American poet and author, Thomas W. Case
- poetrylover888
- Feb 6
- 4 min read
Thomas W. Case is an American poet and author. He has many poems published in anthologies around the world, including Lyrical Iowa, Deft Poetry Review, and Order of the Pen to name a few. He has won several spoken word poetry competitions and his recently published book, Seedy Town Blues Collected Poems is available on Amazon.com.
Here is a link to Rise Up Collected Poems and Short Stories by Thomas W. Case
"Seedy Town Blues Collected Poems" by Thomas W. Case is a compelling collection that captures the essence of everyday life with a raw, gritty edge. Born in Oxnard, California, Case has a reputation for his evocative and powerful poetry, earning comparisons to Leonard Cohen and Charles Bukowski. This volume, featuring poems that have appeared in numerous anthologies worldwide, showcases Case's unique voice and unflinching honesty. His work has been celebrated in Lyrical Iowa and the Poetry in Public Project Iowa City. "Seedy Town Blues" is a must-read for lovers of contemporary poetry, offering a poignant, explosive glimpse into the human experience.
Here are a few reviews.
Hans Ostrom
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2024
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The poems are so readable in this volume that I ripped through it pretty quickly, but I'll be going back to it many times. That's how inviting it is. The comparisons to Bukowski's poetry are obvious: fast-moving free verse in what we assume is the author's voice; struggles with alcohol addiction, self-destructive impulses, and women; a hard-nosed, honest look at the world. But Case is his person and his poet. What struck me rather quickly in these poems are the connections to people, something you get rather rarely in Bukowski's book. Even in rehab or homelessness under a bridge, Case is still connecting with people, and the relationships with women evoked here are varied. Case is more of a social animal than Bukowski. There is also great intelligence here (as there is with Bukowski) -a mind at work. Many great turns of phrase--a poem in which he feels as if he's entering a battle without a shield, and this: "Fear is like/the shadow of a bat/larger than life." The range of emotions and ideas here is enviable, and in the voice and short-lined free verse, Case has found a groove that works, to say the least. A fine, fine collection of poetry.
jacob erin-cilberto
Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2024
A review of Seedy Town Blues—collected poems by Thomas W. Case.
Wow! What a journey this large book of poems is as the reader escapes into the world of poet Thomas W. Case and finds he or she has crossed over into a world that is much like looking into a mirror.
We see ourselves in our youth, we experience our own addictions through the words of this poet. We envision the end of our journey with the constant struggle to avoid that final stride, final turn of the pen, that last poem with our last gasp of breath. Thomas takes us to our own youth in his poem, “Birth of a Poet” speaking of being 5 years old, “My creativity was feral/ the paint was peeling/ and/ the sun beat down upon me.”
Early in our Seedy Town Blues journey, we are privy to the author’s reflections on “What Might Have Been”:
“looking out
The window and
watching the rain fall
again on the green
meadows
Thinking about
what might
have
been”
He talks of drinking too much and what drove him to it. In one poem he applies guilt to himself as he relays to us about his mother looking for help to find her red sweater and his being too sleepy and hungover to help her look. She borrows his car and that is the last time he sees her---
He writes:
There has been an itch
to punish myself
I’m not Freud, but maybe
that’s why I drink so
much
Happy Mother’s Day.”
In another poem, he mentions “a somber rain began to fall.” He had just received news of a friend’s suicide. Likening the falling rain to the falling spirit after having heard tragic news is poet parallel. This poet does that quite often in his poetry.
His poetry is intelligent, raw, and from the gut of life. Not pretty poetry to embrace with smiles. It makes us look inside ourselves and ask, “What Might Have Been” and wonder if there is still time with
“…icy/ wind in my/ bones” to suggest “spring will come/ eternally to/the core of who/I really am/ and for that / I celebrate.”
We all ask who we are, and some of us come to terms with that fact through writing poetry, unleashing words to guide us like service dogs into the process of discovery. And many of us will find that we have some Seedy Town Blues within us.
This book kept me turning pages filled with self-reflection and self-discovery.
(jacob erin-cilberto, author of Fishing for Intellectual Meteors)
Here is Thomas's fb page and YouTube channel link.
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