Farting Fire by Justin Blackburn

Hello, my book Farting Fire is out on Virgogray Press! You can order it at (www.virgograypress.blogspot.com) 

This is also to let you know that there are real people writing raw, vigorous poetry that is fearless, that flies straight to pain, delusion, doubt, and kisses it right on mouth, poetry that realizes all is beauty if you let be, poetry that understands the most evil man and holds him like a butterfly.  Poetry that writes its own poem that does not blame others for the ending, that never went to school, poetry that does not care about winning awards, that is written straight from the sword in the heart  There is a beautiful world inside and outside and this collection of poetry expresses it!

Here are a couple of poems and some reviews… 

Spring Christian Festival

I remember the first time I felt left out
I was five and the only kid who didn’t find an Easter egg
I cried and called my mother to come pick me up.

Today twenty years later my mother yelled at me
For being left out of society
Because I didn’t graduate college,
I don’t have a job,
And I am still living under her roof.

I left her house and started walking
To the place where the eggs were first hid
When I got there I still couldn’t find any
I cried and called my mother to come pick me up. 

Unlearning Hitlerature 

Jobs are for rednecks
College is for cutie pies
Money is impotent
Problems are lies
All people are lovable
Judgments disguise
All people are suicidal
Stupidity tries
Getting offended is awesome
Feeling embarrassed is sweet
Anything is possible
I am an idiot
Your God is whatever you want your God to be
Death is a disease
Knowledge knows nothing
Aliens are everywhere
Everyone has angels
Everything works out perfectly
Testicles are beautiful
Compassion is key
Emotional attachment is murder
I take retardation very seriously. 

sleepy timmy tambourine dreams of being a christian rapper  

i only want to see your art
i won’t need to ask you to see mine
my art is seeing your art alive

sleepy timmy tambourine dreams of being a christian rapper
but I only want to see his art
to see him smiling, dance,
to give him one drunken chance to be the most popular flapper

i am not in it for the money, the girls, the glory, or the fame
i am not in it because i want to write another chapter
i am just here to take your fear and make it laughter 

REVIEWS – FARTING FIRE   

Just when the world is getting a little too much to deal with, comes a collection of poetry so honest and true that it’s reality is quite relieving. Enter Justin Blackburn, light-healer, performance poet and all around great guy. Justin, who has authored two other books “ Gifted Disabilities” & “Its Hard to Get There When You’re Already There” now proffers his first publication of poetry which deliver a humble view of a twenty-something living life. “Farting Fire” is the answer to those moody blues that sometimes get us down. I really enjoyed reading his manuscript and was surprised at the humanity of some of his work which I encountered. Mr. Blackburn’s publication, Farting Fire, tackles many issues in life from relationships, to school, to parents, to poetry and everything in between. While some poems such as the title poem “Farting Fire” and “Every Fart that Made you Laugh” are light-hearted verse that will definitely bring a smile to the reader’s face, but what is more is the subtle wisdom one gleans when reading the work of this young poet. Take for example a poem like “Channel 2012 News” where Justin admonishes:

“Always be sure to say a prayer / before eating your food / other people cook it with their fears / Always remember to create your own reality with love / for other people are trying to create your reality / with their fears“

 Or consider, “The Homeless Man Told the Rich Man he was a Failure” in which Justin shares an anecdote about a homeless man offending a rich man by telling him he’s a failure for not having money to lend him. “Rich people are a dime a dozen.” Classic. All in all, Justin Blackburn’s Farting Fire is a candid look into the life and struggles of a young man whose brave enough to share words that, even when tackling difficult subjects like death, remain candid and fresh. –Michael Aaron Casares

REVIEW – DAILY GAMECOCK

Justin Blackburn, a former University of South Carolina student and poet, has had two small poetry books publishing over the last year. “Farting Fire,” published by Virgogray Press, and “Female Human Whispers,” Shadow Archer Press, are Blackburn’s third and fourth books and focused on homeless men, learning about women and everything in between. While the titles may catch a person off guard, there are some rather intriguing pieces of poetry, such as the one in “Farting Fire” titled “As my Pain Waits to Die,” in which pain is personified as a slouching roommate that you cannot get rid of, and as much you hate him, you feel jealous as soon as he moves on to someone else. Many of the poems do not follow any particular rhyme scheme or rhythmic outline like those typically taught in most high school English courses

Blackburn’s poems contain a certain raw quality that has the power to make readers wrinkle their noses and curl their toes at suggestions, and the occasional curse word thrown in for some shock value. Some of the poems do not even make sense, such as “Daddy Says Jesus was a Carpenter” from the book “Female Human Whispers.” In it, the first line talks about attending a Ku Klux Klan rally and then the speaker claims “he was dressed as an apricot.” Deeper symbolism seems to be missing. Why would you go dressed as an apricot? Is the speaker trying to suggest that they were of a different color, or that they were perhaps standing out at the meeting? Or, maybe the author is trying to insert a line just so he can move on to the next line of the poem.

Another poem from the book “Farting Fire,” “My Savior,” talks about a young man’s problem with being an outcast of society and being comfortable with himself, yet wanting to have sex with a girl and finding it difficult to accomplish. The poem’s lyrical quality is one of the better of the two books, where the poem portrays a man torn between satisfying his primeval urges and yet retaining his dignity, while coming to terms with self and accepting others as they are, even when they hurt you. The poem beckons readers to question everything we know about ourselves, asking if we could do what a savior does.

As it often is with critics and poetry, who can really determine what is good? When you first pick up a book, do you do anything more than glance at the cover and read a few pages before you set it down again? It is the same with a book of poems — you choose a few that you may find interesting without much thought. Keep in mind the rating given; while some of the poems are perhaps the worst you will ever read, there are those that stand out and actually have a deeper meaning to them. Test the boundaries of your comfort levels as you begin to delve deeper into the conscious that is self and enjoy these poems.  –Katie Crocker