Brokedown Palace is out now! you can buy it On this very website, using a credit card, right now! Just click On the “Buy the Book” page above!! Or, you can buy if from SPD by clicking here! or, If you want to get it from amazon, click here. For free shipping outside the United States, click here.

The Audiobook of brokedown palace is finally available! To Download, click on Audiobook Downloads! You can use a credit card to buy it!! If you buy all 16 tracks, you will have the entire book. read by me, the author. You can listen to the first three sections for free, below!

For 24 years, I was a 911 paramedic at St. Clare’s, a small hospital in Hell’s Kitchen. I worked during the dawn of AIDS, the influx of crack, and the most violent years the city has experienced. My hospital had the highest percentage of homeless patients in the city in the 1980s. In 1985 we established the first AIDS unit on the east coast.

Broke-Down Palace is the story of the city as seen through the lens of one poor, unsupervised institution. It begins in 1934 with the founding of the hospital by a penniless Irish nun in the depths of the Great Depression, and follows the course of its existence until 2007, when it was shut down, flipped a few times, and turned into luxury condos.

The book is structured as a series of linked poems; a memory palace. In addition to exploring the story of the hospital, I am interested in what happens to memories. What becomes a part of history, and what doesn't? If I took part in historical events, e.g. the AIDS plague, the attack on the World Trade Center, can I turn the historical narrative into one that actually reflects my experiences?

FOR BOOKINGS OR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: maggiedubris@mac.com

goofing around with the president, 1984

midnight shift, late 1980s

ladies in effect, 1983

no gloves, 1986

Maggie Dubris is the author of In The Dust Zone (Centre-Ville Books 2010), Skels (Soft Skull, 2004) and Weep Not, My Wanton (Black Sparrow Press, 2002). BrokeDown Palace is her newest work. Here's an excerpt:

1988

St. Clare's is the only hospital I know of

where it’s normal for the patients

to be physically brawling with the staff.

One summer evening I count six people

flying backwards through the double doors,

their clothes flying after them to land

in a messy pile on the sidewalk.

They roll to their feet cursing and spitting

as Scat, the bricklike security guard,

leans against the wall under the awning

streetlight glinting from his black sunglasses.

September. 3am.

I’m mopping out the the back of the ambulance with a sheet

blinking my eyes against the stench of rubbing alcohol.

A drunken man weeps on the curb,

slowly pulling on his pants. Michael the Aide

walks by on his way back from a coffee run.

"Don't cry, Sir," he says, "Better men than you

have gotten dressed out in front of St. Clare’s."

readings

I did a zoom reading for Sensitive Skin on June 4 with Bill Constadine and Andrei Codrescu. Here’s a link if you want to check it out!

Sadly, my spring readings have been cancelled due to the pandemic. But Greg Fuchs and I recorded what we would have read for the Kith and Kin reading. Here’s the link.

The April 18 reading in Cambridge is cancelled but we’re hoping to reschedule once this is all over.

Here's a video of a reading I did for the Sparkle Street Social and Athletic Club series at the Howl Gallery in New York City. The series is hosted by Mike DiCapite and Ted Baron. I come on midway through the video, and read for twenty minutes.

I was recently interviewed for the Sholem's Bias Podcast by author/physician Zachary Sholem Berger. I talk about the book, read a poem from it, and talk about working 911 in the 1980s and 90s.

I have a story, “The Rolling Stones Learn To Relate,” in the latest issue of Local Knowledge.

This will be a rotating series of images from my days on the ambulance at St. Clare's.

1983 cleaning the bus

This is me in 1983 or 1984 "cleaning". I still have some of my old uniform from HHC on (the vest).

Ladies on evenings, mid-1980s

My partner Lucy and I in the mid-1980s.

Midnight shift, 1990s

West near the river on the night shift, mid-late 1990s.

Resting comfortably

This is probably early 1990s, in our elegant and comfy ambulance room.

Midnights by the river

Mid-1990s, my partner Steve with the ambulance, taken near the Hudson.