Whistling Through Purgatory, by Randy Streu

Poetry, chapbook, 24 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

The opening triptych in this collection of working-class Midwestern Gothic poems visits a man who has fought his own vices, given up, and stuck around anyway. Inspired—or annoyed—by his Guardian Angel’s wry observations, he watches a world of people not quite as different from himself as he wishes, as they serve drinks, drive to work, or just try to survive.

The poems that follow are stories, imaginings, and broken hymns about (and for) anyone who has ever wondered where tomorrow’s gas money was coming from or had to decide a twenty-dollar late fee from the energy company was better than not eating.

Whistling Through Purgatory is about the loneliness of being human—and the realization that we aren’t so alone after all. That we all have our problems, but that we also have hope and beauty and, sometimes, even joy.

Randy Streu is a voice actor and writer whose poetry has appeared in Third Wednesday, Stick Figure Poetry, Ropes Literary Journal, Field Wren, Serotonin, and elsewhere. He lives in Northeast Wisconsin with his wife, kids, and cats. This is his first poetry collection.