about my own life from that same period that I had never bothered to publish, but which seemed appropriate for this collection. I should also note that Scylla Liscombe, my partner in SOULSPEAK, helped me create several beautiful, antiphonal duets, with the responding voice creating a separate poem that also amplifies the main voice. Think of them as of a split personality. Read them any way you like, as two separate poems or as one long interweaving of voices.
I have made changes to many of the poems, as time allowed me to detect some faults in rhythm and phrasing that had occurred in the rush to get them out. The poems seem better for it but who’s to say. The original of anything has a way of favorably embedding itself in the recipient’s psyche. I should also add that despite my misgivings about composing poems of occasion, some of them seem as good as anything I’ve ever written, which makes me feel especially good about this particular collection.
Finally let me say that if any poem was omitted, I am sorry. I have gone through several generations of PCs (and disk crashes) so it is a wonder anything survived. Thank God I usually squirreled away a paper copy. If a birth or wedding took place I wasn’t aware of, all I can offer as a defense is that the ability of this family to multiply itself has often outstripped my ability to keep up. As for the deaths, they seem to have a way of making themselves known, don’t they?
Justin Spring
November 2006