With a sense of the absurd reminiscent of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, John David Muth considers his job as an academic student counselor, with ominous if hilarious references to such disasters as the Lusitania, the Carpathia, and especially to the Titanic in his clever new collection, Work, Neighbors, and Ship Disasters. Toss in the COVID pandemic lockdown, and you have the Hindenburg hovering menacingly over you. Along with the bloodless bureaucrats and histrionic students with their exaggerated claims of hardship, there are the neighbors, like the woman who goes on at length explaining the significance of her sleeve tattoo, while Muth does his best to pay attention. And yet this same cynic can always be counted on by elderly neighbors requiring assistance, nieces in need of comfort. This is truly a delightful collection of poems.

—Charles Rammelkamp, author, See What I Mean? and The Tao According to Calvin Coolidge

John Muth again brings us the wryly considered life, a view from a tongue-in-cheek 21st Century Thoreau. These are pleasantly bleak insights into the current state of the human psyche. His current volume gives us Academy and Domestic life in the context of the great historic shipwrecks (a rewarding comparison that seems only slightly hyperbolic). We sail with him around bureaucratic shoals and the shark-infested waters of the contemporary neighborhood. I hear the honest plaint of befuddled, bemused humanity in these reassuring appraisals of the darkness of our times. And there are many hearty laughs in these vignettes of human folly to distract us while we consider mortality and life of Earth. I search in vain for the poet equal to John’s enjoyable portrait of the human condition. Here is a one-of-a-kind comic philosopher whose keen squint is superbly attuned to the scene he paints. More, please!

—John Browning

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Store Description

We first started out as ?The Paperback Exchange,? a chain of physical bookstores where we would part exchange your beloved books for new stories to transport you to faraway places. However, as shopping started to evolve to online shops and marketplaces, we bid our stores goodbye to become ?PBShop.? This transition has only allowed us to blossom as we now ship thousands of titles to book lovers across the globe. We pride ourselves in being a community of local book lovers which allows our passion and devotion to shine in everything we do. In 2020 we not only celebrated our 20th birthday but our 1st birthday as being completely employee owned after becoming an E.O.T in September 2019. We are proud to be different and embrace standing apart on a book mountain by working from a virtual inventory which allows us to provide thousands of books that may be difficult to get for your bookshelf or your studies. Working with a number of different suppliers allows us to explore other avenues such as puzzles, sheet music and even stationery so we really do have something for everyone. Life is about being versatile in all realms of existence. If this is your first visit or you are a returning customer, we would like to welcome you to the PBShop family, for there is no friend as loyal as a book. We are a company who put our customers at the centre of everything we do as we understand the importance of reading because once you learn to read, you will forever be free. There are a whole lot of things in this world of ours that we are yet to explore, which is why we will forever inspire curious minds.

Visit Seller's Storefront

Seller's business information

Pbshop.co.uk Ltd
Unit 22 Horcott Industrial Estate, Horcott Road, Fairford, GL7 4BX, United Kingdom

Sale & Shipping Terms

Terms of Sale

Returns Policy
We ask all customers to contact us for authorisation should they wish to return their order. Orders returned without authorisation may not be credited.
If you wish to return, please contact us within 14 days of receiving your order to obtain authorisation.

Returns requested beyond this time will not be authorised.

Our team will provide full instructions on how to return your order and once received our returns department will process your refund.
Please note the cost to return any...

More Information

Shipping Terms

Books are shipped from UK warehouse. Delivery thereafter is between 4 and 14 business days dependant upon your location - please do contact us with any queries you may have.

Shipping rates within U.S.A.

Shipping rates within U.S.A.
Order quantity	7 to 14 business days	7 to 14 business days
First item	US$ 0.00	US$ 0.00

Delivery times are set by sellers and vary by carrier and location. Orders passing through Customs may face delays and buyers are responsible for any associated duties or fees. Sellers may contact you regarding additional charges to cover any increased costs to ship your items.