Praise
A Murder of Crows
This shambolic collection doesn’t shift its tone often, but instead shows you a landscape shaded in Thompson’s evening hue, taking the reader on a edgy ride where things won’t likely go as planned. But that’s always been the plan in life, whether we’ve liked it or not, hasn’t it? Indeed. I highly recommend these poems." - James H Duncan, founder and managing editor, Hobo Camp Review, and author, The Cards We Keep and Dancing With the Devil in the Middle of the Road
"Reading Michael Thompson is a slow slide across very fine pavement, or an emery board made from gravel. The better part of the reader is left invigorated and brand new. Other parts, though, are rubbed damn near bloody. Thompson reigns over his words as if he invented the language, and we're all better for it." -Tommy Gaffney, author, Whiskey Days and Three Beers From Oblivion
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"Michael has a unique voice and razor sharp wit that transcends poetry conventions and lobotomizes philistines. This book is a testament to his brand of verse and then some." -Brian Fugett, editor, Zygote in my Coffee
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"In A Murder of Crows, Michael N. Thompson's poetry takes an insidious turn. Once known to me as the 'Bard of the Disaffected,' Thompson has honed his poetic powers to enchant me into wanting to become one of the 'beautiful losers' that propagate his work. From my safe house in the middle of my safe state I want to hitchhike to the nearest train station and ride the rails with Thompson while he catalogs America's misfits with an equal balance of scandal and grace. Hell, I'll even buy the tickets." -Suzanne Burns, author, The Paris Poems and Misfits and Other Heroes
This Hollow Pierces
Michael C. Rogers, author of Dead Angels Bleed reviews This Hollow Pierces on April 21, 2010.
The Ninth of March is a standout cut, taking me back in time to my own beer-soaked gin-mill days. I knew and identified with Thompson's sense of disgust for what was around him from the vantage point of a bar stool.
This is the essence and entity of a man who's lived a colorful, yet tortured existence. The man has seen life from many different perspectives, and he distills them down into a language everyone can understand and relate to in his poems.
This Hollow Pierces shows us the poet of Dancing Inside the Mouth of Madness coming into his own; progressing - articulating his emotions and channeling his feelings into well crafted verse."
"Michael Thompson communes with angels on the streets of a downtrodden America. There is longing in these poems that borders on regret, though as soon as Thompson, the bard of the faceless crowds, shows you an angel treading "around the scars and the scabs" he allows one flower, a stargazer lily, to rejuvenate "this former cynical heart." These poems ring with the optimism of love, survival, and the sound of spare change." - Suzanne Burns, author, The Flesh Procession and Misfits And Other Heroes
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These poems will shake you, kick you from your own numbness and repressed problems. They will force you to slam dance with your own reflection." - Warren Dean Fulton, Publisher, Pooka Press
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Your use of imagery and emotion is strikingly rich, I can only stand in envy. You are the king of observational poetry." - Amy Pelletier, author, Dancing With Madness
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Your intensity is splendid. Michael, this work is brilliant. I'm a definite fan." - Maria DellaPorta, author, The Sum of Something Meaningful
Dancing Inside the Mouth of Madness
"This poetry nails you to a cross, then when you least expect it, thrusts a spear into your gut and leaves you to bleed, emotionally, from the pain innocents in this world have endured. Very powerful work." - Lisa Powell, author of The Diary of Lisa Lansing.
"There are ways that some poets have of stringing words together no matter how painful a past those words represent, that makes one feel like they are signing when they are reading the words. I felt like I was singing when reading this and that is a sign of a true tale." - Gray Anderson, author, Mind Sleep and Maid For Seduction.
Michael Thompson is a soulful poet who brings the mind, body and spirit connection to his craft. Best of all the reader closes the book better for it and maybe a bit corrupt. if you look high on heaven's hill you'll see this up and coming poet writing all his lessons learned in hopes of knocking at those gates and maybe getting in. Beth Jannery, author, Simple Grace: Living a Meaningful Life and Shut The Hell Up! 101 Reasons to Appreciate Your Life.