Professor releases new book, proceeds benefit local food bank

Howard Good’s collection of poems titled “Fugitive Pieces” is his latest book in a string of nearly two-dozen publications written over his more than 20-year career as a journalism professor at SUNY New Paltz.

While all of his books are special, this one, in particular, said Good, is near and dear to his heart as all proceeds from the book will go to the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley.

“Although there are many charitable causes worthy of support, it wasn’t a hard decision to support the Food Bank,” said Good, who noted that he, and his wife, Barbara, have contributed to it for a number of years now.

He adds, “Giving the proceeds from the book to the Food Bank is another way of making my writing relevant. Being a writer means being kind of self-involved, but that doesn’t mean writing itself has to be.”

In this collection, Good’s poems are collages sourced from various ordinary texts as well as his own imagination. Images from large historic events to those from our public and private lives create stories that leave readers hungry for resolution.

“Sometimes the reader is rewarded with rich and multivalent conclusions, sometimes frustrated by the author’s refusal to resolve completely the disjunctions created within the poems,” says fellow poet Eric Burke. “In all cases, the reader is compelled by these marvelous poems to engage with the painful difficulties of the shared reality in which we live.”

Good holds a Ph.D. and master’s degree in American culture from the University of Michigan; a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Iowa; and a bachelor’s degree in literature from Bard College.

“Fugitive Pieces,” which costs $15, is available now at lulu.com.