People Matter: Sarasota Portraits & Others is a collection of poems, most of which describe individuals. These descriptions are often presented by an omniscient third-person narrator who is familiar with the subject's history, present circumstances and personal thoughts and feelings. In other instances, however, the poem may be a steam-of-conscious presentation of the subject's thoughts and feelings. For this reason, these poems are called portraits. These portraits, however, describe the psychological and emotional states of the subject characters. The first section of the collection presents sixteen poems focused distinctly on types of individual the author observed residing in Sarasota and its northern neighbor Bradenton, Florida. The people described are of various ages, backgrounds and occupations and, together, they suggest at least the outlines of a community. The focus of the second section of 26 poems is more general in nature, presenting figures of historical or cultural significance from ancient to contemporary times such as the Roman emperor Hadrian, the artist Vincent Van Gogh, the English novelist Thomas Hardy and entertainers Rosemary Clooney and Madonna. These portraits are supplemented by poems which consider in a general way human nature and the human condition. The overriding theme of all the poems is the significance of the individual human life. Contemporary Western culture often gives lip service only to the dignity and value of the individual. This collection asserts that, in fact, people matter, that people are more important than money or power.

The seven acts of the drama The First Day are set in the Kingdom of the Great Spirit as this Kingdom might have been imagined by Crazy Horse, the legendary war chief of the Lakota Sioux who was assassinated by the U.S. government in 1877, after he had surrendered. The action occurs on January 5, 1960 when Crazy Horse welcomes the French philosopher and writer Albert Camus to the Kingdom. Camus had been killed in an automobile accident the night before. Following introductions, the two begin a walk that lasts from dawn to dusk and traverses a variety of landscapes. Periodically they stop to converse with others in the Kingdom. These include Native Americans Chief Joseph and Chief Seattle, Jesus, and the poets Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman and Federico Garcia Lorca. Walt Whitman is accompanied by a young friend named Jimmy, and Jesus finds himself leading a band of some twenty children. The travelers discuss various subjects, personal, historical and philosophical. Their principal interest, however, is the mysterious Almighty Power whose grace makes possible their eternal life. Considering this mystery, they also discuss justice and injustice among mortals, why men who struggled to do good often suffered at the hands of those who did evil, and whether poets and poetry are an influence for good in the affairs of mortals. At the end of the day, having bid good day to their fellow travelers and sitting on a mountain ledge overlooking expansive valleys as the night sky is illuminated by an astounding show of lights, Crazy Horse and Camus are joined by Socrates. Socrates explains why it is no evil on Earth can ultimately hurt a virtuous person and how it is the Almighty is revealed to humans during their mortal lives.

The sixty poems collected in Beach Synchronization are set either on the ocean, or on the beach, or in transit to or from the beach or, finally, in the mind of the narrator when he is simply thinking about the beach and the ocean. The first person narrator of these poems is the poet. This suggests what is indeed fact, that the poet has spent a great deal of time enjoying the many beautiful beaches along the west central Florida coast. However, while the beach is often beautiful, anyone who has spent any time near or on the ocean knows marine weather can be harsh, even life-threatening. Indeed, the beach is an arena where dramas of life and death are played out daily. To truly appreciate the shore and the ocean, then, one must respect the marine environment and the lessons it has to teach us. One must, in other words, be in synch with the various moods of the sea and nature. The poems herein are loosely organized around the premise that the moods of the sea and marine weather have their various rhythms. An overarching theme of the poems is that one who is in tune with the rhythms of marine life will find himself or herself in communion with a transcendent reality. In other words, one who is synchronized to the natural world is likely to feel that the world of the senses is not the only world. In many of the poems in this collection, the narrator is overcome with a premonition or an inkling that the world he knows with his senses provides evidence of a higher reality, a reality in which the significance of his human experience - whatever it has been -- will become fully clear and will be justified.

The fundamental subject of Not Most People: The Pornographist's Tale is death as a philosophical problem of which all thinking men and women are conscious. Set in an unidentified state penitentiary, the play dramatizes love as that human possibility which enables us to live fulfilled, purposeful lives despite our mortality and our lack of knowledge of what, if anything, may await us after death. The playwright argues that, given our mortality, no form or expression of human love is obscene or immoral, that, in fact, when confronted by the greatest obscenity we experience, namely death, love is essential to our living happy and healthy lives. This is so precisely because death is both natural and inevitable. It is not a creation of man, and few if any would choose to die had they a choice. This theme is dramatized most vividly through the protagonist of the play, Thomas Wright. The pornographist of the title, Thomas is doing time for having had sexual relations with Kyle, a minor, and for sexually assaulting one of the models for the Web site he had been operating, a site dedicated to the bondage and torture of young men. Questions of morality are raised since Kyle, who celebrates his eighteenth birthday weeks after Thomas' incarceration, loves Thomas and the sexual assault charge is based on perjured testimony. In the course of the action and through the intercession of two strong women, attorney Gloria Pelham and Episcopal priest Susan Murray, most of the major characters experience the transformative power of love. These include Brad, a serial rapist and Thomas' neighbor in an adjacent cell; Vincent, a friend of and former model for Thomas and Vincent's girlfriend Katie; Kyle's mother Colleen Bernard, and Thomas himself. Kyle alone, in his unflinching love, is vindicated.

