Tight and intense, the poems of Corey Mesler are filled with surrealism, blunt realism, and hinted meanings. They don't explore topics so much as suggest them, leaving you to consider his words long after you've stopped reading them. And these words are worth thinking about, not to mention re-reading; they will delight you with their careful cleverness and depth.
Corey Mesler is the owner of Burke's Book Store, in Memphis, Tennessee, one of the country's oldest (1875) and best independent bookstores. He has published poetry and fiction in numerous journals including Yellow Silk, Pindeldyboz, Green Egg, Black Dirt, Thema, Mars Hill Review, Poet Lore and others. He has worked in the book business all his adult life, if he has had an adult life. He is also a book reviewer for The Memphis Commercial Appeal, The Memphis Flyer, Brightleaf and BookPage. He's been a pirate, a pauper, a puppet, a poet, a pawn and a king. A short story of his has been chosen for the 2002 edition of New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, edited by Shannon Ravenel, published by Algonquin Books. He also claims to have written "All Along the Watchtower." Talk is his first novel. He is now at work on a collection of linked stories, built from poorly remembered history and bent mythology. He enjoys racquet sports and "rough toweling." Most importantly, he is Toby and Chloe's dad and Cheryl's husband. You can write to him at resolemcrey@yahoo.com.
Corey's works here at Unlikely Stories are:
2002:
The Lyn Lifshin Cardboard Pyrex Harmonica Blues
Our Surrealist Home
Chronogram
From My Porch an Intercession