Böcker av Charles Rammelkamp

What a glorious grab bag Charles Rammelkamp's latest, See What I Mean, is. Mixing mostly poetry with some flash fiction pieces, the collection takes us on a tour from the miserable life of Beethoven's nephew Karl, to the expedition that found the frozen remains of Robert Falcon Scott on the Antarctic Ross Ice Shelf, to the horrors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot when whites ripped through Greenwood, the Black section of town (from the point of view of a Black high school teacher, telling the horrible tale to his class and particularly to one disbelieving student), to the 21st century world of sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, and yoga, all observed with Rammelkamp's ironic eye and well-turned phrase. -Robert Cooperman, A Nightmare on Horseback (Kelsay Books) and Bearing the Body of Hector Home (FutureCycle Press)From the life and times of Peter Roget (father of the thesaurus) and Beethoven family drama, to recent pandemic restrictions and modern-day politics, See What I Mean? has it all: life and death; love and hate; war and peace; the guilt of privilege and the release of yoga-even mutating cooties! Spend some time with Charles Rammelkamp's latest collection and you'll ... see what I mean.-Eric D. Goodman, author of Wrecks & Ruins and Tracks: A Novel in StoriesThe title of Charles Rammelkamp's new poetry collection, See What I Mean? taps the reader on the shoulder and reels us in as participants in the harrowing social issues of our time-because these poems speak to us so fluently and are relatable. And we definitely see what Rammelkamp means. Who hasn't suffered from the repercussions of the coronavirus? A computer virus? Witnessed racism? The subject matter is hard hitting at times, addressing the reality of text message bullying and teen suicide, as in "Like Romeo and Juliet, Only Tragic," or rape, in "Twitterpated." These poems are meted out as one raw moment after the next, to remind us what this world is, and what we face as human beings grappling to understand what drives us to behave as we do.-Jennifer Juneau, author of More Than Moon and UberChef USA

Presto chronicles the adventures of an employee for a temp agency as he goes out on what often seem like absurd assignments for which he occasionally has to make up the rules as he goes along, improvise. As the sequence deepens, we see this unidentified character in later work situations. His attitude seems unchanged as he deals with the absurdities life throws his way.

Winner, 2022 Blue Light Poetry Prize Charles Rammelkamp is Prose Editor for BrickHouse Books in Baltimore, where he lives with his wife, Abby. The two are retired from federal government service. Rammelkamp is the author of several collections of monologue.There have been many biographies of Harry Houdini but nothing quite like A Magician Among the Spirits, a nod to Houdini's own book by the same title. Charles Rammelkamp gets right under Houdini's skin to create a first person poetic autobiography of sorts that brings the world's most famous escape artist to life. A Magician Among the Spirits is a fast moving, deeply engrossing story of magic, transformation, drama, mystery, travel, and trauma in 55 poems that trace the course of Houdini's life, from his first dabblings in magic to his slightly mysterious death described in the coda by bereaved wife Beatrice. A striking portrayal of Houdini, as richly lyrical as it is engrossing. - Magdalena Ball, Editor-in-chief, Compulsive Reader Charles Rammelkamp's engaging book of poems, A Magician Among the Spirits, presents the life of America's best-known magician, Harry Houdini. Escape becomes obsession, motif, and metaphor in this astonishing book. A Magician Among the Spirits, which appropriately takes its title from Houdini's own account of his campaign to expose fraudulent mediums, is a series of autobiographical monologues in Houdini's voice, with his wife, Bess, providing a coda after his death. These well-researched poems incorporate a wealth of detail, and reading this book is like listening to an entertaining raconteur. A Magician Among the Spirits will fascinate and delight both magicians and readers with a casual curiosity about Houdini. Rammelkamp is an impressive writer - both accomplished poet and masterful storyteller. - Miriam N. Kotzin, author of Debris Field. (David Robert Books 2017)