A chapbook by James Payne

• First published in a limited run of 200 copies, March 2011 (MHP – 002)
• Thirty poems in forty-three pages
• 5.5″ x 5.5″ pages, screen printed covers by Shout Out Loud Prints

Selections from the Chapbook

Previously published in differing versions at the following locations:

• “666etwood Mac” and “Practical Mathematics” at Haggard and Halloo
• “Poem for Sitting in Panera” and “Occupy Everything” at Metazen
• “A Bedtime Prayer” “Andy Gardner’s Milk” and “Nature Morte” at New Wave Vomit
• “Books of Love” and “Ice Cream Etiquette” at Slingshot Litareview

Press

Official reader’s Guide to Allusions, References, and Word Usage
An audio Version of the Austerity Pleasures, as read by the author

Reviews

“I like it when poetry traditionally formatted (which I usually can’t get through) is transformed into something special by a serious sense of wordplayfulness and a grim outlook. Payne’s Austerity Pleasures can do that, it’s stubborn and good.” – Edie Fake

“These poems caused me to think more about economic class and about what I own versus what I need. The poems also re-excited me about simple things in my life that I don’t always stop to appreciate. ‘Austerity Pleasures’ is proof that good things come out of struggle.” – Dan Tarnowski

“It’s really nice to see something so well put together that, at the same time, doesn’t take itself too seriously. And Austerity Pleasures, by the way, is in fact well put together. Literally. A well constructed, little chapbook that’s nice to hold in your hands.” – Literary Chicago

“One of my favorite pieces is “Andy Gardner’s Milk”, and in it you get a sense of the pattern that Payne feels caught in. It is a cycle of wake, do nothing, sleep, wake. There is underlying ambition that flickers and fades. Through out the collection there is this feeling of wanting more but wanting nothing at all.” – Chicago Subtext

*Want to write a review or do an interview?  Send an email to richard@monsterhousepress.com

To purchase for $4 ppd, click below: