El Dorado Freddy's: Chain Restaurants in Poems and Photographs - Paperback

by Danny Caine (Author), Tara Wray (Photographer)

A charming and accessible collection of poems dedicated to one of the most American of inventions--fast food. "I went back for seconds." --Dallas Crow, Rain Taxi Review of Books

El Dorado Freddy's may be the first book of fast-food poetry. In poems like "Olive Garden," "Culver's," "Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen," "Cracker Barrel," "Applebee's (after James Wright)," Danny Caine--owner of the Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kansas--"reviews" chain restaurants, bringing our attention to a slice of American life we often overlook, even though it's everywhere. Along the way, he touches on such topics as parenting, the Midwest, politics, and the pitfalls of nostalgia. Caine's wry, deceptively accomplished poems are paired with Tara Wray's color-drenched photos. The result is a literary yet goofy homage to American food and identity, set in a midwestern landscape dotted by the light of fast-food restaurants' glowing signs. Perfect for those readers who love both poetry and Popeye's.

"Caine's work has a tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek appeal that is sly enough to fool the people who believe Popeye's chicken could be considered healthy, and funny enough to make the rest of us laugh, or groan, to ourselves. Wray's images in El Dorado Freddy's are understated in their Steven Shore-esque ability to capture the essence of a meal when we'd rather not admit to, but cannot stop from embracing." --Cary Benbow, F-Stop Magazine

Author Biography

Tara Wray, a photographer, writer, and filmmaker, is based in Vermont. She curates interviews with photographers at Vice and at BUST Magazine―where her focus is on giving voice to women in photography―and is photo editor of the literary journal Hobart. She created and curates Some Days Just Are, a collaborative series where two photographers capture a twelve hour day in parallel time. Wray's work is held in collections at major institutions including Yale University, University of Notre Dame, and Dartmouth College. Born and raised in Kansas, Wray graduated from NYU with a degree in documentary film. She has directed two feature length documentaries: Manhattan, Kansas (Audience Award, SXSW 2006; Film Society of Lincoln Center) and Cartoon College (Vancouver International Film Festival 2012). Her most recent photobook, Too Tired for Sunshine, was published by Yoffy Press in 2018. More info at tarawray.net.

Danny Caine is the author of Continental Breakfast (Mason Jar Press, 2019) and the chapbook Uncle Harold's Maxwell House Haggadah (Etchings Press 2017). His poems have appeared in DIAGRAM, Hobart, Barrelhouse, The New Ohio Review, and other places. He holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Kansas. Hailing from Cleveland, he now lives in Lawrence, Kansas where he's the owner of the Raven Book Store. More info at ravenbookstore.com and dannycaine.com.