I am pleased to announce the release of my new book, Lullabies for Warriors. Written as a nearly chronological sequence of poems tracing the progression of my thought from the conception of my son through his birth and coming to cognizance, the book dives into the hopes and despair of the advent of new life in the contemporary world.
Despite the overall chronological order, it begins, so to speak, at the end. The first poem is the positive reinterpretation of a work of a more stark nature that had been written prior to conception. Upon discovering the news, I rewrote this poignant, resonant poem infused with the optimism of hope to read at my son's baby shower.
From that innocence in conception, the poems start from just after birth, just after being thrown into the world. They travel through the early stages of life stark with the residue of darkness prior to and the new light of innocence upon conception until the moving forest of ideas stands still in a consummation of hope and despair. Following that is a reincarnation of self in this new place of fatherhood, as the son gradually becomes cognizant of his existence.
As awareness fights its way to the surface in the moving forest, the book comes to a close by traveling back to a time before the beginning, to the original poem which conceived of the new light of innocence in resonance with the spirit of the world. Having been aptly written for NO!R New York's show, The Ceremony of Innocence, it is a shining of light into the darkness of the contemporary world where we must all fight for good.
My son's name means Warrior, and this is a book of Lullabies for Warriors.