Rick Belden - Iron Man Family Outing

Austin, TX

New Book

Scapegoat's Cross: Poems about Finding and Reclaiming the Lost Man Within

A Message from the Author

I'm pleased to announce the completion of the manuscript for my second book. Scapegoat's Cross: Poems about Finding and Reclaiming the Lost Man Within is both a companion and a follow-up to my first book, Iron Man Family Outing. I'm very proud of this new work and eager to get it out into the world where it may be of use to others.

I've posted the table of contents below, with links to an excerpt from the introduction and some of the poems that appear in the book.

I'm also making signed preview copies of the complete manuscript available to those who'd like an early look. Preview copies are spiral bound in a protective plastic cover and may be ordered via the Contact page on this site at a cost of $20.00 per copy, shipping and handing included, for recipients in the USA. If you are located outside the United States, please contact me for pricing information.

If you've read the manuscript and would like to share your thoughts on the experience, you can click here to leave a comment on my blog. To download a PDF version of this announcement, click here.

Thanks to everyone for your interest and support of my work.

Artist Needed: I’m currently looking an artist, preferably in the Austin area, to create seven illustrations to open each of the seven sections of the book, with the intention that one of these illustrations will also be used for the cover. For additional information, click here.

introduction (excerpt)

part one: walking the wasteland
    lost man
    the past
    childhood
    everything he never had
    she makes the story
    chasing skin
    standing in line for confession
    the other son
    broken birthday 51
    soul versus survival
    wage slave (repeat until dead)

part two: eating stones
    don't talk about it
    phantom mother
    midlife timeslap
    piehole
    new moon wanting
    battered heart logic
    grindstone
    the rock in the water
    falling through
    umbilicus infectus
    truth is a stranger

part three: intimacy and illusion
    animal trance
    disaster mama
    mantis
    hooker list
    slut_haven
    girl (A) through girl (Z)
    wild cactus dancer
    last trip to the doll house
    blue-eyed dare
    out of the game
    something I used to do

part four: what is left forgotten
    afterwards
    shadow world monsters
    how far down
    bad uncle (flashback)

    remembering
    collaborator
    let's all pretend
    did he hurt you too
    virus
    why I do it
    secret children

part five: fragments of eternity
    eye of the truth
    echo teardrop
    tired of being a bullet
    waterfall
    seven past lives
    the gods I made
    down time
    lose your god
    stories
    arrow
    godless

part six: life between the seconds
    track of the fire
    out of body
    memory hole
    rush to nowhere
    absent companion
    just for today
    stealing time
    seven days gone
    use everything
    spell is broken
    personal ad

part seven: wall of time
    autumn
    one day
    the girl with the long fingers
    the father I knew
    someone who isn't real
    tools my father gave me
    the day my father died
    scapegoat's cross
    face my ghosts
    the point
    rainbow

The content on this web site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

Iron Man Family Outing: Poems about Transition into a More Conscious Manhood

ISBN-10: 0911051562 ISBN-13: 9780911051568

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Austin, TX