Publisher's Synopsis
"Rubber Side Down" combines poetry, essays and photography to challenge the stereotype of the 'bad boy' biker and chronicle the rise of the biker poet and biker poetry. Like cowboy poetry, biker poetry seems a genre on the rise. The book traces the beginnings of biker poetry to a poetry throw-down of sorts on a farm in Colorado in 1975, attended by an assortment of bikers and hippies and a young Hunter S. Thompson. The contributors to this book include the late Allen Ginsberg and Thom Gunn, Diane Wakoski, and a host of writers from the motorcycle press, including Dr. Martin Jack Rosenblum (Harley-Davidson Historian Emeritus), Susan Buck, and K. Peddlar Bridges. In addition, a special photo section has been provided by noted motorcycle photographer, Michael Lichter ("Choppers, Heavy Metal Art" and others). "Rubber Side Down" pushes beyond the typical image of the 'biker' and shows that the biker community is made up of professional individuals from all walks of life and countries across the world, and highlights the emergence of biker poetry.
