Insert Coin Here Anthology

Joseph Robert’s latest poem, ‘Chapter Skip, Track Forward, Pause, Rewind, Freeze Frame’ is out in the Insert Coin Here anthology, published by Kind of a Hurricane Press. As an eighties child, I recall (through the mists of time and bad hair cuts, bomber jackets and ra ra skirts) playing computer games until the wee small hours in the attic on an Atari 2000, which was considered the height of technology back in the Stone Age of computers. Nowadays kids would scoff at the idea of a huge box for a computer. Maybe it’s a sign of my impending old age, but when they talk about playing their PS3 all night (it’s probably out of date as I write this, I’ll bet it’s now a PS4), I haven’t a clue about all these modern games. Bring back the old days… who remembers the Star Wars game, or Indiana Jones? I loved blasting aliens and flying around in a spaceship, shut away by myself. I could’ve easily believed I was on another planet…

Back to poetry, before I get lost in zero gravity! Insert Coin here is a good mix of poetry and stories. Joseph Robert’s poems deal with the frustration of rapidly changing technology, which I would agree with and tend to deal with by casual indifference! If I can push buttons and nothing blows up/ breaks down them it’s a win. Apart from Joseph’s poetry, my favourites in this collection are, ‘Poem to the Asshole Blasting Angry Birds on His iPad’ by John Grochalski, ‘Not a Game’ by Linda M Crate, ‘Broken Controller’ by Benjamin Eaton and ‘The End of Folk Songs’ by Darren C Damaree.