The second edition of Marie Kazalia's first book of poetry, Erratic Sleep in a Cold Hotel, is now available. This edition contains previously unpublished poetry by Kazalia as well as new photographs by Emjay Rust. Here's what the publisher, Phony Lid Publications, said about the first edition:

This collection of poems presents the vivid reality of a disengaged life through sometimes disturbing yet intriguing images of a woman immersed in the urban struggle, faced with compromising accommodations in run-down hotels in the Mission district, encounters with street derelicts, homelessness and her own sense of sexuality. The poems capture with poignant vitality the observations of the author as she readjusts to American life on her return to San Francisco from four years as an expatriate in the Orient. Like black and white photography these confessional poems will draw you into a world that is frighteningly honest and deeply personal.

All-Purpose Tragedy is Marie Kazalia's second book of poems. The publisher, CC Marimbo, had this to say about it:

Marie Kazalia takes the virgin customer seeking the definitive roller coaster ride on an up-and-down sweep of emotions able to stop midstroke, then restart in the next breath’s explosion of brutal--pierced with banalities--realities, made occasionally tender because her voice cares with each heartbeat she leaves on the page. A smattering of those pages hereby made available in this modest collection.

Several of the poems have previously appeared in small press periodicals, including Curbstone review, Nite Writers International Literary Journal, gluestick, Heeltap and others. The majority of the work, however, is presented in All-Purpose tragedy for the first time.

You can order All-Purpose Tragedy for $4.95, direct from the publisher at Randy Fingland, 510-843-7869, CC Marimbo, PO Box 933, Berkeley, CA 94701.