Toy Firing Squad
"The brilliant poems in Tom Chandler'sToy Firing Squadare both comically melancholy and seriously playful. Chandler's voice is wry, ribald, unconventional--yet his work is much more than a series of flashes and sparks. At the core of these poems is an intelligent compassion and articulate grace.Toy Firing Squadis an irresistible collection."--- Denise Duhamel, author ofTwo and TwoandMille et un sentiments"What we hear in Chandler's poems is the clear voice of the boy in the man. And because he knows that boys of a certain age are fierce in their anger and fear and despair, yet still stunned over and over by beauty, we listen to this man. We believe him."--- Marie Harris, Poet Laureate of New Hampshire emerita"Tom Chandler has written two occasional poems for my inaugurations. His words have captured the spirit and essence of what I and my co-workers are trying to create in the City of Providence. Tom Chandler's words about hope and our collective futures are talismans to me. I am honored that such a talented man has pointed his pen in my direction."--- David Cicilline, Mayor, Providence, Rhode Island"It would be easy to say that Tom Chandler is a Rhode Island poet. He does, after all, honor the Ocean State and some of its esteemed citizens. He even writes: 'I think I'd like to die in Rhode Island some day.' But the poems inToy Firing Squadfind the extraordinary in the ordinary, from clams to meatball subs; from cracked asphalt to cracked shale beds. 'Who would have thought,' Chandler asks, 'that hope still has wings?' We all do after reading these poems, whose reach is far beyond this small state. This is Chandler's gift. He makes us all believe in the simplest and the grandest of things."--- Ann Hood, author ofSomewhere Off the Coast of MaineandThe Knitting Circle