There have been delays, a lengthier waiting period than I expected but, at long last, the proof of my next book is finally in the mail, zipping its way toward me as I type these words.

I've been a professional author for over 25 years, with numerous books under my belt but, I have to tell you, it's still exciting when you've got a new effort in the pipeline.

This volume, New & Selected Poems (1984-2011), feels extra special.  It's a book that, along with a companion volume that I'll be releasing less than a month from now, contains a tremendous amount of my essence; they are extremely personal efforts, revealing many of my obsessions, yearnings...and fears. They are so revealing, in fact, that I have found the process of assembling and selecting material to be quite unsettling, unnerving even.

What will readers think?  Will they be able to divine my deepest, darkest secrets...or will they find my verse too obscure and elusive? I'm recalling an editor from a respected Canadian literary magazine who, years ago, responded to one of my (rare) submissions with an apologetic "These poems are very well written but I didn't understand them..."

My failing or his?

I guess I'll find out shortly.

Went with my gut and produced only a paper version of New & Selected Poems; no e-book or Kindle. Sorry gadgeteers! To me, my poems are artifacts of another time, pre-computers; an era when the printed word was still held in reverence and authors were deserving of special status and respect.

Not any more...