First Days Slated for February Release

For Immediate Release Contact: Ray Zimmerman: znaturalist@gmail.com or (423) 315-0721 Contact Ray to order of autographed copies for delivery on the release date. Ray Zimmerman is pleased to announce the upcoming publication of his chap book First Days by Finishing Line Press of Georgetown, Kentucky. First Days tells the story of Coronary Bypass Surgery and recovery. It is a journey from sickness to health, and reentry into a world strangely transformed by the joy of healing. Finishing Line Press is now accepting advance orders with release scheduled for February 1, 2013. From the Back Cover Ray Zimmerman’s new chapbook chronicles the First Days during and after heart surgery. His short, tight poems capture the strange sense of anesthesia’s mystic time travel as he stares death in the face, that dark lady in his dreams. This darkness is offset by Zimmerman’s sense of humor about pain, financial and physical stress, as he returns to the sensory world of chickadees, roses, and even his neighbor’s cigarette smoke, a blessing. His strong connection to nature helps his injured heart heal with the certain knowledge that, though death will one day come, his “atoms will forever pulse through the earth” he loves. - Bill Brown, The News Inside After a fleeting dance with “the lady in black” who says she’ll be back for him at a later date (“Anesthesia”), Zimmerman approaches life after heart surgery with wit and determination. Aware that each moment alone could leave him defenseless and in need of help, he “slept with [his] door unlocked” (“First Days”). Tackling fear and depression, and the uncertainty of a body that failed, Zimmerman allows nature to heal and inspire him through his recovery. Despite emotional and spiritual turmoil, these poems are a testament to our ability as humans to endure. - KB Ballentine, Fragments of Light About Ray Zimmerman Ray is president of the Chattanooga Writers Guild and has previously served as board member, President, and Vice President. His performance poems, including “Sign” (AKA “Mercury”), “No Hair,””Madness,””A Special Place” and “Ham and Rye” have delighted audiences and won prizes in poetry slams. He is the executive editor of Southern Light: Twelve Contemporary Southern Poets from Ford, Falcon, and McNeil, publishers. Southern Light was the featured topic of a panel discussion at the Southern Festival of Books, Nashville, 2011 and recently received a favorable review in the literary magazine, 2nd and Church. Jeff Biggers, Associate Editor of the Bloomsbury Review, favorably reviewed Ray’s Chapbook, Searching for Cranes, in an end of year roundup article. Ray was the subject of a feature article in the September 2008 issue of Blush magazine. Order online at http://www.finishinglinepress.com click on “PREORDER FORTHCOMING TITLES link” or send check or money order to: Finishing Line Press Post Office Box 1626 Georgetown, KY 40324