Debut poetry collection from writer and publisher, Michael B. Tager from Akinoga Press.
The poems within POP CULTURE POETRY: THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION explore our relationship with celebrity. They're about David Attenborough & 90s Hip Hop, Bjork, toxic masculinity, Patrick Swayze, The Golden Girls, nostalgia and vulnerability, Whoopi Goldberg, Justin Bieber, video games and Queen, yes, but they're also about the author, and also about you, and you (and yes, you in the back). They're funny, because Michael B. Tager is funny, but also they're really not, because he is never actually joking.
"POP CULTURE POETRY uses the imagination with a grounding in real life to explore pop culture. Tager use of what we know and what we may wish for is an interesting take on commenting on celebrity and character. Overall, these poems are cool and you should buy this book!"
--Tyrese Coleman, author of How to Sit and Spectacle
"POP CULTURE is a joyful devotional to our intoxicating parasocial relationships with celebrities and a razor-sharp critique of the world that creates their fame in the first place. Tager fiercely befriends everyone from Bjork to Bieber with a poetic energy that calls the stars down to earth, while shooting the reader straight into the stratosphere. By the time you finish reading, you'll thank this book for being a friend, and travel back again to the first page."--Erin Vachon, editor-at-large
"I read POP CULTURE POETRY COLLECTION in chunks on a couple of lazy Sundays in between watching episodes of Adam Eats the 80s, an accidental but wonderfully joyful pairing. Poetics of Björk and Justin Bieber segueing into the history of Panda Express and Cinnabon in mall food courts; lyrical looks at Swayze and Golden Girls and Whoopi Goldberg as lead-in to the short-lived Domino's breakfast pizza. A perfectly well-balanced meal of nostalgia and pop culture, memory and fun."--Aaron Burch, Editor of HAD and author of Year of the Buffalo and A Kind of In-Between
"These poems joyfully mine the depths of popular culture in unique ways that invite a warmth, a generosity that sparks both a relationship with memory and beauty. The writing is playful, but also takes its subjects, and the worlds it has built, seriously, approaching them with care. An incredibly fun book to read."--Hanif Abdurraqib, author of A Little Devil in America
"We fuck with this book hard."--Rejection Letters
Poetry. Art. Film. Music. Family & Relationships. Jewish Studies.
Michael B. Tager is a writer and publisher from Baltimore. He is the Managing Editor of Mason Jar Press and the author of Pop Culture Poetry: the Definitive Collection (Akinoga Press). He doesn't much care for cucumbers, the works of Charlotte Bronte, nostalgia, or the Oxford Comma (but he loves it if you do). He adores Colin Firth, Tokyo Drift, and BlackPink. His work has been published widely, but not extremely so.
