of each other for a long time but, thanks to the chaotic randomness of life, our paths crossed once more. By this time, we had both been honing our individual crafts for a while and kept saying we should work on a project together. It took a couple years but eventually the talk turned into reality.
“I first came across Andrew while stumbling drunk down a sidewalk in Tucson, Az in 1996. As far as I recall, he had the same swerving gait. We were both a couple of homeless kids at the time who became friends and shared many a bottle underneath bridges and overpasses. We lost track of each other for a long time but, thanks to the chaotic randomness of life, our paths crossed once more. By this time, we had both been honing our individual crafts for a while and kept saying we should work on a project together. It took a couple years but eventually the talk turned into reality.
“From jump street we were on the same page, there was no briefing necessary. We both wanted to do something that was as brutally honest as possible. A no holds barred, no fucks given, portrait of life lived at the bottom, scrapping by with no desire for change, no hope for resurrection, no care for survival, no way out. We’ve both been there and wanted to show how it can be. Most books, one of mine (Crumbling Utopian Pipedream) included, will show this type of life but there’s always that undercurrent of hope, change, or overcoming obstacles. We didn’t want that, because, more often than not, hope doesn’t exist when living that life. We wanted to make a portrait of hopelessness.”
Andrew Nutini says of his involvement in the project and the processes he used in illustrating Wozniak's poems, "First off after reading Scott's book Crumbling Utopian Pipedream, I thought immediately how his writing would fit well with the collage style that I really enjoy creating. Then we talked for some time about doing a collaboration and he sent me some of his work to do some samples with. The coloured version of the poem 'exchange Rate' below was the first one. They started out as colour designs but they evolved over time to the grittier black and white noir look that seemed to fit so much better to capture the dark nature of the writing.
"The way I approached the process of creating these graphics was to read through the poems a couple of times and paying attention to any imagery in the words that jumped out at me. Then I searched for and created folders full of images that I thought worked to express the words in the most stark way. The first collages were pretty crude but over time they started to gain a visual rhythm and the grime started to stain the pages. They just evolved into a visual mythology over time that strung the whole narrative together. I really wanted to express the darkness of the words in stark black and white way since that is the struggle of life, the struggle between the light and darkness and it's where those two meet that creates everything around us. That play between shadow and light."
Some of the poems first appeared in alternative small press publications such as Paper and ink Literary Zine, Midnight Lane Boutique, Mad Swirl, Svensk Apache Press and 48th Street Press. As in his earlier books, Wozniak explores topics he is intimate with- life on skid row, drug addiction, the denizens of the gutter, staring down your demons, suicide and the over-arching noose of death.
Despite the unrelenting hopelessness of their situation, many of the people who populate this book (including the author) are survivors, who stoically endure despite the cards dealt to them. The cart pusher in 'the Same ol' Uphill Battle' and the young woman in 'Looking for Scars with Blinders On' who has shaken off unspeakable tragedies are two examples who immediately come to mind.
Andrew Nutini says of his involvement in the project and the processes he used in illustrating Wozniak's poems, "First off after reading Scott's book Crumbling Utopian Pipedream, I thought immediately how his writing would fit well with the collage style that I really enjoy creating. Then we talked for some time about doing a collaboration and he sent me some of his work to do some samples with. The coloured version of the poem 'exchange Rate' below was the first one. They started out as colour designs but they evolved over time to the grittier black and white noir look that seemed to fit so much better to capture the dark nature of the writing.
"The way I approached the process of creating these graphics was to read through the poems a couple of times and paying attention to any imagery in the words that jumped out at me. Then I searched for and created folders full of images that I thought worked to express the words in the most stark way. The first collages were pretty crude but over time they started to gain a visual rhythm and the grime started to stain the pages. They just evolved into a visual mythology over time that strung the whole narrative together. I really wanted to express the darkness of the words in stark black and white way since that is the struggle of life, the struggle between the light and darkness and it's where those two meet that creates everything around us. That play between shadow and light."
