Crusty Bits of Scrapple

This is a collection of character sketches, vignettes and stories from the streets and neighborhoods of Philadelphia. Told from a wryly askance, ground level perspective, this anthology presents portrayals of gritty, everyday people. Some are quirky. Some obtuse. Some resistant. Some resilient. All real people. All scuffling to get by with a hard way to go.

These are narratives of relationship clashes, urban life struggles, hardscrabble conflicts and vivid personalities retold by a man who heard it

all first hand. The author, Paul Bukovec, spent forty-five years as a psychotherapist evaluating and treating a wide spectrum of the population in the City of Brotherly Love. He worked at the local state mental hospital, a community mental health center, and as lead clinician/director for the city's first Batterers' Intervention Program. He engaged with folks at all levels of distress and conflict: evaluated court referrals, diagnosed cases at every level of disorder, and spoke intimately with thousands from all walks of life.

Bukovec describes the poems in this volume as mosaics. He has taken fragments from hundreds of personalities and a myriad of stories he listened to over the years and pieced together composites that tell tales about real people you could encounter any day on Philly's always sunny streets.