I Hope Like Heck: The Selected Poems of Sarah Palin

I Hope Like Heck: The Selected Poems of Sarah Palin

A New Byliner Original Compiled and Edited by Michael Solomon

"A stunningly unintentional poetic debut!" -- Jacob Weisberg

SAN FRANCISCO, June 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 24,000 pages of Sarah Palin's emails from her time as governor of Alaska were released to the public on June 10, 2011 to a crush of media attention. Discovered among this trove were lines so moving, so evocative, so artfully rendered, they can only be called poetry. The result, thanks to editor and humorist Michael Solomon, is a collection of 50 poems by Alaska's backwoods bard, I Hope Like Heck: The Selected Poems of Sarah Palin, published by Byliner Inc. today.

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110621/LA23401)

"Writing on everything from moose hunting and beauty pageants to state politics and tanning beds, I Hope Like Heck places the Belle of Wasilla in the poetic pantheon of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Emily Dickinson, and Dr. Seuss," says Solomon, who honored Palin's words by turning them into poetic verse and collecting them into one slim yet soul-bursting volume.

Ms. Palin offers odes to the sporting life (He's asking / If I support hunting bears / In the sanctuary. / No, / I don't.); state pride (Keep being a true Alaskan, / Keep calling it as you see it. / We love the mobster in ya.); and, of course, religious existentialism (My prayer for us / And the state / Is that God has His way / Here.).

As Solomon writes in his foreword: "Verse, like America, yearns to be free. Few twenty-first century poets understand this better than Sarah Palin. Not since Walt Whitman first heard America singing has a writer captured the hopes and dreams of her people so effortlessly--and with so many gerunds."

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Advanced Praise:

"Not since Donald Rumsfeld's Pieces of Intelligence has an American politician arrived on the literary scene with such a stunningly unintentional poetic debut. Michael Solomon has done us all, and Sarah Palin, the great service of not looking for deeper meanings in her comments. By so doing, he helps us appreciate them for what they truly are - a random collection of words." 

--Jacob Weisberg, editor of Palinisms: The Accidental Wit and Wisdom of Sarah Palin

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Michael Solomon is an executive editor at Byliner Inc. He was previously an editor at Esquire and The Daily Beast. His writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, Elle, Newsweek, and The Guardian, and he has published several books, including the Malcolm Gladwell parody Blank: The Power of Not Actually Thinking at All.

I Hope Like Heck: The Selected Poems of Sarah Palin will be available beginning Tuesday, June 21, 2011 for $1.99 from the Kindle Single Store at Amazon.com, as well as for the Nook at BarnesandNoble.com, for the iPad and iPhone at Apple's iBookstore, and for Windows Phones and Android-based devices at leading digital bookstores.

I Hope Like Heck is the latest Byliner Original from Byliner Inc. Byliner's first two Originals, Jon Krakauer's Three Cups of Deceit and William T. Vollmann's Into the Forbidden Zone are currently on Amazon's bestseller list. Byliner's companion website, Byliner.com--launching today--combines curated archives of the best nonfiction writers' work with personalized recommendations, social bookmarking, and aggregated discussion. It allows fans of great storytelling to easily find, share, and discuss new and classic work by their favorite authors.

For more information or to schedule interviews with Michael Solomon, please contact Clare Hertel at clare@clarehertelcommunications.com; 505-474-6783. For interviews about Byliner Inc., contact Marlene Saritzky at marlene@mssassociates.com; 415-713-1241.

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A few poems from I Hope Like Heck

I Am a Hunter

I am a hunter.
I grew up hunting--
Some of my best memories
Growing up
Are of hunting with my dad
To help
Feel
Our freezer.
I want Alaskans
To have access to wildlife.
BUT--
He's asking
If I support hunting bears
In the sanctuary.
No,
I don't.

I Hope Like Heck

Also,
When asked about the Gravina Bridge--
I hope like heck
Lawmakers are smart enough
To chop that out
Of the state budget
So I don't have to.

Carpe Per Diem

Am I supposed to be charging meals
While I am away from Juneau?
Or does per diem cover my meals--
I haven't charged any meals to the state,
Just a couple of coffees while outside
During these six months in office.
Am I doing this right?
What about Todd's meals
If he's traveling for First Gentlemen duties?
Is the intent for his per diem to cover meals entirely,
Or was he to have been keeping receipts
For reimbursements?
What about family?
I'd like to be real clear.

SOURCE  Byliner Inc.

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Byliner Inc.