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28 Years Since My Last Confession
Selected Poems
Introduction
It took so long to bring this book to print. I don't quite know why. I think maybe a few people had to die first. What I know now is that for a long time I stopped myself from getting my poetry out into the big, blue world because I followed the internal rule that I learned in my family, which was "this doesn't go outside the family."
Personal Struggles and Themes
Since most of my writing was about my family this presented a conundrum. It took many years to break this rule and I still fight it almost every time I sit down to write. The book's grand themes: Death, Loss, Divorce, Bad Relationships, Toxic Family Issues, Addiction & My Catholic Upbringing.
Humor and Style
And, before you say "Wow, what a bummer," you need to know that I write with great humor and grace. That's what they say about me anyway. I like to think my work is tragic and comic in the Irish tradition. Or, as my good friend, W.B. Yeats wrote, "Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy." Just change "he" to "she" and that should explain a great deal of my worldview.
Influences and Invitation
My work has been compared to Sharon Olds, Hal Sirowitz, and David Sedaris. I'm not making that up. It really has been compared to those writers. Enough! Read a few of my poems and judge for yourself.