Despite the unrelenting hopelessness of their situation, many of the people who populate this book (including the author) are survivors, who stoically endure despite the cards dealt to them. The cart pusher in 'the Same ol' Uphill Battle' and the young woman in 'Looking for Scars with Blinders On' who has shaken off unspeakable tragedies are two examples who immediately come to mind.
On the front cover of Shooting Gallery Vultures is Andrew Nutini’s coloured graphic of a Phoenix, a mythical bird often associated with rebirth and regeneration. Its head has been replaced with an image of a vulture and the creature is holding drug paraphernalia in its talons. Asked about the work behind and the symbolism of this graphic Wozniak says:
“Andrew and I worked on the cover together by kicking ideas around. It started off as a similar but different variation of what it became. The original version was intended to be used for a poem that we decided to cut from the book. The poem sucked but the image was awesome, so Andrew suggested using it for the cover. Originally, it didn’t have the paraphernalia in it, but the more I looked at it it reminded me of the United States of America crest where the eagle is holding arrows and a shield in its talons. So, I suggested we add the rigs and spoon to make a statement about the opioid epidemic that is currently sweeping across the U.S. He liked the idea and added them in, he even put an eagle head on the phoenix. At that time, I hadn’t written the title poem yet and we were struggling with a title for the book. Once I wrote the poem, we both agreed that Shooting Gallery Vultures should be the title of the book. So, after also agreeing that the metaphor wouldn’t be lost by changing the type of bird, Andrew swapped the eagle head for a vulture head, did some fine tuning of the image and, BAM, cover done, symbolism (hopefully) still intact.”
The opening poem in the collection ‘Dreadful Submerge’ provides the reader a strong heads-up as what to expect from this “no holds barred, no fucks given, portrait of life lived at the bottom” gutter-lit collection. The poem is more of a deep existential howl which expresses the speaker’s anguish at realising that he is trapped “stuck, submerged in disaster” in a lifestyle “whose magic has vanished”.
(all poems posted with the permission of the poet and the graphic artist)
Wozniak, is a self-proclaimed "edge-walker" and fueled by booze, crack and smack- his persona is pumped-up and fearless of the consequences. His poems waver between an addict’s frenzied quest for a temporary quick high and the regret and the sense of doom which follows it. There is little comfort or hope in the speaker’s growing self-awareness of his predicament. In the poem 'Relief in the Shape of Doom' he has a foreboding sense of dread:
I know
there's no way
the night
will end well,
even if I get
what it is
I'm searching for.
relief
in the shape
of doom
He keeps “tripping on the same cracks”, keeps making the same mistakes, “smashed by my own hands” - even if it imperils his life and destroys the love of those closest to him.
I know
there's no way
the night
will end well,
even if I get
what it is
I'm searching for.
relief
in the shape
of doom
He keeps “tripping on the same cracks”, keeps making the same mistakes, “smashed by my own hands” - even if it imperils his life and destroys the love of those closest to him.
The dog-eat-dog, manic, depraved life of an addict on skid row is compellingly represented in many of Wozniak's poems; perhaps amongst the best are ‘Normal is What You Make It’, ‘Smoke, Bugout, Repeat’, ‘Taking Blasts at Innocence’, ’Jackpot on the Dumpster Diver Circuit’, ‘As Death Begs’, 'Together We Are Separate’ and ‘Miracle in Action’. The language and images are graphic and derive from a lived-experience. You can’t make this shit up!
Some of the poems are in the form of harrowing narratives and describe events such the poet and his accomplices pretending to be narcs and ripping off 15 year-old kids, (“Even the Worst Laid Plans”), witnessing a possibly fatal shooting (‘Bleeding Restitution’) and being in a car which vindictively mows down some thieves who had earlier robbed them of their stash (‘Driving in Darkness’).
In a previous interview, Wozniak told me “everything I write about is something I’ve experienced and encountered, life as lived.’ Asked if this statement still holds true of this book and how he goes about dredging up material from his past, Wozniak told me candidly:
In a previous interview, Wozniak told me “everything I write about is something I’ve experienced and encountered, life as lived.’ Asked if this statement still holds true of this book and how he goes about dredging up material from his past, Wozniak told me candidly:
“With fear of incriminating myself (actually, the statute of limitations has probably expired on most of these incidents) I will say, yes, this is still true. Guilty of all charges.
