Jerkwater Freight

Jerkwater Freight is the realization of nearly a decade of writing.  This debut collection of poems, essays, and short stories formally draws together the bulk of my creative writing efforts.  While a majority of the work comes from the years 1995-1999, I have included some poems and essays that go back as far as 1990.  Other significant sources of material are the two creative writing courses I took at Illinois State University with Jim Elledge, to whom this book is dedicated.  Without his encouragement at a time when my confidence in writing was ebbing, very little of the material in Jerkwater Freight would have been written.  Jerkwater Freight is in such a format that it is not designed to be read from cover to cover because it has not been written in that manner.  It is a journey through the mind where the destination is not one to be reached quickly.  Along the way there are pauses to reflect on the route taken and to pick up boxcars left on sidings up and down the line.