Say Goodnight, Grace: Notes: New and Corrected Poems

McCarthy has been writing poetry for decades, but not much came of it until 10 years ago when he turned 50, married his second wife, and decided to read his work at a Boston-area open-mike poetry night. McCarthy is now not only a much-loved star in the performance poetry world, he's also a vibrant and inspiriting poet on the page. A self-described working guy who has battled a number of unhealthy addictions, McCarthy brings his compelling experiences to his poetry with nimble humor, hard-won wisdom, and a raconteur's knack for telling diabolically barbed stories. In his admiring introduction, poet Thomas Lux praises McCarthy for his "natural, unforced" voice, and for his unfailing lucidity, and indeed, McCarthy is concrete, candid, personal, and utterly captivating. He's also caustic, sexy, and smart. As he writes with wry insight about his boyhood, Catholicism, the Red Sox, asteroids, his daughters, old cars, advertising, our time as the "Golden Age of the Opinion," and his love for his wife, he casually but resoundingly extrapolates invaluable lessons in living from each memory, episode, observation, and meditation.

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