"Brice Maiurro shares the truths one can find if one looks closely. In
The Heart is an Undertaker Bee
, nature is venerated. Each voice is soft, gentle, respectful, and humble. These poems do not exploit nature as a subject. They acknowledge our place within the living world, "We are still under the tree, / beneath the everything." There is wisdom in these poems, like the saguaros who "...hold their arms/ straight up towards/ the open sky-/ surrender/ in reverence/ to one/ another. "
-Huascar Medina, Kansas Poet Laureate Emeritus, author of
Un Mango Grows in Kansas
"It is truly astonishing that a man who co-created an open mic named Punketry and led millions of people in organized howling could write poetry that is so good at capturing the quiet moments. Brice Maiurro's new collection is a testament to a life spent listening, sitting with the disaster while trying to make sense of it, it is a still pond reflecting back a forest fire. A sometimes-manic book filled with inconsiderate pop stars, countless trees, the occasional ghost, Congress Park and Colfax, talking animals, unanswerable questions, astral projection, ambitious flowers, dirt, hope, grief, and most importantly and undeniably-love. Not that generic love, the good honest blue-collar stuff. It's good poetry for the people, and it makes Denver Poetry proud."
-Ken Arkind author of
Coyotes
and
Denver
""I'm just so happy to see something alive," Maiurro writes, narrowly breaking the fourth wall as I read this collection, thinking the same. Black Mountain and Jack Spicer would be proud."
-Barracuda Guarisco, author of
It's Not a Lie If You Believe It
(Voice Lux Press) "Brice Maiurro's new collection,
The Heart Is An Undertaker Bee
, is an encapsulation of escapable moments through this mortal coil, and a return on togetherness as loss. Maiurro gives us a mirror as words to enter a tangling place of living as long as trees extend their branches reaching high always dancing. There is the remembrance, the
quaking
,
the sound of the bang
the music
the choir of hands
, bringing us to
an echo of sound
and of motion, an instance that places us in each of these poems. The shapes of things that make these poems tether through time and age to remember the womb of the world.
-Crisosto Apache, author of
Ghostword
(Gnashing Teeth Publishing) ""Take care of your grief," poet Brice Maiurro thoughtfully tells the reader towards the end of his fourth poetry collection
The Heart is An Undertaker Bee
. By that point the poet has explored the relationship between interior and exterior life, humanity's relationship with nature (from trees, lakes, cacti, and "mountains named after terrible men"), human beings' relationships with one another (of particular note is the moving love poem "Under the Tree, Beneath the Everything), and human days being boxed onto calendars. In this vivid collection, Maiurro explores many poetic forms and dimensions of human experience. His vulnerability to walk both up and down the stairs within himself (see "Sound Reverberated Off of Mountains") and share what he finds is inspiration for us all to be brave enough to keep on living and take care of ourselves (and each other) along the way."
-Cristina A. Bejan, author of the Award-Winning
Green Horses on the Walls
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Brice Maiurro
is a poet and storyteller from Lakewood, Colorado. He is the author of
Stupid Flowers, Hero Victim Villain
, and
Clown Singing Opera
. He is the Founding Editor of South Broadway Press. In his free time, he enjoys being an amateur mycologist and apiarist. You can find more about him at: www.maiurro.co.