Book Description

Ground Pork is the first collection of poetry to be released by Thomas Porky McDonald. Containing the first five poem books written by McDonald, whose work is often defined by his depictions of the world of baseball, Ground Pork gives an insight into the poet's earliest verses. Conceived from 1989 through early 1994, the innocence of his first two works, Second...to Verse...Baseball Poems, and some other stuff and Eternal Postcards, does leave the reader with an anticipation of the more centered and powerful verses to come. Signature pieces "The Park That Isn't There " and "Queensbridge", (from Second to Verse) and "Once" and "Skipper's Song", (from Eternal Postcards) display a depth that only grows in books three through five. Some Came Lost, which was written just before a time of great turmoil for McDonald, reflects back to the 20s of a man crossing into his 30s, and emotionally bridges the initial offerings with books four and five. "Just a Walk on Flatbush Avenue" and "Someday Demolition Men" in particular, release a part of the soul of this self-styled "Ramble Poet". Fugitive in your Face (poetry in Exile) and Out Here in...Crazyland the fourth and fifth books in this collection, were driven out from March through September of 1994, while the writer faced suspension and expulsion from work. This time also included an arrest, with charges later dropped, stemming from a classic case of bureaucracy gone amok, and a positive drug screening following re-instatement into the workplace. Hence, the pieces "Lonesome Majesty" and "After Crash Landing" in Fugitive In Your Face, and "Crazyland" and "Loons" in Out Here in... Crazyland. In addition, the uncertainty of the time produced moments of memorable verse, such as "Tall Girls Blessed With Greasepaint" (Fugitive), "Rest Alive" and "Where the Angels Bow to the Grass" (Crazyland). Ground Pork leaves off in late 1994, from which the most prolific time of the poet's life would soon commence. As such, it is a lasting insight into the very soul of a man whose goal appears to be bringing back the art of baseball poetry.