Buddy Wakefield

Buddy Wakefield's third book, Gentleman Practice, documents the figurative contents of a man's body attempting to stand firm in the presence of all that is. It's a poetry book, from the perspective of a journal entry in the National Archives. The National Archives live in a building in Seattle behind barbed wire, directly next door to the Center for Spiritual Living. This is no accident. Gentleman Practice is a disarming de-haunting of accidents. There are no stunt doubles performing the honesty in this book. Head raised and victorious, he has crafted a translation of the human spirit on a small, practical patch, with a very fine tooth indeed. And, while many poetry books read like a thick epic series of sections, Gentleman Practice will no doubt rest in your hands like a well-oiled novel.

Gentleman Practice

Composed of journal entries and poems, recording such events as a poetry slam at San Quentin State Prison and a personal vision at a mediation retreat.

Live for a Living

Anis Mojgani

Derrick Brown

Robbie Q. Telfer

This book contains poetry from a small team of wildly unique, talented and award-winning authors who have been touring the world for years. They have united for a once in a lifetime tour to perform their work and to charge the hearts of America with gut-splitting, lust wrangling, socially active verse. This is the Junkyard Ghost Revival.

Junkyard Ghost Revival

A Choir of Honest Killers, Buddy Wakefield's first new book of prose and poetry in eight years, is an episodic novel exploring his creative climb out of the gritty underbelly of anger and shame, into the dissolution of tragedy addiction and the unmistakable clearing ahead. Having toured the world performing poetry for the last eighteen years, navigating the blunt loneliness of life on the road and a rotating cast of unlikely antagonists, Buddy keenly unpacks topics like the intense overcompensation of his masculinity, growing up terribly queer in the south, the detriments of public shame, a toxic fear of intimacy and the devastation of a failed major relationship. Wakefield revs up for his relay race to the light with refreshing humor and insight by finding meditation as the love of his life, accepting bliss and learning to let go. While the poetry in A Choir of Honest Killers undeniably throws plenty of insightful punches, it's the through-story about moving from devastation to frequent serendipity that gives the book pace. But it's worth noting, as Wakefield writes, "Perfect probably isn't what you think it is." Wakefield is ultimately catapulted through collective misery, landing in a sustainably joyful life governed by awareness, equanimity and a constant thorough understanding of impermanence. A Choir of Honest Killers is the result of a lifetime of intense work, fervent seeking and largely takes aim at an exodus from tragedy addiction, into the transmutation of his self-admitted density.

A Choir of Honest Killers

Buddy Wakefield’s third book, Gentleman Practice, documents the figurative contents of a man’s body attempting to stand firm in the presence of all that is. It’s a poetry book, from the perspective of a journal entry in the National Archives. The National Archives live in a building in Seattle behind barbed wire, directly next door to the Center for Spiritual Living. This is no accident. Gentleman Practice is a disarming de-haunting of accidents. There are no stunt doubles performing the honesty in this book. Head raised and victorious, he has crafted a translation of the human spirit on a small, practical patch, with a very fine tooth indeed. And, while many poetry books read like a thick epic series of sections, Gentleman Practice will no doubt rest in your hands like a well-oiled novel.

Stunt Water is Wakefield's first 20 years of spoken word and lyrics collected from his original three now out-of-print books. It is a vulnerable cross section of his writing that moves from disarmingly human to sudden bursts of beast, able to seamlessly blend back into grounded stories of humor, heartache and identity using crisp, innovative and unforgettable metaphors. If you can only buy one Buddy Wakefield book, this collection is the most comprehensive of his most compelling works to date. His craft mimics the intrigue of propellers when they make themselves invisible. Buddy's honest story is a one-man relay race to the light; that of a boy at gentleman practice who sometimes wants to blend in so badly he forgets his purpose has already arrived and there is no need to fight a war that's long been over. The reader must be prepared for the recurring nightmares from which Buddy wakes up only to realize that whatever supposedly awful thing was stalking him was actually just trying to help.

Buddy Wakefield

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