Joseph Kerschbaum


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			Our Voices Sound Like Silence Our Voices Sound Like Silence is Joseph’s sophomore spoken word CD. This time around he collaborated with Josh Johnson: a musical powerhouse. For this album, Josh Johnson has composed (and performed) beautiful, expansive melodies. The result is a spoken word album that is solely unique, thought-provoking, timeless, and it rocks. Joseph and Josh think of this album as a collection of 11 “tonal paintings.” The method of “tonal painting” is when a poet and composer try to capture the essence of an image or idea through sound – using instrumental colors, textures, dynamics and articulations that might connect the mind’s ear and eye to these images. The poems and music on this album are shocking, heart-breaking, and heart-healing. You won't hear anything else like it anytime soon. Check out a few preview Mp3s HERE! Buy mp3 At GreatIndieMusic.com
	To Order Our Voices Sound Like Silence, visit CD Baby Amazon Coming Soon! Or download Our Voices Sound Like Silence digitally through these providers! Coming Soon! Apple iTunes Mp3 Tunes NetMusic Bitmunk PayPlay Pass Along
			Dead Stars Have No Graves A meditation on dissolved passion, alienation and infidelity, Joseph Kerschbaum’s *Dead Stars Have No Graves* is an intricate, book-length poem that explores the gravity residing in language, and the weight and power one single word can contain. The book opens with a question; it closes with the question’s answer and in between is an intense, interwoven narrative of hope, regret, and love lost and found. This stark, daring book is a bold step forward in a young poet’s career. Read a few sections from Dead Stars Have No Graves Read a review of Dead Stars Have No Graves in the New Hope International Review. Here is another review in the Boston Small Press and Poetry Scene. Buy directly from Joseph with Paypal! Use the button below.
	To order Dead Stars Have No Graves, visit: Pathwise Press Powell's Amazon Barnes and Noble Or visit an independent bookseller near you.

			The Composer Steps into the Fire Poets like Frank O’Hara and Anne Sexton have fascinated readers with their intelligent wit, poignant insight and biting realism. In *The Composer Steps into the Fire* (now available through AuthorHouse), Joseph Kerschbaum illuminates human emotions and experiences with similar unapologetic clarity. Each word on the page and each poem’s placement in the book are painstakingly arranged, allowing *The Composer Steps into the Fire* to offer a breathtaking array of verse. From bare-boned expressions of personal loss to complex waltzes through rich memories, Kerschbaum’s expressions of modern society are both edgy and sensitive. The ironies of human interactions don’t escape his observation, but neither do subtle instances of beauty. The following excerpt from “Shortening of Days” illustrates how Kerschbaum’s unique perspective extends to the natural world: The vice doesn’t seem so bad at first: a sliver in my comfort, a cold tile floor under my hot feet. Pupils need 43 seconds to fully dilate. They stay that way all season. My eyes gasp for light. I wake on a dark morning to find the vice closer to shutting completely. Smother in evening. The frozen teeth of icicles sink into my body. Slow shortening of days isn’t noticed until the sun rising is the sun setting. As compelling to the ear as it is to the eye, *The Composer Steps into the Fire* is intriguing, confessional verse translated into a captivating arrangement of sounds and imagery. Read a few poems from The Composer Steps into the Fire Read a review of The Composer Steps into the Fire at decomP. NOTES on The Composer Steps into the Fire Buy directly from Joseph with Paypal! Use the button below.
	To order The Composer Steps into the Fire, visit: www.amazon.com www.bn.com www.alibris.com www.authorhouse.com Or visit an independent bookseller near you.
			The Human Remains The rich, the poor. The mighty, the weak. The blessed, the cursed. In the end, all you are is human. The essence of being human is a fluid line of an existence that encompasses all who live. The masks we use to hide behind have a day coming that will drag them to the ground, and all that will be left is the countless wreckage of bruised faces. In the end, writes Joseph Kerschbaum in his collection of poems, *The Human Remains, all you are is a car accident without impact. But the human…the human remains, scattered everywhere like ash. And beneath the ash, we wait, like buried diamonds wanting to be found, eager to be loved. “...the broken pieces of glass in the sky / are just that…” Kerschbaum writes in raw language. His pen spares little of the honesty a writer of his caliber can deliver. He writes with a simplicity that propels the reader into a world both anxious to be lived, and angry at being seen. From its inner conflict to the beauty of its lines, The Human Remains* is an excellent commentary of life at breakneck speed; it’s a guilty pleasure of sorts: readers will relate to the luxury of images in Kerschbaum’s words while respecting his ingenious use of a constant threatening motif—to be cliché, all roads end; how they end is the danger. Kerschbaum’s use of recurring themes reminds us that these guilty pleasures will catch up to us soon enough, “we’ll soon figure out what god is all about...we’ll soon pray to ourselves...” *The Human Remains* is Joseph Kerschbaum’s first full-length collection of poems. The majority of this collection was written while he lived in Prague and traveled Europe. Read a few poems from The Human Remains NOTES on The Human Remains “This Bloomington slam poet drops vivid images of wrecked lives, terminal illness and suicides. What's left is the poet's hesitance to acknowledge his own mortality.” -The Indianapolis Star Buy directly from Joseph with Paypal! Use the button below.
	To order The Human Remains, visit: www.amazon.com www.bn.com www.alibris.com www.authorhouse.com Or visit an independent bookseller near you.
			1 of 29 1 of 29 is Joseph’s first full-length spoken word CD. A lo-fi spoken word CD from an emerging, young poet (and Slam Poet). Joseph Kerschbaum's first spoken word CD is subtle and stark but yet touching introduction to his work. This disk ranges from quiet, personal introspections where words almost aren't sufficient to encompass what needs to be said -- to dark, abstract worlds conjured by alienation and inability to get anything right. 1 of 29 is a collection of new, unpublished poems mixed with a number of poems from Joseph's first full-length collection of poetry, The Human Remains. 1 of 29 will leave you chilled to the bone but with a warm heart. Listen to a few Mp3s from the CD Buy directly from Joseph with Paypal! Use the button below.
	To Order 1 of 29, visit CD Baby Amazon Or download 1 of 29 digitally through these providers! Apple iTunes Rhapsody Mp3 Tunes Bitmunk PayPlay Pass Along
			Fine Wine Mortar *Fine Wine Mortar* is the first book-length publication by MATRIX, an Indiana State 501(c)(3) not-for-profit arts corporation based in Bloomington, Indiana. Founded in 1998, MATRIX: a space for literary and visual arts is dedicated to providing consistent public forums for artists and writers to showcase their work in Bloomington and the surrounding area. This has included poetry readings, open mics, poetry slams, art exhibitions, other print publications, radio programs, contests, and workshops. *Fine Wine Mortar* features art, fiction, and poetry by many of the artisans who helped to get MATRIX rolling and who continue to support it. Joseph served on the editorial board for *Fine Wine Mortar*. And the publication contains 4 new poems by Joseph.
	To order *Fine Wine Mortar*, visit: www.amazon.com www.bn.com www.alibris.com www.authorhouse.com Or visit an independent bookseller near you.