Odes
poems by
Ralph J. Long, Jr.
~96 pages, $15 (+ shipping)
Projected Release Date: October/November 2025
An Advance Sale Discount price of $9 (+ shipping) is available HERE prior to press time. This price is not available anywhere else or by check. The check price is $13.50/book (which includes shipping & sales tax) and should be sent to: Main Street Rag, 12180 Skyview Drive, Edinboro, PA 16412.
PLEASE NOTE: Ordering in advance of the release date entitles the buyer to a discount. It does not mean the book will ship before the date posted above and the price only applies to copies ordered through the Main Street Rag Online Bookstore.
Ralph J. Long Jr. has authored two chapbooks, Polaroids at a Yard Sale (Main Street Rag, 2021) and A Democracy Divided (Poetry Box, 2018). He was selected as a finalist for 2020 Marsh Hawk Press Prize. His work has appeared in the anthologies: Ambrosia: A Conversation About Food and Simpsonistas: Volume 4 and Cloudbank, Common Ground Review, Peregrine, Sisyphus, South 85 Journal and elsewhere. Born in Brooklyn, New York, a graduate of Haverford College, he lives in Oakland with his wife, Liz.
In a time when it might feel difficult to celebrate, Odes arrives to lift our spirits. Bold, intense, humorous, and with a sound and sensibility all its own, Odes is a collection of delightful surprises. Whether investigating a kumquat, a glacier, a part of speech or a traditional poetic device or form, Long invites readers to stop, look, and listen, something we might need to do now more than ever. A sparkling book! ~Caroline Goodwin, author of Old Snow, White Sun and Matanuska
Odes may surprise us for the absence of heroes and world-transforming events. Yet, by singing with unpretentious words and dancing prose-poetry, with gentleness and sense of duty, humor and nostalgia, these poems capture the mystery of our existence, as we engage in the never-ending conversation with the humble objects and small deeds in our lives. These fragments of infinity invite us to reflect upon and pay homage to them every day. ~Daniela Gobetti
Ode to a crossword puzzle
Daily tester of wit, each morning
hours are lost casting into memory’s
pools pondering words as elusive as
any fabled fish. Misdirection and puns
are no peaceful eddy to solve a theme.
A folie a deux with your creator might
allow for a trade of pencil and eraser
for bold black ink to record solutions
to schemes hiding Across and Down.
I stay deeply tangled in perplexities
even though aioli, ennui, apse, nave,
ogee, and oriel are no longer exotic.
Ode to café espresso
Dear bitter friend,
progeny of pressure
and steam, I crave
your easy company.
The jolt of your
small cup brings
vitality. Rattle and
hiss are clarions
of crema rising, so
much better than
too long warmed
percolated coffee
served with sugar
and without care.
An afternoon break
with amaretti salves
work’s tedium when
a siesta is not to be.
Only in darkness as
your corretto grappa
persona appears does
loyalty wane. For
tomorrow, a doppio
will be a necessity
to restore our amity.
Ode to city newspapers as they fade away
No more thuds before the alarm sounds when
a paper boy threw news of the world at the door.
No unfolding of sports, business, politics and comics
into sections at breakfast before the daily commute.
No more ink-smeared hands with residue of who, what,
when, where, and why sending clothes to dry cleaners.
No worries that the swirling gust of air from the express
will blow the crossword to the track before its finished.
No yellow and brittle scrapbooks to be cherished
when sports heroes and movie stars have disappeared.
No hyperbolic tabloid headlines to entice at newsstands
and cause an hour of chagrin at an impulsive purchase.
No more Caen and Hamill and Landers, instead an age
of ever-changing algorithmic electrons lacking reflection.
Companion of interesting days, I fear a final edition nears.
