Books published by Six Gallery Press

From the author of Leech Girl Lives comes a novella of cosmic claustrophobia and workplace survival horror. It''s the story of Thorner, crushed under the weight of an alien occupation and also a refrigerator; of his family and campmates and fellow workers on Weckett''s mold farm; of the nglaeylyaethm and their masks and pets. It''s the story of people in intolerable situations, faced with untenable choices, in an appallingly cruel society-a fanciful tale of the distant future.

In Vertical Bridges: Poems and Photographs of City Steps, Paola Corso celebrates public stairways in her native Pittsburgh and around the world. Inspired by her Sicilian grandfather, a stonemason who built concrete steps, and her Calabrian grandfather and father, steelworkers who once climbed them to the mill, Corso is a storyteller. She shares memories of her family, the history behind Pittsburgh having more public staircases than any other city in the country, and curiosities about some of the world''s most famous steps. Vertical Bridges includes photos by the author along with archival photos from the University of Pittsburgh Library''s Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection.

In Black Angels, Robert Walicki says, ...men will want to break you, / like they’ve been broken. These poems jackhammer us with compassion, asking over and over: What does it mean to be a man? The haunted details shift from the scarecrow to the dying fish, from Bowie to Prince, as the voice professes its burning love: ...I caught a fish but didn’t / want blood.—Jan Beatty, author of JackknifeLike its title, the poems in Robert Walicki’s eagerly awaited full-length book are at once fearless and gentle. Poem after poem, Walicki drops us smack in the middle of a world so familiar yet so singular, then offers his steady hand as he leads us through the harrowing, magical truth about ourselves.—Heather McNaugher, author of System of HideoutsWhat so compels us about Robert Walicki’s Black Angels? Their haunting, numinous voices? The dark and tortured spaces they’ve traveled to reach us? Or is it the fire that surrounds them, sharp and sparking as a cutting torch? Perhaps it’s the intimate, searing messages they bring—of childhood, identity, work and pain, yet also of mercy and “every part of yes.” Whatever it is, these poems are a visitation. They blaze, they shine, and leave an afterimage that lingers on and on.—Richard St. John, author of Each Perfected NameIn “What the Light Wants” the speaker builds a scarecrow as his sister looks on. He muses, She doesn’t know I’m building a man... This dynamic book of poetry weaves elegy, excavation, and insight together as Walicki mourns a father lost too early and seeks his own blueprint of what it means to be a man. In “Real Men” Walicki exposes the complexity of his search: Real men call you sissy and bitch / quick as a fist bump, a punch in the gut at break... Looking to role models as divergent as Prince, Bowie, Mario Lemieux, and the foremen at his plumbing jobs, Walicki’s poems navigate the treacherous waters between his own sensitivity and the hard-edged stereotypes of manhood in the larger culture. This is an illuminating book full of heart!—Sharon Fagan McDermott, author of Life Without Furniture