Cover concept which I put together with help from my tattooist, Tommy Bucket.
All The Feral Dogs of Los Angeles
From Benjamin Blake (Southpaw Nights) and Cole Bauer, comes the new split poetry collection All The Feral Dogs of Los Angeles. Poems full of life, death, dust, lust and liquor, All The Feral Dogs of Los Angeles reads like a drunken love-letter to the City of Fallen Angels.
Benjamin Blake
Lights & Sirens
Roadside surgery
Performed in back rooms of low-lit bars
I came so close to bleeding out
That I made my peace with God
Then renounced His very name
Some things are just not worth it
Patched up and back behind the wheel
A quart of brandy my old-time remedy
For the shivers and shakes
That set in with alarming regularity
These old bones won’t rattle forever
I closed my eyes as I drove through her town
I couldn’t bear to take it in
As Seldom Before
I wish I still had
The photograph I took
Of you sprawled back on your makeshift mattress
Inebriated and shirtless
The one that you made me get rid of
I've forgotten what it feels like
To share a bed
With someone the opposite sex
And same species
Cole Bauer
Shadows of palm trees
Tv show and movies
They only show you the palm trees
With rooftops of homes
And skyscrapers up in the air
With the ocean in the furthest distance
Perfect paradise
The reality of this heaven
Is below in the shadows of beauty
The dirt, shit, piss, puke
Cops making arrests
Hookers and homeless and thieves
Pushers and drugs
Booze and sex
Murder and betrayal
Both views of this golden state
Have their qualities and character
It's just sad that so many
Don't know the truth
And can't appreciate it
Like us locals
Wilmington kittens
Tired
And high
Beyond belief
I stood in the kitchen
Smoking and falling asleep standing up
And then it happened
I heard the world's loudest
And most street
Cat fight
From outside that window
Somewhere
Hissing
Meows
All long and drawn out
And then it ended
No winner declared
Hope none were hurt or killed
But
The sound of hood never sounded so sweet
To that
Badass pussy
Benjamin Blake
Benjamin Blake was born in the July of 1985, and grew up in the small town of Eltham, New Zealand. Blake spent time in Southern California several years back, and fell in love with Los Angeles whilst he bummed around, drank, and smoked too many packs of Camel Lights. After spending a night camping out on the side of the 101 with a fellow hobo, he went and stayed at LAX for five days, where he lived like a king before flying back to New Zealand. He has had poetry and prose published all over the world in various magazines and journals, and is also the author of the poetry/prose collections, A Prayer for Late October, Southpaw Nights, Reciting Shakespeare with the Dead, and the novel, The Devil’s Children. He plans to make it back to L.A. as soon as he can. For the meantime, he will continue to share his bed with a schnauzerXpoodle named Danny.
Cole Bauer
Cole Bauer was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, America in 1983. He moved to San Diego, California in 1990 and was raised there until becoming an adult. He has also spent a few years in Houston, Texas with travel all over the United States. He's worked many jobs and has known many people. Combine all that inspirational history with an urge to create and you have a library of screenplays, short stories, and also, right here, poetry. From self-publishing to contests to submitting to publishers and studios, Cole Bauer brings a wide range of material with him as he tries to keep the creative juices flowing towards an audience who can relate. That group of Bukowski and Fante readers that need to make it through, like he did with the greats. He currently lives in Los Angeles in the golden state with his wife, Mia, and dog, Rupert.
Cole Bauer was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, America in 1983. He moved to San Diego, California in 1990 and was raised there until becoming an adult. He has also spent a few years in Houston, Texas with travel all over the United States. He's worked many jobs and has known many people. Combine all that inspirational history with an urge to create and you have a library of screenplays, short stories, and also, right here, poetry. From self-publishing to contests to submitting to publishers and studios, Cole Bauer brings a wide range of material with him as he tries to keep the creative juices flowing towards an audience who can relate. That group of Bukowski and Fante readers that need to make it through, like he did with the greats. He currently lives in Los Angeles in the golden state with his wife, Mia, and dog, Rupert.