Slow Trains Overhead: Chicago Poems and Stories Book

A collection of Northwester U faculty member Gibbons' poems and stories w/ a Chicago connection. Selected from 1986-2008, w/ most of them coming from the 1990's.

If you are not from Chicago I don't think you really feel the connection to the city. Hard to get into, after the first 30 pp you get a better feel for his odd metre, which he uses in his "fiction" as well as in his poetry. I say "fiction" since most of it is very short and reads more like poetry than your typical novel or short story. Extremely introspective. His best piece is where he lets this down, and his metre becomes more conversational. As in The Blue Dress, a poem that is more like a story, and Chicago is not really mentioned at all. But obviously this story of domestic violence is set in the Chicago of his mind.

Not an easy read. Illustrations from Tony Fitzpatrick (Chicago artist/graphic novelist/radio guest/dramatist/actor/man-about-town). Glad I read it, but still not sure it was worth the effort.