How the Potato Chip Was Invented
poetry by Daniel M. Shapiro

BLURBS
“Funny, flashy, and fierce, these prose poems blur the line between pop culture and urban myth. How the Potato Chip Was Invented documents imaginary encounters, test scores, and interviews, chronicling events such as Richard Nixon attending the premiere of Star Wars and Fred Astaire tapping with The Black Eyed Peas.”
—Carol Guess, author of Doll Studies: Forensics

“In this collection of quirky, fascinating and often illuminating prose poems, Shapiro creates a crazy-quilt cast of unlikely characters who do unlikely and very human things. These are delightful, smart poems, as insightful as they are inventive. Rarely have I had so much fun.”
—Lori Jakiela, author of Miss New York Has Everything

“Splashing gleefully through a distinctly American milieu of game shows, news programs, films, and ads, these poems examine our love-hate relationship with the entertainments and politics that saturate our lives. Readers are treated to examinations of hard and soft power, from the demagoguery of Richard Nixon to the demagoguery of Richard Dawson.”
—Brad Liening, author of Ghosts and Doppelgängers

BACK COVER
Daniel M. Shapiro’s first full-length collection of poems illuminates histories that never quite existed but probably should have. Game show panelists transcend their dated one-liners. Artists collapse under their own pride. A refreshing blend of humor and playful uneasiness, How the Potato Chip Was Invented simultaneously celebrates and lampoons what it means to be a celebrity.