Philly Poetry Chapbook Review is pleased to feature Daniel Damiano’s poem “Frank’s Shoebox” as our first featured chapbook poem of Issue 5: September/October 2024. You can find more of her poetry in his chapbook, The Concrete Jungle and the Surrounding Areas now available from Bottlecap Press.
Frank’s Shoebox
It preceded me by decades,
this little red
Depression-era box,
a coffin of shoe-polishing accessories
unaltered from when it was his;
the half-used tins of Griffin’s Black
and Esquire’s Brown Polish,
along with Meltonian White Shoe Cream
asleep in mummified rags
with buffer brushes,
their bristles still firm,
the collective smells aged and subdued,
and all at least of an octogenarian age;
thirty years older than he ever lived to be,
and perhaps that’s why
this old shoebox of my Grandfather’s
remains a companion,
having travelled
from the onset of my Garden State pubescence
down to my Orange State adolescence
and ultimately up to the Big Apple of my adulthood
where it resides today
on my living room floor,
its circus-themed, gold-lettered “Shine”
emblazoned on its side
that every now and then
exclaims through the dust
and reminds me
why it’s still
with me.
About the Poem
I wrote this particular poem in homage to my grandfather’s shoebox, which has been with me for almost the entirety of my life. Since my grandfather (Frank Basile) died when I was 4, my inheritance of it through my grandmother, as far as I can remember, was fairly instantaneous. And so the poem was inspired by my finally taking in the fact that, for as much as things come and go through the course of one’s many geographic relocations, there are sometimes those things that remain a constant, if inanimate, companion.
Daniel Damiano
Author Bio
Daniel Damiano is an acclaimed novelist, award-winning Playwright, Pushcart-nominated Poet and acclaimed Actor based in Brooklyn, NY, where he lives with his wife Judy and cat Chula. His first novel, The Woman in the Sun Hat, was published in 2021 by fandango 4 Art House and was a 2021 Seattle Book Review Beach Read Recommendation. This was followed by his first book of poetry, 104 Days of the Pandemic (2021) and his second novel, Graphic Nature (2022), also published by fandango 4 Art House. His acclaimed play Day of the Dog was published in 2018 by Broadway Play Publishing. His poetry has heretofore been published in Gyroscope Review, Curlew Quarterly, Quagmire Magazine, Crooked Teeth Literary Magazine, New Voices Anthology, Cloudbank, Newtown Literary Journal and HotMetal Press. He recently completed an acclaimed run of his solo play, One With the Current, which ran at 36th Street Studio Theatre in NYC. He also recently completed his third novel, Advice from a Cat. He along with his wife Judy Alvarez are co-founders of fandango 4 Art House, a NYC-based theatre and arts company focusing on new work and creative expression.
From The Concrete Jungle and the Surrounding Areas
The Concrete Jungle and the Surrounding Areas contains both observational and personal poems from humorous and, at times, moving vantage points by Pushcart-Award nominated Poet Daniel Damiano. Some take aim at the unflinching reality of life in a formidable city, while others go further back to Damiano’s adolescent past. Within that span, the collection moves seamlessly from transportive odes on the absurdities of life, aging, childhood, survival, along with affectionate homages to the wildlife of the city. Some are about birds. One is about a moth. One is about two feral cats. And most contain the undeniable backdrop of New York City.
Contents
Check out new poetry books for the week of 9/3 from Press 53, Variant Lit, Orison Books, Red Hen Press, Signal Editions, Knopf, New Directions, Wesleyan University Press, Bloodaxe Books, Blair, Third Man Books, BOA Editions Ltd., Copper Canyon Press and University of Pittsburgh Press.
Chapbook Poem: Frank’s Shoebox by Daniel Damiano
Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for September 2024, “Frank’s Shoebox” from The Concrete Jungle and the Surrounding Areas by Daniel Damiano, along with a few words from the poet.
Poetry Chapbooks (August 2024)
Check out our round-up of poetry chapbooks published in August 2024 by Small Harbor Publishing, Gnashing Teeth Publishing, Bottlecap Press and Finishing Line Press.
Check out new poetry books for the week of 9/10 from Lost Horse Press, Curbstone Books 2, Finishing Line Press, Brick Books, Alice James Books, University of Georgia Press, Four Way Books, University of Pittsburgh Press, Hub City Press, Autumn House Press, New Directions, Grayson Books and Wave Books.