39.5

As I am publishing my 7th poetry book called, 39.5, I wanted to reflect on poetry. Did you know that more than a billion Christians/Catholics and more than a billion Muslims think God speaks to mankind with poems and songs? For instance, all of them accept the book of Psalms. I’m a big believer in the “write what you know” adage. Who wants to read something written by a person with no knowledge or experience of the topic? It’s probably impossible to write about something without understanding it anyway. It’s certainly impossible to teach it. 39.5 is a collection of 39 poems I wrote in 2014. They’re about life, relationships, and searching for meaning on the streets of Long Beach, California. My poems are often deep, yet to the point. Sometimes they celebrate life and sometimes they’re highly critical of the way things are and the way people are.