“Three From Osage Street, a composite book by three poets (Kay Myers, Bret Waller, Tom Lisenbee) immediately transports us to a world recognized mostly from literature and film, “a town (Lisenbee writes) that could have been a back lot stunt double for Pleasantville or Grover’.s Corners.- Myers, Waller, Lisenbee describe what it was like fOr them at the same particular time and place, verbally photographing it in meticulous detail, and thereby leading us back to our own pasts, places, we can never return to. and never qttite leave, “a warm summer evening (as Lisenbee writes.) caught in the crack between day and night.- Strongly recommended.”

Linda Lemer, Poetry Critic for the Home Planet News, New York City.

“Just wanted to tell you how much Bob and I enjoyed the Myers,Waller,Lisenbee book of memories of Girard. I read it cover to cover the first hour I got it from the mail. My what memories came flooding back!– many that I didn’t even realize were stored.”

Chinky Overstreet

“Lisenbee’s poems mainly touch on the joys of being a boy in Girard: 4th of July firecrackers, the Cozy Theatei; church softball leagues and that staple of small town life, the summer band concert. He also expresses the wish to pass the joys of small town life to his children and grandchildren in poems like Campin’ Out. But life in small town Girard had its dangers. In his poem IT, he describes how he nearly drowned in Farlington Lake because he was so desperate to keep up with his physically stronger friends. In his poem Reunion, he describes the sadness he feels at going to a high school reunion where the attendees are so old that eleven of the students are dead, twenty are “missing in action’; and there are no surviving teachers present. His wife rebukes him for not having enough signatures in his souvenir book, but he knows that there aren’t enough survivors. Of course we readers know that this reunion gives birth to the volume of poetry we are reading.”

Review, Axe Library Blog of Kansas State College at Pittsburg Kansas.

“My Aunt, Barabra Lohmeyer (Breese) of Girard sent me a copy of your book, requiring only that I return it after reading. Your wonderful description of life in a small town incredibly real—and being from Halstead Kansas very close to my early years. Sans catalpa trees, Halstead life paralleled Girard in the 50′s—wonderful memories generated by boredom and self sufficiency—little did we know what a wonderful time that was. Thank you my friend—love your writting oh i gave such a great review of your book to my aunt, that she gave it to me—ergo—another book sold for you—she’ll pick up a copy at the library.”

Bill Lohmeyer