Todd Moore

Todd Moore (1937-2010) in 2009. Courtesy RootsWorld.

Todd Moore (1937 - March 12, 2010) was an American poet in the shockism style.

Life

Todd Moore. Courtesy Outlaw Poetry.

Moore grew up in urban Illinois, outside Chicago. "My dad knew Al Capone," he recalls. "And he was an alcoholic himself, pretty rough with his kids. We lived in skid row slums most of the time. Dad was a great story teller but he never got around to writing them down."

Moore attended college on a teachers' scholarship.

He says, "I've been making this kind of stuff since 1970 give or take..." His poetry is featured in many zines.

Quotations

"Even when Death inhabits a poem, he does not own it. He is a squatter. In fact, Death owns nothing."

"I want to write a poem that will make the top of your head roll into your soup."

Publications

Poetry

• the man in the black chevrolet. Fallon, NV: Duck Down Press, 1976.
• the Dillinger poems: book one. Mt. Carroll, IL: Uzzano, 1977.
• driving. Belvidere, IL: Road/House Press, 1980.
• aces and eights Belvidere, IL: Crawlspace, 1981.
• the dark and bloody ground. Brown Mills, NJ: Ptolmey / Brown Mills Review Press, 1981.
• D.O.A. Belvidere, IL: Crawlspace, 1983.
• America in pictures. Erie, PA: Northern Pressure Press, 1984.
• target practice. Detroit, MI: Planet Detroit, 1985.
• wr: 98 / watching. Stockton, CA: Wormwood Books & Magazines, 1985.
• scales and weights. Springfield, MO: Iguana Press, 1985.
• blood on the moon. San Antonio, TX: Chawed Rawzin Press, 1985.
• tough ass. Sterling, VA: Mockersatz Zrox, 1985.
• dead center. Stow, OH: Impetus, 1985.
• Dillinger. Erie, PA: Kangaroo Court, 1986; Allston, MA: Primal, 1990.
• The name is Dillinger. Erie, PA: Kangaroo Court, 1986.
• outlaw eyes. Road/House, 1986.
• Dillinger's aces. Erie, PA: Kangaroo Court, 1987.
• Billie F. Erie, PA: Kangaroo Court, 1987.
• cheap & nasty. Road/House, 1988.
• playing poker w/22 longs. Persona Non Grata Chapettes, 1988.
• Dillinger let. Milwaukee, WI: Woodland Pattern, 1989.
• 6 poems.Erie, PA : SpeakEasy, 1989.
• shallow graves. Erie, PA: [Speakeasy Press?], 1989.
• first switchblade. Olean, NY: Blue Ryder Press, 1990.
• More Moore. El Paso, TX: Vergin Press, 1990.
• night in the blood. Road/House, 1990.
• american cannibal: poems. East Meadow, NY: Mulberry Press, 1992.
• Dillinger: book II. Allston, MA: Primal, 1992.
• I want a poem to be hard like a bullet. Fort Worth, TX: Homemade Ice Cream Press, 1992.
• Todd Moore packs it in. Albuquerque, NM: Xerx Press, 1992.
• boneyard. E. Lansing, MI: ATL, EBH, MSU, 1992.
• the last good thing. Jamaica, VT: Bull Thistle Press, 1993.
• armed and dangerous. Racine, WI : BGS Press, 1993.
• machine gun. Rockford, IL: Crawlspace Press, 1994.
• driveby. San Diego, CA: [Taggezzine Specials?], 1994.
• shooting out the lights. Albuquerque, NM: T. Moore / Zerx Press, 1994.
• dancing w/blood. Los Angeles: Undulating Bedsheets, 1994.
• death, glory, sequins and smoke. Tampa, FL: Fine Human Wreckage Press, 1996.
• wolf mask. Arcadia, FL: JVC Books, 1997.
• some die along the way. Erie, PA: SpeakEasy Press, 1997.
• working on my duende: a poem. St. Augustine, Fl: Kings Estate Press, 1999.
• bone. San Pedro, CA: Lummox Press, 1999.
• the corpse is dreaming. San Pedro, CA: Lummox Press, 2000.
• bombed in New Mexico. San Pedro, CA: Lummox Press, 2000.
• shotgun blues. Los Angeles: Phony Lid, 2000.
• Dillinger's Thompson; with Machine gun dreams. Los Angeles: Phony Lid Books, 2002.
• Snub: a collection of poetry. Stoke Newington, London: Rising, [2003?]
• dark red candy. Rockford, IL: Crawlspace / Albuquerque, NM: Road House Press, 2003.
• the first one hurt. Seattle, WA: Spankstra Press, 2003.
• the weather in hell. Seattle, WA: Spankstra Press, 2004.
• the sign of the sun. Seattle, WA: Spankstra Press, 2005.
• Russian roulette. Seattle, WA: Spankstra Press, 2005.
• blind whiskey & the straight razor blues. Manasquan, NJ: Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books, 2008.
• the riddle of the wooden gun. San Pedro, CA: Lummox Press, 2009.
• dead reckoning: poetry. Sherwood Park, AB: Epic Rites Press, 2010.
• the gunfighter elegies. Chiron Review Press, 2010.
• the summer of blood (edited by Chris Dusterhoff). Seattle, WA: Spankstra Press, 2010.

Collected editions

• Gangsters, Harlots & Thieves: Down and out at the Hotel Clifton (essays & poem). Albuquerque, NM: Saint Vitus Press, 2011.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

Audio / video

Poetry Jam, 1993, featuring Todd Moore

• Dillinger (CD; with music by J.A. Deane). Albuquerque, NM: Zerx Leisure Productions, 2001.
• Todd Moore and Lawrence Welsh read at Acequi Booksellers (CD). Magdalena, NM: Todd Moore / Lawrence Welsh / Vox Audio, 2009.

See also

• List of U.S. poets

External links

Poems

• Todd Moore poems at The Rusty Truck

Audio / video

• Todd Moore audio files at Outlaw Poetry

About

• Cinematic Poet on the Outlaws' Trail: Bill Nevins talks to Todd Moore at Rootsworld

Etc.

• A Rusty Truck tribute to Todd Moore