Riot in the Charm Factory

The best of Todd Colby's Soft Skull poetry collections Ripsnort and Cush are here with new poetry and prose.

This is simultaneously a Best Of and a launching into new directions for this intensely high-energy poet. He is a spontaneous, lively performer, and a sharp, funny poetic voice. Colby makes serious sport of language, showing its basis in the body's impulses and its mutable meanings, explained Ann Powers in The New York Times.Todd Colby is a poet and visual artist. He attended the University of Iowa, where he and fellow students started the band Drunken Boat in the 1980s. He moved to New York City to attend graduate school at Brooklyn College before Drunken Boat began touring and releasing CDs. His first poetry collection, Ripsnort, was published in 1994, followed by Cush, Riot in the Charm Factory, Tremble & Shine, and Splash State. Colby is on the board of directors of the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church, where he teaches workshops.