Comfortably on Purpose

Of course some wrinkles are free,

comfortably on purpose.

In this evocative collection, Mike Mandzik charts the geography of a life lived through the grit of Northern New Jersey, the rhythmic pulse of the "Music City," and the quiet, internal landscapes of aging and memory. From the blood-frozen knuckles of a father working under a hood in a winter driveway to the neon-streaked subway rides through the Bronx, Mandzik's poetry finds the extraordinary within the everyday.

Comfortably on Purpose is also a "palimpsest" of experience-a layering of blue-collar reality, familial legacy, and the relentless march of time. Mandzik navigates the "disentropic desires" of the modern world with a sharp, observational wit, whether he is contemplating the atmospheric methane of Uranus or the "two-handed pump" of a five-gallon bucket of raspberry jelly.

These poems are time machines that transport the reader forward and back-through childhood shopping trips to Bambergers, the raw testosterone of garage-band rehearsals, and the "shifting swirl of souls" at the gates of heaven. Raw, empathetic, and grounded in the "hard thought" of reality, this collection is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the radiant care we carry through the seasons.