AT THE TONE

Paul Genega
Poetry
Soft Cover: 68 pages
Published: 2000
ASIN: B0006RZ6BU

Critical Acclaim:

“Janis Joplin proved she meant it when she sang, I’ll trade in all my tomorrows for a
single yesterday. Paul Genega, in At The Tone, keeps his yesterdays equally alive without
trading any of his tomorrows. He’s not seduced by nostalgia, but tackles it head on. His
poems are reminiscent of Cavafy – brief encounters never dull the imagination; they only
ignite it. He accomplishes what few poets have been able to do – he makes us his accom-
plices in matters of love.”– Hal Sirowitz

“These are powerful poems, certain to evoke in the reader a sense of gratitude for
Genega’s language and humanity.”– Simon Perchik

A selection from At The Tone

BLACK BOX

The day he caught me

playing with dolls
I got the stuffing
beat out of me

Down the belt

thrashed into
the basement
then out to
the ridiculing street

But the blood

just got too scary
so he flung me
in the bedroom
locked the door
and took the key

I slept

I slept dreamless

until the door
creaked open
and there he stood
awash in golden light
holding the black box
he’d used in the war

He sat himself beside me

muttering stuttering
how we needed
to be closer
how he’d teach
his son the Code

Starting

perforce
with the moment

SOS