The Reckless Hope of Scoundrels: selected poems 1985 - 2015

In his hyper-realistic voice Burnett explores indistinct borders. The pairing of Spirituality and Religion, Passion and Art, Love and Lust as well as Nature and Society's Footprint are considered as willing participants in a macabre tango. Beyond the darkness of a desert midnight a bonfire of hope illuminates the horizon. This debut poetry collection questions the ability of human stamina to reach that distant utopia. - Kallisto Gaia Press Advance praise for The Reckless Hope of Scoundrels: "As one might guess from its title, The Reckless Hope of Scoundrels, Tony Burnett's first collection of poems is about frustration as much as about hope, especially in the realms of love and technology, areas in which Burnett seems to feel left behind, like many of us of a certain age. Yet the hope shines through as evidenced by tongue-in-cheek attitudes and wordplay, even when he claims to be 'mudstuck in funk.'"-Scott Wiggerman, author of Leaf & Beak: Sonnets and Presence "Climb on board for a kaleidoscopic road trip through the poetic countryside with songwriter and storyteller Tony Burnett. Love is nearby but often elusive, as in one poem's closing lines: 'The gull departs, wings twitching, / the last vestige of romance / gripped in its beak.' Along the way, Burnett writes about Mayan temples, raptors, border colonias, fracking for oil, and outdoor work, where this refrain applies also to his writing: 'Let the tool do the work.'" - Chip Dameron, author of Drinking from the River: New & selected poems 1975-2015 Fearless, irreverent, caroming between the world's end and the most intimate of moments, Tony Burnett's poetry collection, The Reckless Hope of Scoundrels, is a rip-roaring rodeo ride through a world tilting on its axis. This collection is filled with insightful music, both gentle and blunt. The book creates a place where "[l]iar's words stink, mullet bloated and bursting / near brackish backwater on a red tide bay...." Burnett has an ear for the subtle notes that string each disparate piece together in a necklace of smooth sound. This collection, spanning three decades, is carved from Texas' mesquite and bursts from the Lone Star's thick clay with a secular, singing magic. --Joani Reese -- author of Final Notes, Dead Letters, and her newest, a hybrid collection of poetry and flash fiction, Night Chorus, from LitFestPress.