Blue-Collar Poetry: A Review of Bill Cushing’s Just a Little Cage of Bone

What do Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tom Petty, and Henry “Hank” Aaron have in common? If you responded with “They all became American icons,” I would agree with you. However, they are also topics addressed by poet Bill Cushing in his 99-page collection, Just a Little Cage of Bone (Southern Arizona Press, 2023).

The “About the Author” section of Cushing’s collection indicates that his University of Central Florida nicknamed him “the blue-collar poet.” Based on the sixty-plus pieces in this collection, Cushing’s classmates chose an apt moniker for him. He writes on a plethora of traditionally “poetic” topics and themes in Bone, including love, death, remorse, memory, and courage. However, what sets him apart from other poets here is his knack for addressing “commonplace” topics such as sports heroes, musical artists, classic films, and fast-food franchises in poetic terms.

It may be a worthwhile exercise to ask ourselves, “What is a traditional poetic topic in twenty-first century America, this land of Twitter (now X), DoorDash, and ChatGPT?” “Do poets still contemplate ravens and Grecian urns?” Bill Cushing’s response to this last question may be “yes and no”: He is just as comfortable addressing the nature of evil in “Gates of Hell” as he is lamenting the death of traditional, “sit-down” dining in “Foregoing the Franchises.” In the latter poem, Cushing’s speaker compares high-quality, traditional restaurants with fast-food joints such as McDonald’s and Burger King. Cushing writes, “Don’t ask me to eat soggy eggplant / drowned in tomato sauce / at Olive Garden”. Thank God “there is Domenico’s, / filled with the aroma of tiger shrimp / mixed with Alfredo.”

William P. Cushing’s poetry collection is a richly textured meditation on American popular culture, music, sports, courage, and numerous other topics. If you are like me and enjoy contemporary poetry that does not require the constant use of a thesaurus (but compels you to further research the subject at hand), this is the poetry collection for you.

To call Bill Cushing a “blue-collar poet” only describes one facet of his rich talent. Cushing also writes rich meditations and deeply-felt odes to the many aspects of life that make it worth living. I highly recommend this superb collection.