Poetry. Charles is a writer who has, through his poetry and prose, told the story of his time and his life. He knows the craft of writing and with the sureness of that craft he has looked deeply, past the mundane, at the unfolding of the life that makes us all. "In my poems and stories I hold to the idea that beneath every human experience there lies a discrepant reality, and there is something to be gained by bringing that discrepant reality up into the light" Charles Entrekin."

This is a collection of thirty-two essays, memoirs, and poems about tumultuous times. Universities were under attack and free speech was in question. The byword of the culture rang out, "Question authority." It was also a time to come together and discuss such things as the worth of a word in a poem. The young writers who started The Berkeley Poets Cooperative decided to have a say-so about what was important in literature and in the culture. The combined voices form a patchwork quilt of a unique era in Berkeley, California 1960-1990. Why revisit literary history? Nearly half a century since...

"Poets Gail Rudd Entrekin and Charles Entrekin have navigated Charles's lymphocytic leukemia for years. Heeding Rumi's counsel that love turns all pain to medicine, they've used their craft to transform fear into curiosity, confusion into inviting mystery, and discomfort into gratitude. Any patient or caregiver faced with a serious illness will benefit from Gail's and Charles' healing observations." -Jeff Kane, MD (Author - Healing the Heart of Healthcare: How Doctors and Patients Can Cure our Sick System)