Now in its second printing of a thousand, Falling Wallendas was intended to have a single point of view, that of an older man who resists looking back and tries to look ahead in his life. It resulted from a performance piece of the same name and was chosen for the Tia Chucha list by their editorial board. Many of the poems have been published in anthologies and magazines. Most recently, “The Ice Worm” has been included in The Spoken Word Revolution (Naperville, IL:Sourcebooks mediaFusion, 2003), 143-44.for reviews, press, ordering information and poems, click here.
This book is dedicated to my mother and her father because they framed my early love of the Susquehanna River and its people. While not all the poems are strictly persona poems, they deal with people found in the small towns where I grew up. Book design was done by Graphic Arts students at Mount Ida College based on a watercolor of “Turkey Hill” on the Susquehanna River by Lancaster County, PA, artist Matt Chambers. This book was one of four finalists in the Cambridge Awards competition. Originally printed in an edition of 400 copies, fewer than fifty copies remain unsold. Ellen Foos, the publisher of Ragged Sky Press, thought it better to come out with a new book than reprint Susquehanna. As additional poems continue being written, look for them on this website.for cover, comments, ordering information and additional poems, click here.
This book won the 2004 Cambridge Poetry Award for best book. It came into being when Faith Vicinanza, the publisher of an excellent list of poetry books, asked me what I could do for her Hanover Press. I told her of several projects, including Susquehanna and a book of political poems, and then I mentioned a book I characterized as “rock heaves.” Every couple of months I write something that comes from deep inside me. It’s like those New England rocks pushed up by the process of freeze and thaw, till one day they are sitting in a field or lawn, whole and stark. Faith said, “That’s the one I want.” David Martin, her production person, did a great job on layout and text. Lichin Huang’s front cover won a competition among Graphic Arts students at Mount Ida College.click for more information on The Man Who Makes Amusement RidesThe Confidence Man
(Princeton: Ragged Sky, 2006) $10.This book is supposed to be fun. Many of the poems, especially in the first section, involve artists and artworks. The title poem won the Mulberry Poets and Writers Association first prize in 2006. "Oomph" is the title poem of the second section. It was inspired by poet Susan Mahan, who said nobody writes about oomph. The third section, "Yellow Days," (with hints toward Picasso and Earl Hines) continues a color theme and balances the other two sections.click for reviews, ordering information & sample poems
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