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A Young Poet’s Odyssey Through the Late 1960’s

The Ballad of Artz Carbuncle is the first in a projected series of four books describing the experiences and reflections of an American poet/songwriter who took the stage name Artz Carbuncle. Set in the late 1960’s, The Ballad narrates Artz’ explorations of America from his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio to Newport, Rhode Island’s famous folk festival, through a brief period of employment in New York City and a winter apartment-sitting for friends in Washington, DC.He then spends the spring as a janitor in a Cleveland chemical plant, and after being notified of his exemption from military service, undertakes a hitchhiking trip to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. His poems reflect ongoing concerns with American commercialism, popular culture, intergenerational strife, and the Vietnam War. This volume also contains as a prelude a reissue of the first book in which Artz appeared, The Collected Poems of An Anonymous Young Poet which was published as a chapbook in 1969 by the Hiram Poetry Review.