In Waitress at the Red Moon Pizzeria Eleanor Levine has crafted a collection of poetry that will challenge her readers to view their pasts through a new lens: one that is untainted by regret, shame, or fear. She invites her readers to reflect on the honesty in the desire, love, and pain that have driven their lives by following the journeys of narrators using the same lens to view their own lives. A daughter worries about her father buried deep in the ground, alone except for the cicadas that cover the ground every seventeen years. A mother attends Wagnerian acupuncture lessons and struggles to maintain the sanctity of her children's Jewish heritage even as it slips into the cracks of passing time. A sister laments the monotony of her brother's chosen lifestyle but wonders if the commotion of her own life merits any higher worth. A woman faces rejection and acceptance from the women she desires as sexual and emotional companions. The quiet moments of life are on display in this collection that refuses to accept that the past is something to be ashamed of. Deeply personal and joyfully candid, Waitress at the Red Moon Pizzeria is an invitation to look beyond the mistakes and missteps that lead us to believe our histories might be nightmares.

Eleanor Levine spent twenty years running The Eleanor Levine Newsletter in New York City where she interviewed Abbie Hoffman after he came out of hiding, John Kennedy, Jr., Liz Smith, John Ashbery, Quentin Crisp, Noam Chomsky, and Matt Dillon, among others. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Hollins University after moving to Roanoke, VA. Her work has appeared in over 50 journals, magazines, and anthologies including Fiction, The Evergreen Review, and The Wall Street Journal. Eleanor is currently a copy editor and lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with her dog Morgan.