Overview

"Rick Lupert's 25th collection of poems and latest travelogue written in Japan while visiting Tokyo, Kyoto, and Hiroshima, follows in the footsteps of Richard Brautigan and is loosely inspired by his title The Tokyo-Montana Express. Follow Lupert through Japan with his signature wit and poet's eye as your guide, as he stands in the mysterious ""stick line"", as indescribable food is put in his mouth (and described anyway), as a monkey crawls on his head, as Hiroshima looms at the end of it all. ""One of the smartest, funniest poets around."" -Alexis Rhone Fancher, poetry editor, Cultural Weekly, seven-time Pushcart nominee ""One of my favorite poets"" -Amber Tamblyn, author and actress ""Rick Lupert is a writer's chef"" - Derrick Brown, poet and publisher, Write Bloody Publishing ""I know of no other poet able to establish intimacy with the audience as fast as Rick Lupert."" - Brendan Constantine, poet, teacher, Red Hen Press and Write Bloody Publishing. ""Rick Lupert is a treasure. His poetry surprises us with a unique perspective that is both tender and wise. In a live environment I find Rick delightfully funny and arrestingly poignant."" - Dan Nichols, Touring Jewish Musician ""Rick has a voice and style of his own. His take on life will show you things you have never seen or imagined before!"" - Craig Taubman, Music Pioneer, Community Organizer"

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9781733027816

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Reviews

My father loved Tokyo and would've been delighted that a poet in the 21st-century would become a fellow traveling companion, 44 years after The Tokyo-Montana Express was published. Rick Lupert creates his own unique poetic journey--taking the reader on a metaphoric Express--from Van Nuys, California to Tokyo, Japan. His poems are funny, moving, insightful, and full of a traveler's wonder and bemusement. -Ianthe Brautigan, author of You Can't Catch Death: A Daughter's Memoir, Writing Teacher, Sonoma State University I'm beginning to suspect that Japan exists only in dreams.... In Rick Lupert's 'The Tokyo Van Nuys Express, ' the author returns with a new travelogue in poetry. With equal parts charm and bewilderment, Lupert navigates a cultural panorama with no seam between the intimate and fantastic, the political and absurd. As a fan of Lupert's previous journeys in verse, I am always delighted by his craft and sure-fire delivery. But with this latest collection, he has somehow refined his signature approach; this book moves like the magical train invoked by its title. And yet, it never feels rushed, every section is its own odyssey. -Brendan Constantine, author of The Opposites Game Rick Lupert's The Tokyo-Van Nuys Express is more than a travelogue, it's a collection of sharply observed vignettes informed by subtle wit and empathy couched in poetic diction that is clear, concise and profound. -Richard Modiano, Executive Director Emeritus, Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center

"My father loved Tokyo and would've been delighted that a poet in the 21st-century would become a fellow traveling companion, 44 years after The Tokyo-Montana Express was published. Rick Lupert creates his own unique poetic journey--taking the reader on a metaphoric Express--from Van Nuys, California to Tokyo, Japan. His poems are funny, moving, insightful, and full of a traveler's wonder and bemusement. -Ianthe Brautigan, author of You Can't Catch Death: A Daughter's Memoir, Writing Teacher, Sonoma State University ""I'm beginning to suspect that Japan exists only in dreams...."" In Rick Lupert's 'The Tokyo Van Nuys Express, ' the author returns with a new travelogue in poetry. With equal parts charm and bewilderment, Lupert navigates a cultural panorama with no seam between the intimate and fantastic, the political and absurd. As a fan of Lupert's previous journeys in verse, I am always delighted by his craft and sure-fire delivery. But with this latest collection, he has somehow refined his signature approach; this book moves like the magical train invoked by its title. And yet, it never feels rushed, every section is its own odyssey. -Brendan Constantine, author of The Opposites Game Rick Lupert's The Tokyo-Van Nuys Express is more than a travelogue, it's a collection of sharply observed vignettes informed by subtle wit and empathy couched in poetic diction that is clear, concise and profound. -Richard Modiano, Executive Director Emeritus, Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center"

Author Information

Three-time Pushcart Prize, and Best of the Net nominee Rick Lupert has been involved with poetry in Los Angeles since 1990. He was awarded the Beyond Baroque Distinguished Service Award in 2014 for service to the Los Angeles poetry community. He served for two years as a co-director of the non-profit literary organization Valley Contemporary Poets. His poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and literary journals, including The Los Angeles Times, Rattle, Chiron Review, Red Fez, Zuzu's Petals, Stirring, The Bicycle Review, Caffeine Magazine, Blue Satellite and others. He edited the anthologies A Poet's Siddur: Shabbat Evening - Liturgy Through the Eyes of Poets, Ekphrastia Gone Wild - Poems Inspired by Art, A Poet's Haggadah: Passover through the Eyes of Poets, and The Night Goes on All Night - Noir Inspired Poetry, and is the author of twenty-four other books: Hunka Hunka Howdee!, 17 Holy Syllables, God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion, (Ain't Got No Press) Beautiful Mistakes, Donut Famine, Romancing the Blarney Stone, Professor Clown on Parade, Making Love to the 50 Ft. Woman, The Gettysburg Undress (Rothco Press), Nothing in New England is New, Death of a Mauve Bat, Sinzibuckwud!, We Put Things In Our Mouths, Paris: It's The Cheese, I Am My Own Orange County, Mowing Fargo, I'm a Jew. Are You?, Feeding Holy Cats, Stolen Mummies, I'd Like to Bake Your Goods, A Man With No Teeth Serves Us Breakfast (Ain't Got No Press), Lizard King of the Laundromat, Brendan Constantine is My Kind of Town (Inevitable Press) and Up Liberty's Skirt (Cassowary Press), and the spoken word album Rick Lupert Live and Dead (Ain't Got No Press). He hosted the long running Cobalt Café reading series in Canoga Park for almost twenty-one years and has read his poetry all over the world. Rick created and maintains Poetry Super Highway, an online resource and publication for poets (PoetrySuperHighway.com), Haikuniverse, a daily online small poem publication (Haikuniverse.com), and writes and occasionally draws the daily web comic Cat and Banana with Brendan Constantine. (facebook.com/catandbanana) He also writes the weekly Jewish poetry blog From the Lupertverse for JewishJournal.com Rick works as a music teacher at synagogues in Southern California and as a graphic and web designer for anyone who would like to help pay his mortgage.

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