Visions of Skylark Dressed in Black (Hardcover Gift Edition)

VISIONS OF A SKYLARK DRESSED IN BLACK is composed of 2 works of short fiction and 52 poems. It was first written and published as the global community not only came to grips with the reality of 9/11 in 2001 but as a number of catastrophes shook humanity to its collective core throughout the first decade of the new century. People during that time on the one hand found themselves often reeling from the man-made horrors of war and terrorism. On the other, they also had to cope with the seemingly increasing fury of nature in the form of hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Yet these external challenges frequently intensified individuals inner resolve and moved them to confront physical world chaos with a persistent kind of grace and startled integrity.

In these pages readers find themselves swept along on currents of irresistible historical change even as they remain anchored by a determined belief that beyond the pandemonium resides significance worthy of the struggle to conquer grief and claim joy. Like the times themselves, the language is frequently raw and possibly even brutal. Events such as the back-to-back rampage of hurricanes Katrina and Rita through the city of New Orleans and the death of the great civil rights leader Coretta Scott King stand in stark contrast to other quieter revelations. It might almost be described as a wrestling match between horror and beauty with no clear indication of which will prove the winner.