Circus Maximus

Launch at AWP Boston, coordinated with Bedford/St. Martins Launches in Santa Barbara and possibly LA Possible launch at John Cabot University, Rome National review copy mailing, especially targeting places where Starkey's poems have appeared previously: Antioch Review, Cincinnati Review, Connecticut Review, LA Review, Southern Review Simultaneous print/epub Production of blad to give advance sense of layout/design Promotions to market it as a "Books on Rome" for Amazon, goitaly.about.com, slotrav.com/italy/rome, enjoyrome.com, etc Review copies to travel writers (Rick Steves) Promotional materials playing on travel/tourism theme (pamphlets, maps, etc), including a galley box broadside with a map of Rome, flagging poem sites, with a legend Mention of Circus Maximus in bio line for second edition of Creative Writing (forthcoming soon), so that it appears in all Bedford/St. Martin's marketing material Special item (as above) in Consortium Galley Box program

Tour the sites of Rome with David Starkey's garrulous new guide to the Italian Renaissance in fifty pocket-sized poems.What would the Son-of-Man get up to in present-day Rome? Would he wander the Galleria Borghese, loiter outside nightclubs, ride trams, tip accordionists? How would Keats feel about the neon Dior sign that flashes away above the Spanish Steps? Are there ways to avoid Vespas on the sidewalks? Rules for carving a Pieta? And exactly which painter is responsible for the ugliest Jesus in the history of Western Art? A tour of Rome like no other, the poems of Circus Maximus ask these questions and more. Join David Starkey as he shines a torch on the sights, sounds, mysteries and metaphors of the Eternal City. David Starkey is the former Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara, a senior Fulbright scholar, and a six-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize. His latest volume of poetry is A Few Things You Should Know About the Weasel (Biblioasis, 2010).