You are about to meet a man by reading over forty years of his writings. In many ways, it is neither an easy introduction nor a comfortable journey. You will not be meeting the man as the person he is-you will be experiencing his process of becoming.
The poems begin in the authors early youth, with strong narratives that recount an inherited persona of streetwise toughness. Some of these early poems define, some bruise, some shock. In their wake we find a boy taking his first puzzled steps toward manhood, carrying with him-almost without question-the legacy of a rough family layered with scar...