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Paul Handley
Author of 5 Tool Poet

I work for the Feds in what I hope is in the tradition of other government employees such as Herman Melville, Robert Burns and Henri Rousseau.  I grew up in the Chicago burbs and now believe that I belong in Denver where, fortunately, I live.  My only education from junior high through high school was derived from an insatiable reading habit, since I never studied.  I ended up with an MA, an MPA, and am ABD.  In addition, there were a series of odd jobs such as driving a cab, selling meat door-to-door, processing fish in Alaska and Director of a truck driving school.  My favorite book of the last ten years is Home Land by Sam Lipsyte.  I have poems included in publications such Anemone Sidecar, Glass:  A Journal of Poetry, Orange Room Review, Pemmican, and The Smoking Poet.

Don't forget to pick up a copy of 5 Tool Poet in print or ebook!


  Available May 1, 2012


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About 5 Tool Poet:

The poems in this book come from different phases I went through while writing them.  There was a stretch involving a fascination with sound blended with absurdity and humor.  Autobiography in the loosest sense formed a basis of many of the works.  Using my experiences and playing with them to find alternative outcomes is much safer on the page.  My political observations were explicitly and subtlety interjected into the local and foreign. 

The majority of poems aim for humor whether silly or funny just because the situation being described is so sad; it’s the only way to face it.  I want my first book of poems to display the rawness exhibited in many first novels, that are often more engaging in what the authors let slip because their lack of professionalism hasn’t self-edited out revealing thoughts, emotions and the willingness to experiment before they find their groove.       

I work for the Feds in what I hope is in the tradition of other government employees such as Herman Melville, Robert Burns and Henri Rousseau.  I grew up in the Chicago burbs and now believe that I belong in Denver where, fortunately, I live.  My only education from junior high through high school was derived from an insatiable reading habit, since I never studied.  It took me five years to complete high school, including repeating freshmen year at a Catholic military school (as freakish as it sounds).  I idolized various authors and thought the highest form of achievement was to write a book.  I didn’t have much confidence in my ability and felt that if I was forced to write, I would end up hating it and I dreaded that I would resent what I held in the highest regard.  I also had the idea that learning how to write would squash any unique approach that I might have.  Who knows?  I studied political science instead of literature and ended up with an MA, an MPA, and am ABD.  In addition, there were a series of odd jobs such as driving a cab, selling meat door-to-door, processing fish in Alaska and Director of a truck driving school.  The jobs were mostly unpleasant, but valuable experiences that I would trade for the right offer.  My middle age sports have included a summer of Gaelic Hurling and completing an Ironman.  I eventually wrote an unpublishable book about my religious/military experience with Sci Fi elements thrown in.

My favorite book of the last ten years is Home Land by Sam Lipsyte.  My favorite movie scene is with Dennis Quaid and Christopher Walken in True Romance.  I saw the Black and Blue tour (Blue Oyster Cult & Black Sabbath) twice, but now I go to folk/jazz festivals, and catch Camper Van Beethoven/Cracker when they come to town.  I have a beautiful wife, daughter and a very supportive family.  I have poems included in publications such Anemone Sidecar, Glass:  A Journal of Poetry, Orange Room Review, Pemmican, and The Smoking Poet.

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