“I’m always fishing for ideas, moments, or memories to write about, and it seems that the longer I’m sober, the more these incidents come back to me. A lot of times it’ll be some event that I had forgotten and suddenly, the memory comes back to life. Then I’ll try to flesh out the scene in my head for a while, then start working on lines. Once I get as many lines as my memory will allow me, I then either start writing it down and eventually move to the computer or typewriter or go direct to the machines to get it all down. After that, I might edit, I might not, it depends on the poem. Sometimes the process can take months, other times, it’s instantaneous, concept to finished poem in minutes.”
The title poem ‘Shooting Gallery Vultures’ is a powerful one whose impact is magnified a hundred fold by Nutini’s brilliantly dark vision (click on to enlarge- amazing detail!):
In the poem, Nutini graphically represents a scene in which the speaker arrives with an acquaintance at a temporary camp where addicts are shooting up. One of the guys ODs and a few fellow derros flog through his pockets rather than give him CPR. The speaker leaves to get high behind a dumpster because it’s “bad mojo/ to get loaded/ by a dead body.”
The insensitivity and bleakness of the poem is solidly reinforced by Nutini’s stark imagery in his two page layout: the anonymous hoodies, the menacing vultures, the druggie preparing to shoot up, and especially, the comatose bloke in the foreground- who is crashed out on a bed of daisies. All these images and Wozniak's wry words have a accumulative, shocking effect on the reader.
Another important poem in the collection is ‘Losing Pieces’, a two page poem (click on to enlarge):
The speaker of the poem, presumably Wozniak, recalls while in rehab "for the third time in two years" how a man tries to reassure him that he can one day “pick up the pieces” that “there’s still hope.” The speaker’s response is extremely bleak and at the heart of the message of this book:
I assure him,
I lost that piece
a long
time
ago.
Shooting Gallery Vultures was rejected by publishers for two years because according to Wozniak "they said the book was too bleak. Which I was like, “Um, yeah, that’s the point.” The book was eventually scooped up by Red Focks of the alternative small press Alien Buddha Press. Wozniak says of Focks’s involvement in the project: “Red was great. I shot him a copy of the project to see if he would be interested in publishing it and he immediately said yes. It only took him about 2 weeks to format the thing and have it print ready, which for everyone else involved was proving to be a difficult task."
Now that Wozniak has moved to Oregon for a few years and has established a more solid holding on his future, I asked him whether there was in the making of any new directions in his work. He says positively,
Shooting Gallery Vultures was rejected by publishers for two years because according to Wozniak "they said the book was too bleak. Which I was like, “Um, yeah, that’s the point.” The book was eventually scooped up by Red Focks of the alternative small press Alien Buddha Press. Wozniak says of Focks’s involvement in the project: “Red was great. I shot him a copy of the project to see if he would be interested in publishing it and he immediately said yes. It only took him about 2 weeks to format the thing and have it print ready, which for everyone else involved was proving to be a difficult task."
Now that Wozniak has moved to Oregon for a few years and has established a more solid holding on his future, I asked him whether there was in the making of any new directions in his work. He says positively,
“The next project I have lined up is a chapbook with Holy & Intoxicated Press sometime this year, there’s no definite date yet. Funny you ask about new directions, I think I’m going to scrap most of what I’ve put together for that project in favor of some different subject matter. I have this desire to switch gears from the gutter realism to more diverse content. Explore some other subjects, ya know? Put out more work like what was in my last chapbook (Radiating Like Insanity) with Analog Submission Press. I just feel like it’s time to switch things up some. The poems about drugs, booze and hard times seem to be giving way to some of my more recent life experiences that aren’t centered so much around that kind of living. Who knows though, I say that now, but the crazy times always seem to find the page.”
Shooting Gallery Vultures is an unrelentingly dark but brutally honest collaborative vision of life on the street. It has been created by two survivors who has been there and who have lived to share their experiences with us. They don’t offer hope or transformation- they simply want to reveal to the reader what is really like to live as a drug addict and down and out on the streets without family or government assistance.
Buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Gallery-Vultures-Tales-Tattered/dp/1709695773/ref=sr_1_10?qid=1580967397&refinements=p_27%3AAlien+Buddha&s=books&sr=1-10&text=Alien+Buddha
INTERVIEW WITH SCOTT WOZNIAK 30 JANUARY 2020
Scott, in your bio you describe yourself as a chaos/poet enthusiast.” Can you explain what you mean by that term?
That’s kind of a multi-layered explanation. On one hand, I’m implying that I revel in the chaos depicted in the stories I tell, and the chaotic days spent living them, or that I’m comfortable in chaos. On another, it’s a nod to the nature of life as it is— unpredictable, crazy, random, chaotic. Then, there’s chaos theory to consider. If you apply chaos theory to systems in the sphere of life that appear to be in random states of disorder certain patterns begin to emerge, these patterns don’t make the chaos any more predictable, but it can become recognizable, relatable, and slightly less surprising. Recognizing storm patterns can prepare you for when the storm hits, I feel the same about the chaotic nature of life. You start to recognize patterns and you can guess where certain actions will lead you to. You do some dumb shit, things start to get out of control, and you can look and say, “oh fuck, here we go again. I know where this is headed.” Then you can choose to hold on to your ass and ride it out or readjust your actions for a different outcome. But, then again, there are times where you can’t do shit, things are gonna play out how their intended to. In those times you just gotta get comfortable or enthusiastic about the chaos and learn to ride all the twists and turns and to take the punches life throws at you. That’s the area I try to live in, comfortable with whatever shit might come my way, a chaos enthusiast, a lover of life no matter how crazy it gets. So, it’s all of that, plus, I just think it sounds cool.
Who designed the cover? It appears to be an illustration of a Phoenix holding drug paraphernalia in its claws. What do you see as the symbolism behind this image?
Andrew and I worked on the cover together by kicking ideas around. It started off as a similar but different variation of what it became. The original version was intended to be used for a poem that we decided to cut from the book. The poem sucked but the image was awesome, so Andrew suggested using it for the cover. Originally, it didn’t have the paraphernalia in it, but the more I looked at it it reminded me of the United States of America crest where the eagle is holding arrows and a shield in its talons. So, I suggested we add the rigs and spoon to make a statement about the opioid epidemic that is currently sweeping across the U.S. He liked the idea and added them in, he even put an eagle head on the phoenix. At that time, I hadn’t written the title poem yet and we were struggling with a title for the book. Once I wrote the poem, we both agreed that Shooting Gallery Vultures should be the title of the book. So, after also agreeing that the metaphor wouldn’t be lost by changing the type of bird, Andrew swapped the eagle head for a vulture head, did some fine tuning of the image and, BAM, cover done, symbolism (hopefully) still intact.
Your poetry has been amazingly illustrated by Andrew Nutini in the book! When did you first come across Nutini and what was your brief to him for this project?
I first came across Andrew while stumbling drunk down a sidewalk in Tucson, Az in 1996. As far as I recall, he had the same swerving gait. We were both a couple of homeless kids at the time who became friends and shared many a bottle underneath bridges and overpasses. We lost track of each other for a long time but, thanks to the chaotic randomness of life, our paths crossed once more. By this time, we had both been honing our individual crafts for a while and kept saying we should work on a project together. It took a couple years but eventually the talk turned into reality.
From jump street we were on the same page, there was no briefing necessary. We both wanted to do something that was as brutally honest as possible. A no holds barred, no fucks given, portrait of life lived at the bottom, scrapping by with no desire for change, no hope for resurrection, no care for survival, no way out. We’ve both been there and wanted to show how it can be. Most books, one of mine (Crumbling Utopian Pipedream) included, will show this type of life but there’s always that undercurrent of hope, change, or overcoming obstacles. We didn’t want that, because, more often than not, hope doesn’t exist when living that life. We wanted to make a portrait of hopelessness.
What is your assessment of his achievements?
