Search for a Kinder Muse

This is a collection of poems about writing, or Ars Poetica (And yes, that includes poems about not writing and everything between and beyond). It is also about language and where ideas come from—mine, yours, and other people’s. Furthermore, this collection is about how writing affects the day-to-day lives of writers (i.e., awake at night, dreaming during the day) and other experiential phenomenon such as that attraction-revulsion dynamic. It is also about how poets affect those around them, such as family, friends, significant others—and total strangers. There are also a few Ekphrasis poems here, inspired by Marcia Borell’s art.

In addition to a few previously unpublished and/or new poems, this collection is a thematic “best of” as well as a sequel, for two different collections: My very first chapbook, Lap Danced by The Muse: How I learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Tease, which was published in 2002 by David Boyne, the former publicist for WritersMonthly.us (and where my first writing column was housed); and My Friend, The Poet, and Other Poems About People I Think I know, which was published in 2008 by Sam’s Dot Publishing. Both collections are out of print; however, there may be a few copies of My Friend, The Poet to be had on the web.