Poetry, like most anything worthpaying attention to in life, is the product of hard work, dedication andconsideration. Any poet worth his or her salt knows that the hardest part isnot finding the topic, or developing a style or voice, but rather digging outthe truth about oneself and one's experiences, then looking at it straight on.Here, Peter, has shown what can happen if one opens up the doors to one's lifeand allows oneself to see the truth, the good, bad or ugly. The poems of coursewill speak for themselves. They willshow you the joy, sadness, frustration and irony of this man's life as heworked to make sense or sometimes show the nonsense of some of his experienceswith everything from romantic love, family relations, human ignorance to Halloweenand silly childhood memories. Herein is fun, imagination, depth and folly,ingredients that are hard enough for many of us to cultivate and keep alive inour hearts and minds. For this41-year-old individual, who has to live with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, andpeople's reactions to his speech impediments and bent body, the triumph ofwill, courage and understanding displayed within is, well, mindboggling. This work, his first folio, the result of 26years of studying and writing poetry, shows a breadth of style, althoughcertainly similarities and relationships between the poems are there for themore discerning student of poetry to "dig out." I think you willenjoy this work as much as I did helping with its construction. You can pickout one poem at a time, or read several, an aspect of any collection Iparticularly appreciate.
Debra Stevens,
English Instructor,
Diablo Valley College