From the very first illustration Andrew sent I was amazed. It’s uncanny how accurately he visually translates what I put down in words, scary almost, like he’s looking inside my head. When we first started talking about doing this, I knew it would be a cool project because he’s such an amazing artist and, like I said, we have similar life experiences to draw from. I always figured our styles would blend well, but he absolutely knocked it out of the park!! This project far surpassed my hopes for it. Without Andrew it would be just another book of poetry, instead we have made something more, something that I see as completely original. To me, it’s some next level shit, and Andrew’s work is the catalyst for that.
What was editor Red Folk’s involvement and direction in the project?
Red was great. I shot him a copy of the project to see if he would be interested in publishing it and he immediately said yes. It only took him about 2 weeks to format the thing and have it print ready, which for everyone else involved was proving to be a difficult task.
Other than formatting, Red just made a couple suggestions on poem placement (which he was right about) and let the book fly. It was refreshing because a bunch of other publishers we’d approached during the couple years it took to complete the project passed because they said the book was too bleak. Which I was like, “Um, yeah, that’s the point.” But Red got what we were doing right away and helped us put out the book we wanted to put out.
You mentioned in an earlier interview you said that, "Everything I write about is something I've experienced and encountered, life as lived." Is this still true of your narrative poems in the book, including 'Even the Worst Laid Plans', 'Sunday Morning Mass, 'Driving in Darkness', 'Bleeding Restitution' and others? If so, how do you go about dredging up stuff from the past and getting it down on paper or screen?
With fear of incriminating myself (actually, the statute of limitations has probably expired on most of these incidents) I will say, yes, this is still true. Guilty of all charges.
I’m always fishing for ideas, moments, or memories to write about, and It seems that the longer I’m sober, the more these incidents come back to me. A lot of times it’ll be some event that I had forgotten and suddenly, the memory comes back to life. Then I’ll try to flesh out the scene in my head for a while, then start working on lines. Once I get as many lines as my memory will allow me, I then either start writing it down and eventually move to the computer or typewriter or go direct to the machines to get it all down. After that, I might edit, I might not, it depends on the poem. Sometimes the process can take months, other times, it’s instantaneous, concept to finished poem in minutes.
You still fighting the demons?
The demons and I cuddle more than fight these days.
What’s next for you? Any new directions in your work?
The next project I have lined up is a chapbook with Holy & Intoxicated Press sometime this year, there’s no definite date yet. Funny you ask about new directions, I think I’m going to scrap most of what I’ve put together for that project in favor of some different subject matter. I have this desire to switch gears from the gutter realism to more diverse content. Explore some other subjects, ya know? Put out more work like what was in my last chapbook (Radiating Like Insanity) with Analog Submission Press. I just feel like it’s time to switch things up some. The poems about drugs, booze and hard times seem to be giving way to some of my more recent life experiences that aren’t centered so much around that kind of living. Who knows though, I say that now, but the crazy times always seem to find the page.
Thanks again Scott for your candid responses.
Bio: Scott Wozniak is a poet/chaos enthusiast living in Oregon. His work is widely published both online and in print. His books include Crumbling Utopian Pipedream (Moran Press), Killing Our Saints (Svensk Apache Press), Ash on Your Face like War Paint, Radiating like Insanity (both Analog Submission Press), and his latest, Shooting Gallery Vultures (Alien Buddha Press).
Further resources:
Soft Cartel- 2 Visual Art & Poetry Hybrid pieces: https://softcartel.com/2019/02/20/2-visual-art-poetry-hybrid-pieces-by-scott-wozniak-andrew-nutini/
Here’s a link to Andrew Nutini’s instagram where you will find more of his work: https://www.instagram.com/found_image_design/.
Here’s a link to Andrew Nutini’s instagram where you will find more of his work: https://www.instagram.com/found_image_design/.
Bold Monkey Review/ Interview of Scott Wozniak’s Crumbling Utopian Pipedream: https://georgedanderson.blogspot.com/2017/06/book-review-scott-wozniak-crumbling.html
Bold Monkey Review/ Interview of Scott Wozniak/ Janne Karlsson’s Killing Our Saints: https://georgedanderson.blogspot.com/2018/01/book-review-scott-wozniak-janne.html
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