OUTING GEOFFREY GATZA: ONE OF THE GREATEST SECRETS IN CONTEMPORARY POETRY

Woooot! Meritage Press certainly begins 2009 with a bang! To wit:

MERITAGE PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT

Housecat Kung Fu: Strange Poems For Wild Children
By Geoffrey Gatza
Release Date: 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9794119-6-0
Price: U.S. $16.00
For more info: www.meritagepress.com and MeritagePress@aol.com

Geoffrey Gatza's poetry for children has been one of the greatest secrets in contemporary poetry.  Meritage Press is delighted to share this secret by releasing Gatza's inaugural book of poetry for children (of all ages): Housecat Kung Fu. 

To celebrate Gatza's historic release, Meritage Press is pleased to announce a RELEASE SPECIAL. For orders received through February 28, 2009, the book will be available at a 25% discount for $12.00. There will be free shipping as well to U.S. residents (if you are based outside of the U.S., please email MeritagePress@aol.com for the logistics). You can order by sending a check made out to "Meritage Press" to

Eileen Tabios
Publisher, Meritage Press
256 North Fork Crystal Springs Rd.
St. Helena, CA 94574

Gatza is the author of seven other books of poetry; his Not So Fast Robespierre and Kenmore: Poem Unlimited are available from Menendez Publishing.  He is also the editor and publisher of BlazeVOX [books].  Gatza lives in Kenmore, New York.  More information about him is available at http://geoffreygatza.com and http://blazevox.org.

Meritage Press is pleased to share an excerpt from one of the many delightful poems in Housecat Kung Fu -- this is from "Lorikeet Landing":

Last Wednesday I overheard
a rainbow colored bird say
wouldn't you bring to me

a listening booth
and a swimming tree

a comfy ocean chair
and some sand from Waikiki

a wisdom tooth
and a cup of crystal tea

a mystical flying mare
and a large screen TV

or maybe a common pea
and a castle floating in air...