Proper Etiquette in the Slaughterhouse Line

by James H Duncan

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1.	Lunch Break 01:13	buy track
2.	The Work We Do 01:20	buy track
3.	Proper Etiquette in the Slaughterhouse Line 01:44	buy track
4.	Standards of Quality 03:21	buy track
5.	Don't Say I Didn't Warn You 01:23	buy track
6.	Park Avenue 00:39	buy track
7.	Soft White Infinity 01:58	buy track
8.	Revenant 00:46	buy track
9.	A Case of the Mondays 01:44	buy track
10.	The Cold Northern Edge of Your Rope 01:36	buy track
11.	Dance and Rattle 01:38	buy track
12.	At the End of All things 01:21	buy track
13.	Feast 01:23	buy track
14.	A Small Hymn for Whoever Comes Next 00:59	buy track
15.	Express Train Immolation 01:14	buy track
16.	Texas Pacific 01:08	buy track
17.	Through the Long Dark Night Alone 01:42	buy track

about

When our value is judged by our productivity, when we’re seen more as cogs in a machine than human beings, when the warnings of a world on fire are ignored by CEOs and politicians cashing in at every turn—doom is inevitable. These poems explore the grinding, churning world of the working class waiting in line for their turn in the slaughterhouse, and when the world begins to fall apart after years of dour warnings, we’re still expected to come in and punch the time-clock as the bombs fall, the water dries up, the toxins spread, and the end comes for each of us. But the boss is throwing a pizza party at 4 p.m., so don’t punch out too soon! From Gutter Snob Books.

“James Duncan shows his work. He is thorough and true. There is a cadence to these poems that goes beyond the poems themselves. The entire book moves like a train. Duncan uses language as a vehicle in which the reader truly travels. There are depots and little worlds along the journey. There are tiny poems inside each poem itself. His poems are crafted like stories told between friends, stories too painful to tell, stories written in real time and reflection, stories that are windows and stories that are lessons learned through the grinding grief and unpredictable joy that define nearly every life ever lived. Duncan reminds us that our lives are large, real and precious, but so much is lost in the paperwork and the phone call and the everyday business of our lives. This book is a catalog of the glory and the desperation of being alive in a world that challenges decency. These poems fight to deny that challenge, to disregard it even as we live it and see it out the windows of our brains, our bargains with ourselves and as we bump along the tracks of our lives. Duncan reminds us that "if you’re going to die, die with decency.” — Dena Rash Guzman, author of Joseph and Life Cycle

credits

released May 20, 2022

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about

James H Duncan Albany, New York

James H Duncan is the editor of Hobo Camp Review and the author of 17+ books of poetry and fiction, including Proper Etiquette in the Slaughterhouse Line, We Are All Terminal But This Exit Is Mine, and Vacancy. A former editor with Writer’s Digest and American Artist magazine, he travels and reviews indie bookshops at The Bookshop Hunter blog. He resides in upstate New York. ... more