Randolph Bridgeman
If you think of poetry as relegated to either Valentine's Day greeting cards or to literature class textbooks understandable only to literature professors, then you haven't read a Bridgeman Poem. His poems are for and about the everyman -- around us and in us, whether we acknowledge that everyman or not.
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Randolph Bridgeman's fifth book
"The Not So Happy Hour Poems" forthcoming in the Fall of 2024
Randolph Bridgeman's fourth collection of poetry is not your parent's Literature class poetry. In a handful of spare lines, each of his poems presents an unflinching and unfiltered glimpse of the inner and outer lives of characters, many of whom if they lived next door, you would move away from as quickly as possible. Some poems are tender, some are funny, some are insightful, some are meaningless , some are vulgar, and some are decidedly not P.C. But they are all one man's unique and often irreverent observations and reflections on growing up and growing older, on religion and spirituality, on American society and culture , on the working class and the underclass, on relationships, on life. The Poet Laureate of Cracker Town is the reality TV of poetry.
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Wendy Miller Kibbler, poet, artist and book revier
Randolph Bridgeman has a BA in English and MA in English and Creative Writing. He is the recipient of the prestigious Edward T. Lewis Poetry Prize. He was a Lannan Fellow for the Folgers Shakespearian Theater 04-05 poetry reading series. He teaches poetry in the Great Mills High School, 21st Century Program. His poems have been published in numerous poetry reviews and anthologies. His poem Crazy Bob’s Used Car Radio Tips, was nominated for a 2017 Pushcart Prize. He has four books of poems, South of Everywhere 2005, Mechanic on Duty 2008, The Odd Testament 2013, The Poet Laureate of Cracker Town 2015, and The Not So Happy Hour Poems forthcoming in 2024.