FRANK'S LUNCH
SERVICE
Frank Rubino

Publication Date: September 27th, 2025
112pp / paperback
ISBN 9781946583413

New collection from New Jersey poet, Frank Rubino. In vivid language that illuminates the nature of work and family, the poems reconsider the poet's childhood at Frank’s Lunch Service, his father's luncheonette. Its scope is broader, though, as it transcends autobiographical particulars to connect with universal experiences of intimacy and camaraderie.

With an Introduction by Eileen Myles.

Praise for Frank's Lunch Service

"Frank's Lunch Service is a memoir told the way life is actually experienced: as a progression of prominent places, momentous memories, pivotal insights—at times chronological, other times kaleidoscopic.” — Anton Yakovlev

"Blackballed from the Honor Society, wearing a Bradlee’s hoodie with no logo, it’s teenage Frank, working in his family’s diner on wheels. His father’s favorite comedies are Roadrunner cartoons. His mother woodburned “Love, Mom,” into the back of his guitar. If you want the real Jersey, it’s here…” — Bob Holman

"These poems grapple with but never aim to define American masculinity. Instead, they offer an interior view of the things boyhood and manhood can encompass, which is to say, depth and complexity. Rubino’s poems challenge toxic masculinity by witnessing its presence, which gives its practitioners grace and a way to move past. I will read this book to my son one day.” —Tamara Zbrizher

ABOUT FRANK RUBINO — Frank Rubino has been published in The Platform Review, DQM, Thimble, Chaleur, Caliban, The World, Little Light, and Vending Machine, and was the featured poet in The Red Wheelbarrow 14. He co-hosts the Red Wheelbarrow Poets workshop every Tuesday night and co-edits the group's yearly anthology. He works in technology and lives in New Jersey with his wife, children, and cats.

London Grip Poetry Review: Review of Frank's Lunch Service by Charles Rammelkamp