Unheard Scream, my first chapbook of poems

 UNHEARD SCREAM

This chapbook, Unheard Scream, was not my first book, but the first chap I ever published. It came out in 2003, I believe. Good luck finding a copy. I had trouble digging one up in order to scan an image of the cover. I think 50 copies were printed. Maybe 75. I have no idea where they've gone to. In those days, especially at readings, I had a tendency to give my little chaps away, and I was happy to do so.

Here is a poem from the collection that when I've read it aloud in public, has garnered more than a few words of praise. I would later publish it again in the magazine Interpoezia, and then include it not only in another chap, but in one of my full collections. 

Reactions to this poem have surprised me, humbled me, proving I never know what it is that people will like in any of the work I've done. More than one person has told me they've really enjoyed this poem. Maybe because it's short. 

I hope you will enjoy it too.

authentick

 

in an aggressive urge to disappear

into mundane prosperity

your town now looks like all the other towns

and on thanksgiving day you drive your niece

to find deer along the old back roads

only to learn the fields of corn are now lawns

and the deer, like the lawn jockeys, are ceramic

 

what startles is your disappointment

you are gloomy and silent

in front of your innocent niece

and later as you watch your family sleep

away the excessive holiday meal

you suspect you’re not alone

doubting the audacity of change