The Awakening: A Collection of Poems....for the Dead

In the title of this book, the word "dead" has literal and figurative meaning. In the first sense, the poems are a tribute to the dead – be they celebrated poets like Sylvia Plath, battered women that were murdered, or my beloved grandmother. In the second sense, the poems serve as a wake-up call or an awakening for millions walking around in a "dead state" and ignoring the social conditions and situations that threaten to destroy us all: domestic violence, child abuse, greed, political corruption, mental illness, pedophile clergy members, white supremacists in law enforcement, and racism, to name a few.