The sixty poems collected in Beach Synchronization are set either on the ocean, or on the beach, or in transit to or from the beach or, finally, in the mind of the narrator when he is simply thinking about the beach and the ocean. The first person narrator of these poems is the poet. This suggests what is indeed fact, that the poet has spent a great deal of time enjoying the many beautiful beaches along the west central Florida coast. However, while the beach is often beautiful, anyone who has spent any time near or on the ocean knows marine weather can be harsh, even life-threatening. Indeed, the beach is an arena where dramas of life and death are played out daily. To truly appreciate the shore and the ocean, then, one must respect the marine environment and the lessons it has to teach us. One must, in other words, be in synch with the various moods of the sea and nature. The poems herein are loosely organized around the premise that the moods of the sea and marine weather have their various rhythms. An overarching theme of the poems is that one who is in tune with the rhythms of marine life will find himself or herself in communion with a transcendent reality. In other words, one who is synchronized to the natural world is likely to feel that the world of the senses is not the only world. In many of the poems in this collection, the narrator is overcome with a premonition or an inkling that the world he knows with his senses provides evidence of a higher reality, a reality in which the significance of his human experience - whatever it has been -- will become fully clear and will be justified.

The fundamental subject of Not Most People: The Pornographist's Tale is death as a philosophical problem of which all thinking men and women are conscious. Set in an unidentified state penitentiary, the play dramatizes love as that human possibility which enables us to live fulfilled, purposeful lives despite our mortality and our lack of knowledge of what, if anything, may await us after death. The playwright argues that, given our mortality, no form or expression of human love is obscene or immoral, that, in fact, when confronted by the greatest obscenity we experience, namely death, love is essential to our living happy and healthy lives. This is so precisely because death is both natural and inevitable. It is not a creation of man, and few if any would choose to die had they a choice. This theme is dramatized most vividly through the protagonist of the play, Thomas Wright. The pornographist of the title, Thomas is doing time for having had sexual relations with Kyle, a minor, and for sexually assaulting one of the models for the Web site he had been operating, a site dedicated to the bondage and torture of young men. Questions of morality are raised since Kyle, who celebrates his eighteenth birthday weeks after Thomas' incarceration, loves Thomas and the sexual assault charge is based on perjured testimony. In the course of the action and through the intercession of two strong women, attorney Gloria Pelham and Episcopal priest Susan Murray, most of the major characters experience the transformative power of love. These include Brad, a serial rapist and Thomas' neighbor in an adjacent cell; Vincent, a friend of and former model for Thomas and Vincent's girlfriend Katie; Kyle's mother Colleen Bernard, and Thomas himself. Kyle alone, in his unflinching love, is vindicated.

People Matter: Sarasota Portraits & Others is a collection of poems, most of which describe individuals. These descriptions are often presented by an omniscient third-person narrator who is familiar with the subject's history, present circumstances and personal thoughts and feelings. In other instances, however, the poem may be a steam-of-conscious presentation of the subject's thoughts and feelings. For this reason, these poems are called portraits. These portraits, however, describe the psychological and emotional states of the subject characters. The first section of the collection presents sixteen poems focused distinctly on types of individual the author observed residing in Sarasota and its northern neighbor Bradenton, Florida. The people described are of various ages, backgrounds and occupations and, together, they suggest at least the outlines of a community. The focus of the second section of 26 poems is more general in nature, presenting figures of historical or cultural significance from ancient to contemporary times such as the Roman emperor Hadrian, the artist Vincent Van Gogh, the English novelist Thomas Hardy and entertainers Rosemary Clooney and Madonna. These portraits are supplemented by poems which consider in a general way human nature and the human condition. The overriding theme of all the poems is the significance of the individual human life. Contemporary Western culture often gives lip service only to the dignity and value of the individual. This collection asserts that, in fact, people matter, that people are more important than money or power.

The seven acts of the drama The First Day are set in the Kingdom of the Great Spirit as this Kingdom might have been imagined by Crazy Horse, the legendary war chief of the Lakota Sioux who was assassinated by the U.S. government in 1877, after he had surrendered. The action occurs on January 5, 1960 when Crazy Horse welcomes the French philosopher and writer Albert Camus to the Kingdom. Camus had been killed in an automobile accident the night before. Following introductions, the two begin a walk that lasts from dawn to dusk and traverses a variety of landscapes. Periodically they stop to converse with others in the Kingdom. These include Native Americans Chief Joseph and Chief Seattle, Jesus, and the poets Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman and Federico Garcia Lorca. Walt Whitman is accompanied by a young friend named Jimmy, and Jesus finds himself leading a band of some twenty children. The travelers discuss various subjects, personal, historical and philosophical. Their principal interest, however, is the mysterious Almighty Power whose grace makes possible their eternal life. Considering this mystery, they also discuss justice and injustice among mortals, why men who struggled to do good often suffered at the hands of those who did evil, and whether poets and poetry are an influence for good in the affairs of mortals. At the end of the day, having bid good day to their fellow travelers and sitting on a mountain ledge overlooking expansive valleys as the night sky is illuminated by an astounding show of lights, Crazy Horse and Camus are joined by Socrates. Socrates explains why it is no evil on Earth can ultimately hurt a virtuous person and how it is the Almighty is revealed to humans during their mortal lives.

The epic tale of the life and death of the great Sioux warrior Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse is resurrected in the words of the Missouri River, his father, his friend He Dog, and the two remarkable women who loved him.