One copy listed on WorldCat

Inscription on first page
"Borden took an am axe and gave them 40 whacks, - eye shadow. Love triangle. Kiss moon, kiss yourself for me. Love and luck Dr. Zoo [illegible]" accompanied by crude sketch of person saying "kill infidels", possibly written by author, but hard to read handwriting
"681-5150" written on title page

About the author
"This collection of poems is a voyage inside the belly of the whale that is known as America, as it crashed it's way through one of its more difficult courses of the late 50s and undefinable 70s, the poet zook is jonah and you ride shotgun - seeing the U.S.A. in a Chevrolet

Zook comes from the heartland of middle class america, which provides the running perspective throughout this anthology. His background includes growing up in post-war-boom-time suburbia, college, the united states navy, vietnam, insanity, and survival. It is his unique ability to be a both a part of and to observe the peculiarities of the American obsession for extravagance technology, cheap thrills and violence. That brings us into a covnersation witha society that has a lot to say.

Zook's experience with the Americacn dream became a nightmare when he was sent to Vietnam. How does a poet fight a war? While nightly rocket fire rained on danang, the poet was lost in the light show. There was little left to bomb anyway, the war had fought him.

Insanity came in the form of straight jackets, 2,000 milligrams of thorizine daily, shot into the neck or ankle, whichever could be held down, anging his head on the concrete floors until unconcious, then to rip out the stitches, only to be strapped down naked in the locked wards of trenton state hospital. And then for seven years it was in and out of Lyons Veterans Hospital. All the while he scribbled notes on a small pad. Later he would put his impressions into form. His memory is shocking; the imagery real.

Only after returning from Vietnam could the poet Zook look so hard at his homeland and write the brilliant, "Eating in America", or the scathing, "Ballad of the Good Dick Nixon." The are pure Americana.

And so after 10 years, this selection from over 2,000 poems represents a life experience, that will take you places you've never been: inside the mind of zook, inside america, inside the whale. From an old womb-mate, Michael Gaffney"