"Anderson writes poems like nobody else. Maybe that's because he's lived a life like nobody else. Maybe it's because he sees the world like nobody else. No matter the reason, this guy means business."
John Yamrus
Pleased to announce the publication of my first full-length book of my poetry through UnCollected Press. The collection includes 93 poems which were written in a 20 year period between 2001-2020. The portrait poems are typically free verse and narrative in form and were edited by Henry Grier Stanton. Dozens of poems have been published for the first time.
“Rough end of the pineapple” is a common Australian colloquialism which means “to get a raw deal, or to receive unfair or inequitable treatment.” Most of the characters represented in the collection have been duded or damaged in some way.
The cover photograph is an illustration for the broadside of the poem ’True Love’ which appears in the book. Poems-For-All guru Richard Hansen is in the process of creating the micro book ‘True Love & Other Poems’.
The back cover includes the following blurb:
"George Douglas Anderson is the driving force behind the ever wonderful ‘Bold Monkey’: he is also a very accomplished and acclaimed poet/writer with a well grounded presence within the small press scene, with a large number of publications to his credit: broadsides: chapbooks: anthologies: This is his largest collection of poetry to date and includes work taken from previous publications: The cover art is quite something, it is a work of art that steals your attention draws you in like a magnet, pulls at your eyes, it gives a strong indication of what lies within: The work flows easily, effortlessly and each poem introduces the reader to a portrait of a different, stimulating and always interesting character/s: there are faces from the bars and cafes, from the hospitals and death beds, faces of love, of childhood memoirs and deeply reflective poems of romance and regrets: Anderson consistently uses his sense of humour to pepper the poems and lift them out of the darkness and illuminates his subjects with a quality that very few poets have: this is a collection that never tires or strays from precision and detail, never wanders from the provocative and entertaining, never loses sight of humanity, no matter how brutal or violent it may be: This is a collection with no weak links, a collection of poems that are not shy or awkward, the language is clear and smooth and propels the reader onto the next poem with eager anticipation. ‘Uncollected Press’ have added another beautiful and must-read book to their every growing catalogue of first class contemporary underground small press literature with this publication: Let me tell you, this book is much bigger than it looks: buy it."
John D Robinson
Poet and Publisher: Holy&intoxicated Publications: UK
Other Blurbs:
George Anderson's The Rough End of the Pineapple is quite a read. Having long been a fan of Anderson's work, Pineapple reads in part a travel guide but, more importantly, an inner monologue to the world that surrounds him. From the City to Wheeny Creek, Anderson takes the reader on an adventure that is oftentimes quite funny but generally filled with deep introspection. The structure of the book is well done and pulls the reader through, anticipating the next poem with great curiosity and excitement. George Anderson is a tremendous writer and story teller, and poetry is a perfect outlet for his expression. The Rough End of the Pineapple is an excellent collection of poetry, one a ready would greatly enjoy, and one for which George Anderson should be extremely proud."
Jack Henry
"When reading a George Anderson poem you never know where it's gonna take you. Or what it's gonna do to you. In his latest poetry collection The Rough End of the Pineapple you'll find yourself lured into the darkest of places only to realise you're actually experiencing hope and light. Few writers master this skill. George D Anderson sure as hell does. Also, if you're brave enough to start crying over a turtle poem, buy a copy or three of this book. You can thank me later"
Janne Karlsson, artist/illustrator from Sweden
“The Rough End of the Pineapple, essential reading for any intrepid lit fiend looking for something a little different, looking for a little illumination admidst the darkness.”
Joseph Ridgwell
“I have munched on the pineapple- it’s a terrific book! I love how Anderson keeps the same tone and voice throughout, yet it never becomes boring or depressing. There is great use of humor and I envy his experience of having known all these colorful characters. It is a book with a lot of heart, that’s what I treasured the most- that and his ability to communicate without adding too many layers of wink-wink irony and allusion.”
Doug May, poet
"These poems are good for a laugh; lots of laughs. Not belly laughs--though there are some "howlers" in the collection, but mostly chuckles. Chuckles of recognition, because, Anderson's people are mine, ours: crazed, strange, whacked-out, or simply weird. Geeks, freaks, and preachers; flotsam from jail, hospital, detox, street corner, and pub; some home-folks too (like Anderson's father, a sodden "old man" holding down the family fort). A book of "mates" as well; soling their stubby's of beer, committing indecencies public and private, piss-ups large and small... Anderson never steps far from the quotidian, but boy, what a quotidian! Mondo bizarro episodes mixed with poems of unanticipated tenderness ("Frankie," "A View of a Friend"). Though inhabiting an Aussie or Canadian landscape, Anderson's "portraits," as he writes, akin to some found in American Southern Gothic writing: the madmen and women of Flannery O'Connor's first novel WISE BLOOD, for instance, and the backwoods simpletons found throughout William Faulkner's work...Some of the best poems of this collection are the short, simple, direct pieces of no wasted breath, "Arthur," "Hot Chips," and "Cowboys & Indians": "At the dress up party/ he could tell/ she liked his cowboy/ hat and boots. She taught him/ a thing or two/ about being/ in the saddle. How to turn/ a slow trot/ into a canter/ how to miraculously/ transition a giddy-up/ into a YEE-HAW/ galloping buck." In the poem "On Obscurity" Anderson offers a portrait of himself as an artist. I could say it no better than these beautifully written lines: "He paints portraits/ of exquisite ugliness...his mind a cursory, inquisitive brush/ a smashed palette of stooped consciousness...daubing an obscure flagging discontent/ into a smudged salute for the diminished..." On the short end of the stick, or rough end of the pineapple, Anderson makes his "characters" live on the page, and that, mate, is no small accomplishment."
Wayne F. Burke
George Douglas Anderson, The Rough End of the Pineapple, Uncollected Press, www.therawartreview.com, 2020, 148 Pages, $15. The title is an Australian colloquialism that can roughly be translated into “the shit end of the stick” in rude American. Anderson presides over poetry blog Bold Monkey which celebrates the “in the street, hail fellow well met, beer drinking bro” set. His own work travels that familiar route, yielding some outrageous, crazy-assed yarns. Anyone who has spent way too much time in a bar, as I have, would have a local version of these stories. Some of these rise to the level of folk legend. Anderson proves that what is true in the pubs of Wollongong Australia applies equally to say, pre-Covid, College Station, Texas or Utica, N.Y.
Alan Catlin, Misfit Magazine- Issue # 31, Fall 2020
"A commendable collection of poetry. Anderson's writing is accessible, and his worldview comes across on every page. Death walks beside us all in these gritty and graphic, yet intimate portrait poems. A book of grotesques. Darkly humorous and thoroughly entertaining."
Jason Gerrish
Buy the book here: https://therawartreview.com/2020/07/16/book-published-the-rough-end-of-the-pineapple-by-george-douglas-anderson/
The book is also available throughBarnes & Noble, Lulu and Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rough-Pineapple-George-Douglas-Anderson/dp/1716782732
Update: 19 September 2020
If you want to comment on the book on Goodreads wander over here. The book is also available through Amazon.au, Book Depository & Abe Books: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55374390-the-rough-end-of-the-pineapple?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=N14E4yw4XB&rank=1
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