found drama

Jeff Coleman (my advisor from St. Mary’s) has a new collection of poems out. Titled Spirits Distilled, Jeff’s brief write-up goes:

The book addresses a range of subjects, including my deceased father and grandmother, the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd, Jr., former and recently deceased Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, the psychological terror of September 11, the war in Iraq, the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, the 2001 massacre of Nepal’s royal family, people living with AIDS, the Confederate Flag issue in my home state of S.C., voodoo spirituality, love and other forms of maddening desire, and the influence of writers Gwendolyn Brooks and James Baldwin. I think you’ll like it.

Jeff is an inspired writer and was a great mentor to me through a particularly tough time for me as both a student of the craft and as a human being. I’d recommend that if you check out only one book this month (it is National Poetry Month, after all) that this be it.

About Rob Friesel