Synopsis:

"I like the wide sweep of it. There are many mysteries between father and son that people don't talk about... There's much leaping, but each line, so to speak, steps on something solid." --Robert Bly on father and son sequence.

As the Globe  & Mail (Canada) noted in a review of The Collected, from which many of the father poems are reprinted: "The heart and core of this book is a series of dramatic monologues and dialogues between father and son..."

Of Russian-Jewish heritage, my Talmud-conversant father--a Chicago-based podiatrist by profession--came unhinged after my mother, a former Miss Chicago, died in at age 42.

POETRY/DRAMA 

 

 

 

Book Excerpt:

"How to pray?

You're gonna need a password.

But not now. And you're gonna see

it's numbers, not words. Didn't I tell you: if it's got words,

it's not prayer, and it's not a password either..."

[excerpt from "From Beyond the Grave, the Podiatrist Counsels his Son on Prayer"] 

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Author Comment:

This book draws on Rosicrucian in the Basement and Heavenly Sex (Black Moss Press) and includes a dozen new poems in the father-son series. The poems are here sequenced to form a narrative spanning 60 years (1945-present) and are best read in the order printed.

Topics/Categories:

Adolesence, Family drama; part suspense and part mystery, Father and Sons

Genre:

Biography and Memoir, Memoir, Poetry

Type of Work:

Poetry Collection

Publishers:

Black Moss Press

Awards:

Sandburg Livesay Award Winner

Purchase From:

Robert Sward

Original Publish Date:

2006-10-01

ISBNs:

0-88753-422-8

Publishing Notes:

Because of difficulty getting copies over the border (Black Moss Press is in Canada), it is best to order copies from author.

Formats:

Paperback, Audio CD