Breakpoint

Early Praise for Breakpoint:

In Breakpoint, poet Christopher Bogart speaks out directly and powerfully against injustice in today’s America. These poems explore the brutal echoes of past history that play out all too vividly in our current events, shining light on the social and political faces of our divided country’s broken promise. In this stirring collection, Bogart decries our wrongs, yet still holds out hope for a more humane America.

~ Linda Johnston Muhlhausen, author of Elephant Mountain

(a¯§çºa¤ªa¹³ç¬ï¼a¸aaºa¸-aºº) is usually translated as “It’s better to be a dog in a peaceful time than be a man in a chaotic period.” Ironically, we have a cur for a president, and he has rendered our country chaotic. Chris Bogart’s poems reflect the range of emotional outrage DJT and his pack have induced in us. The book might be too intense if Bogart had not added the penultimate poem which leaves us hope. But that hope is spurious if we do not act. And our most important act is to vote.

~ R.A. Luc, MD

Through the power of his passionate poetry, Christopher Bogart dares to ask what happened to the American dream. He charges us to remember that the realization of this dream began, not ended, with the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1620. Through his poems he begs the question, what became of our heritage, the “Land of the Pilgrims’ pride.” By reminding us that the promise of America was meant by our forefathers to be a continuing process, he challenges us, the readers, to take action and “…be the force of change within us all."

~ Susan Martin, author of Forty-fifth Reunion

Christopher Bogart addresses the nightmare of this American moment through a series of binary oppositions, lies/truth, silence/protest, and others. Alluding to the deep festering divisions that are the foundation of our injustices he compellingly places contemporary problems in the context of the long arc of history. Calling forth myths, both ancient and recent, he unflinchingly offers not only the horrors but the comforts of hope, suggesting that we have been through this, many times, before and we will once again emerge into the light.

~ Frank Ramme, artist, activist

Wordsmith Chris Bogart crafted the Breakpoint with utmost precision. Through the ageless eloquence of poetry, he shines a light on the xenophobic paranoia and seething racial and ethnic injustice that engulfs our nation and threatens its very existence. An essential read for those who care about the future of America—a country now under siege—a country that must search for its soul—a country that must rekindle the true American Dream.

~ Robert Starosciak, author of The Bobby Fulton Story