So many self-published books of poetry have undertones - about Life, self-realization and religion. All of which are essential in their own right. But this book is about passion, lust and that other elusive entity - Love. For without passion and lust, Love is not a ‘Many-Splendored Thing’ - it is simply a word. To think of it in terms we can all understand: Passion is the damnedest, most wonderful flavor that never hit Baskin-Robbins. Lust is the creamer Coffee-mate has been trying to formulate for decades. I hope to throw you, headlong, into the hearts and souls and beds of people just like yourself - like me - who only want to partake of Passion - if only for a moment in Time. So, wake up your ‘significant other’, tune in to the local Classical or Oldies Hour and read out loud what you may have been holding inside all these years. Go ahead, light the fire! Celebrate your passion and lust!
I was born in California in July of 1952, the same year as the UFO flap over Washington, DC - (perhaps this is why I feel like the proverbial stranger in a strange land). That year, The Greatest Show on Earth won Best Picture. John Ford received Best Director for The Quiet Man. High Noon was released. I have always felt an affinity for these, although I can´t explain it. My first poem was written in 1969. The title was MAN. It was a semi-religious poem regarding the possibilities of Man, once he surrenders to a higher power (God). The first line came to me and it repeated itself, until I was no longer comfortable. I grabbed a spiral notebook and wrote the line. The next line blurted out and finally the last. I could not rest until it was finished. From that moment on, I have heard my poems in the same manner. Influences: Other than the life experiences we all have faced, I would have to admit that I owe most, if not all, of my writings to my mysterious Muse. I have often tried to compose poetry, cold, on my own. It doesn´t work. I hear nothing internally. The paper is untouched. Then, when I least expect it, a poem arrives and I hurriedly put it to paper. At one time, I was an avid comic book collector and, if I have any influence at all on the poetry I have written, it may be the succinct style of the comic book that makes my poems on the short side. I´d like to think that my poems can place the reader into a situation that is quickly understood, make a point of some kind and get them out (in much the same way as men shop at the grocery store.). Whether I succeed in this is another story. As for poets, I would say John Donne, Pablo Neruda, Robert Merrick and my poet friends have shown me that the brevity of words leads the reader to imagine the rest of the poem´s idea. Brevity does not lead to boredom.