bodies of waste

About the Book

BODIES OF WASTE is a poetry book that sets out to illuminate the mystery of garbage and the mysteriousness of pornography. Set out of the glare of society’s mainstream headlights, these marginalized concepts flicker in the shadows, capturing our noses, our imagination, our disgust, and our excitement. Linking together Porn and Garbage, the poems in this book set to bring to our attention the very thing which we hope to avoid: ourselves. Cutting open the dichotomy of our values, dissecting the hypocrisy of ‘gross,’ these poems of garbage and pornography, these bodies of waste, are only our own.

About the Author

Gabriel Leif Bellman was born in Eugene, Oregon. He was awarded a Bachelor’s from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts (’95), a Master’s from New York University (’99), and a Juris Doctorate from U. C. Hastings ('05). He has been a high-school teacher; MTV producer; umbrella salesman; restaurant host; dishwasher; lumber feeder; assembly liner; slam poet; warehouse stacker; SOMA magazine correspondent; opera composer at Juilliard, groundskeeper; and ‘Playboy’ assistant. He has worked construction (Mexico); lived abroad (Spain, Ireland, Holland); and devoted extensive time to traveling (Europe, North Africa, the United States, Middle East, and Caribbean). He directed a film while traveling with the circus in Ireland (‘Duffy’s Irish Circus’ 2005). He has worked with female prisoners in California. Currently, Mr. Bellman lives in San Francisco where he is an attorney. One of the underrated 3-point shooters of his generation, Mr. Bellman won the Los Angeles city hoops championship in 1995. His agent gladly fields calls about his NBA availability (he will only sign with a title contender).