All the books were published in less than a year.
Trafford author Dave Newman has been working overtime. In less than a year, he has published three new books in three separate genres: “She Throws Herself Forward to Stop the Fall” is a collection of short stories told primarily from the viewpoint of female characters; “How to Live like Li Po in Pittsburgh” is a generous helping of personal essays; and “Better than The Best American Poetry” is his newest book of poems.
No matter the form Newman’s writing takes, though, his content remains laser-focused. The short poem “Working Class” lays it out like this: “Every other culture finds rewards / for their suffering // We are held accountable / for the wealth of the rotten class.”
Or there’s this, from the essay “Ditch-Digger for the Butcher Lie, or Why Universities are a Terrible Place to Work.” “Some days I close my eyes and remember 1988, the sadness of that year and those men, and the icy goodness of having a beer and the belief that college would keep me from the unemployment line, from jobs that barely paid and the midnight shift.”
The people who populate Newman’s literary world work terrible jobs for very little pay. Whether driving a truck or working as adjunct professors, they are desperately trying to keep themselves above the poverty line. Many are juggling multiple jobs while trying to finish a college degree, with loan debt piling up and without health insurance. The threat of the unemployment line hangs over everyone.
Thinking about Newman’s work, I’m reminded of something the artist Robert Crumb wrote about the work of the Cleveland writer Harvey Pekar: “[E]ven the most seemingly dreary and monotonous of lives is filled with poignancy and heroic struggle. All it takes is someone with an eye to see, an ear to hear.” Dave Newman is that someone. By turns angry and funny, his work offers dignity to lives that too often go overlooked and unconsidered.