The Strange Lives of Mr. Shakovo

About the Book

The outrageous, wildly imaginative, but carefully-crafted eighty-one poems of this modern epic quest often read like bizarre, riotously farcical dreams/nightmares, as they describe an anti-hero who tries to deal with a troubled self and world, and in the process makes an unexpected spiritual journey inspired by the Native American trickster/culture hero Nenabozho. Mr. Shakovo is frequently surprised and jolted by fantastic machines, creatures and atmospheres, as well as by such challenges as sexual desire, career, women, and friends, at times finding himself lost or grotesquely transformed. Ranging from short, introspective lyric to longer narrative, these poems have a rhythm and craggy, primal power appropriate to their subject.

About the Author

Charles Bachman, a native of Iowa, made his way to Buffalo by way of Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Germany, and Indiana, including three years in the U.S. Army. He holds a Ph.D in Comparative Literature from Indiana University, and is a Professor of English at Buffalo State College, where he has specialized in Native American Literature for more than twenty years. He has also had an active career in western New York as an operatic baritone, with twenty-six major roles and many solo appearances with groups including Opera Rochester, Artpark Opera under Christopher Keene, the Syracuse Symphony, and the Buffalo Philharmonic, as well as numerous song recitals. His poetry has appeared in The Kansas Quarterly, Rooftop Poets, House Organ, Elm Leaves, Hazmat Review, Autumn Leaves, Black Widows Web of Poetry, and The Carolina Quarterly. His first book of poems, If Ariel Danced on the Moon, was published in 2006, to high praise from Buffalo Artvoice, and two noted Native American writers: Anita Endrezze, and Marilou Awiakta. He is married to pianist/vocal coach Nancy Townsend, with whom, among other things, he is a gardening and hiking enthusiast. Two adopted feral cats add to the home atmosphere.