A place in Colusa

By George Benet

Subjects: longshoremen, death and drinking, Chicago, the blues, working class

Description: Benet's poetic introduction says much: "Hibiscus, bougainvillea, night blooming jasmine boutiques, mosaic tiles, fancy glassware La Jolla, Tiburon, and Carmel screw those places. Gonna move up the valley to Colusa open a restaurant near the levee hire a waitress with varicose veins. If she gives me a tumble gonna marry her." Benet describes the dark side of working class life. He was raised on Chicago's south side, and there is no easy way to escape that reality. When this book was published, he was a longshoreman in San Francisco, working on his second novel--about longshoremen in San Francisco. His prose here reads like poetry and his poetry reads like prose.