Books by Earl LeClaire

Earl LeClaire's poems are written in everyday language. It is as if while reading them he is sitting in the room talking to you. However, that said, his poems are also, structured. Christmas Story, for example, is a "prose poem" but put down in a well-arranged form. For me, as a visual artist and musician, LeClaire's poetry is "word music" and as Plutarch said "...poetry is painting that speaks." ~Harrah, artist and musician. In this collection of poems, Earl LeClaire lays his hand on the heart of the reader; cheering, consoling, challenging and delighting. LeClaire's poetic inspection of life experiences has resulted in an exceptional compendium of poetry, with each poem reflecting elements of a life well spent. His final admonition to his reader is that love is, indeed, the only resolve. ~Douglas Roberts, author of Soul Witness.

"In the first, of a three-book anthology, Earl LeClaire relates events of an early childhood which eventually leads to leaving home at fifteen on a motorcycle and just enough cash to see him through. What he lacked in guidance from parents, and growing up in an Italian culture, was made up for by devoted friends, teachers, and the books he read that told of a world beyond lobstering off the coast of Rhode Island. On My Own will serve as an inspiration to teenagers who feel they face insurmountable barriers." ~ruth weiss, "Last Train Out", "Desert Journal", "Can't Stop the Beat".

All the restaurant experience, the job skills, people savvy, self-confidence, work-ethic, physical stamina and blind faith in the world could not have prepared me for that first year as CAMP COOK . . . One hundred to three hundred people per meal, three meals a day, seven days a week, mid-morning snacks, afternoon snacks, Smores at the campfires, special events, hors d'oeuvres for administrative get-togethers, birthdays, and parent-visitor day youth camp sessions, family sessions, adult sessions and special camps . . . with a kitchen staff of three . . . and . . . a crew of inexperienced kids . . . all of us limping along . . . in an antiquated kitchen trying to get by with crossed fingers, a lot of luck and the worn-thin, seat of our pants . . . This book is designed to provide camp cooks and volume cooks with sample menus, ideas, management techniques, and recipes to serve 50 to 100 portions, shortcuts, tricks of the trade, and as a primer for personal survival.

The poems in Holy Shit!!! never fib, instead they sway with imagination. when i was young i could take a heart and fold it in the crease of a smile. (off the isle of shoals) Their truth is sliced with a cherished Japanese Samurai sword from a life resonating, bursting with life. Earl LeClaire talks with flowers, loves his family and blesses us with his imagery and wisdom. Now, in his later years the boundaries of his life circle back to often focus on empirical wisdom: For, in the end, it comes down to this: The past and the future exist Only in the joy of the present. (Shag-bark) If Earl LeClaire poems are on the menu, I'm pulling my seat up to the table!!! ~Maryrose Carroll, author of -Beats Me: Love, Poetry, Censorship, from Chicago to Appalachia, -Conversations with a With a Dead Lover, -Tales from the Beaver Dams; editor of -God & Other Poems: Final Poems by Paul Carroll.

Shellfish Lovers Rejoice! It is here! Finally! A cookbook devoted exclusively to shellfish, with 88 outstanding recipes and a bevy of variations, anecdotes, information about the purchasing, storage and preparation of mollusks. Included are succulent recipes and easy to follow instructions for an Old Fashioned, New England Clambake. Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was referred to, by Colonial "Massachusetts People" as Rogue's Island as it is where all dissidents fled to for sanctuary. From this "rogue's heritage" came a stalwart personality and a superb regional cuisine. "If you love shellfish, you will find this book an indispensable addition to your cookbook collection." ~Lorenzo Del Falco "Quahogger and shellfish fisherman." Timothy Gilchrist is the creator of The Gilchrist Shellfish Griller. Earl LeClaire is a food writer and professional chef.

Earl LeClaire is a leviathan; his path has taken him to depths most of us cannot fathom. His work is direct, blunt, angry, tender, and unstintingly honest. These observant poems shout from the page. Tales of injustice and adventure, full of humorous irony, alternate with gentle love poems so exquisitely felt that they break your heart. Earl walks through life wide awake, and we are lucky to be led through his world, feeling the heartbeat of a writer in love with words. ~Cathy Larson Sky, musician/poet, author of "Blue egg, my heart" (Finishing Line Press, 2014)

In "Below The Mayonnaise Factory", Earl LeClaire's poetry takes on many shapes and colors. His frank observations on the human condition are absorbing. You walk away from them only to have them keep coming back. The work is, by turns, extremely funny and very troubling as he celebrates life: his, ours, and theirs. "Very sharp... wonderful energy... talented and original and crisper than the sort of thing one sees getting published left and right. Just fine work!... a shock and a pleasure to read." -Steve Kowit, Gorilla Press. "Earl's poetry is a sledgehammer." -ruth weiss, the "Beat Generation Goddess".