Like the Day I Was Born: 40 Poems, 40 Places, 40 Days is my first collection of poems. All of them were previously published in literary journals and websites around the world over a 20-year span.
The connection between poem and place in this volume is not always apparent. In truth, the duality of human nature is evident in our ability to have our bodies present in our environment while our mind transcends it. Thus, many of these poems see people isolated and desperate, trapped in a mechanized world and in conflict with nature or themselves. But underlying each poem is a reaffirmation of the will to live.
The book is divided into four sections of ten poems each around the themes of knowing (the marvels and limits of our knowledge), having (the things of this world we possess or desire), doing (our daily interactions with our work), and being (our reflective moments). I wrote each in a different location from age 19 to 39. Therefore, my hope for this collection is that it reinforces what I write in the preface: Poetry is. Everywhere. Always.
