Emerson James used to be a dangerous man, but you'd never know it. To everyone who knows him now, he is the distinguished Dr. James, respected professor, scholar, and lecturer. To accomplish this, he had to change his life completely. Thirteen years ago, after participating in unspeakable violence, Emerson left Chicago and never looked back, escaping into the world of academia. Since then, he has desperately avoided anything connected to his former existence. But he is about to learn that you can't run from your past forever. When tragedy strikes, he is forced to return home, and, no matter...

A new collection of poems exploring the fine line between abundance and apocalypse.

"For some reason, slightly unfathomable, I am reminded of a forest we visited on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido where the annual winter ice festival is held. The forest is sprayed for days by the local fire department, but not before flowers and colored lights have been hung within the branches, so when the whole forest turns to crystalline ice, the lights burn from within, the whole crystal forest glows, and when you walk there, flowers look out from the ice, arrested in full bloom. It is all...