Just Ash

About the Book

‘Just Ash’ is a book of poetry written over the course of a year. If you notice the subtle changes in the prominence of your cheekbone, elasticity of your skin, if you feel a general decline in excitability over mass catastrophe, then you are tuned in to the passage of time. Before time passes too quickly, we can capture it in word, in print. This book of poems is the eleventh book by Gabriel Leif Bellman, who still does not ‘get it.’ Or maybe he does. This book is the equivalent of a look in the mirror by a bottle of whiskey, poured over a fire, on a sinking ship. What does a flame see while it burns? What is left of us when we die?

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).