Fishing for Leviathan

Rodney DeCroo is a poet and survivor who has chosen poetry and song as his weapons of defense. His poems show what happens to the traumatized children of drunken, negligent and equally traumatized parents, living in powder keg homes. Fishing for Leviathan is not a work about the privileged and entitled, but the trapped wage-earners and broken labourers that make the world of the privileged possible. It is anointed with liberal quantities of booze and drugs, making the situations worse, but also making the days and nights bearable. Sobriety, meetings, counseling, therapy, and good friends are the balm and glue that put the broken back together again.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 96 pages
Publication date: 31 May 2023
Publisher: Anvil Press Publishers Inc

From the banks of the Allegheny River to the west coast of Canada, Rodney DeCroo emerges as a literary hybrid, a fighter and survivor who has chosen poetry and song as his formidable weapons of defense. Within these poignant verses, he unveils the harrowing consequences that befall the traumatized children of drunken, negligent, and equally traumatized parents. These children and teens find solace in hiding spots behind furnaces, on the streets, in abandoned houses, and in condemned factories, as their homes become powder kegs of instability. The pages of this book bear the stains of individuals who have experienced both profound cruelty and unimaginable suffering, including neglected Vietnam veterans, out-of-work coal miners, and desperate, violent men filled with rage against a world that has discarded them like empty canisters of propane.

Fishing for Leviathan is not a work that celebrates the privileged and entitled, but rather it sheds light on the trapped wage-earners and broken laborers who form the foundation of the privileged world. It is an ode to the struggles and resilience of the marginalized, anointed with liberal doses of alcohol and drugs that, while exacerbating the situations, also provide moments of respite and bearability. These poems emerge from a writer who has traversed a mile of shattered glass, emerging more or less intact. Sobriety, meetings, counseling, therapy, and the support of good friends serve as the healing balm and adhesive that piece together the broken fragments of life.

Advance praise for Fishing for Leviathan resounds, as Rodney DeCroo's work consistently demonstrates his status as a true poet among contemporary writing. Like all authentic poets, he inhabits a delicate balance between heaven and hell, and in this collection, he has unveiled a fierce and exquisitely honed collection of poems that seamlessly blend brutality and beauty. Fishing for Leviathan is a piercing imaginative document and a clear, redemptive revelation.

ISBN-13: 9781772142136