Actor and writer Michael Madsen is best known for his roles in Reservoir Dogs, Donnie Brasco, Thelma and Louise, The Getaway, and dozens of other films. In Burning in Paradise, Madsen's poetry explores the intense and gritty experiences of a man living life on the edge.These highly readable prose poems take us behind the scenes of Madsen's life, from the bedrooms and barrooms, hotels and jail cells, to the car wrecks and countless movie sets all over the globe. From his childhood in Chicago to his legendary excesses in Hollywood, his writing is stark yet vivid; he's been "sewn up, blown up, x-rayed, drugged up, tied up, and locked up".Chronicling episodes of loneliness, infidelity, depression, drugs, and sex, Madsen exposes his weaknesses as well as his disappointments amidst the false pretenses of our so-called civilized world.