“These big-hearted, all-embracing poems are a celebration of life—of Paul Tayyar’s deeply felt connection to the world around him and his sense of kinship with all humanity—from family and friends to the homeless and downtrodden. In Scenes from a Good Life, Tayyar gives voice to a generation that grew up in Orange County—where buildings are torn down and rebuilt every ten years, “The strawberry fields…buried like old Indian/ Gravesites...”. He is not, however, speaking of privilege and wealth—“the good life” promulgated by the media and popularized by The O.C.—but of a better life, filled with intelligence, humor, and insight, and an enduring sense of wonder.”
—Marilyn Johnson, author of A Necessary Fire
“Paul Tayyar’s poems fulfill all my poetry needs: as a publisher, I want to publish them; as a poet, they make me want to be a better poet; and finally, as poetry lover, they place me dear reader on a fabulous ferris wheel to spin over rivers of love that honor belief and affirmation of a Good Life of family, baseball, art, music and a hopeful humanity that includes mermaids and Bigfoot while “we live in the marrow of the colors we create.””
—Joan Jobe Smith, author of The Pow Wow Cafe and Jehovah Jukebox
Paul Kareem Tayyar’s first book of poems, Everyday Magic (West-Coast Bias Press) was released in 2007, and he is a two-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize. His forthcoming book, Postmark Atlantis (Level 4 Press), will be released in 2009. He is founding editor of World Parade Books, an independent press located in Southern California that has published books by Gerald Locklin, Edward Field, and Donna Hilbert.
