Jack Faragasso is an artist, a writer, and a photographer. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, at the start of the Great Depression. Life was difficult but through his hard work and keen intellect, he graduated from high school with academic honors. Immediately after graduating, he enlisted in the United States Army. When discharged from the service, he enrolled in the Art Students League of New York to study drawing and painting with Mr. Frank J. Reilly for over four years. Mr. Reilly passed away in 1967, and in 1968, Mr. Faragasso took over the student body and has been teaching Mr. Reilly’s methods and concepts as well as his vast accumulated knowledge ever since. In this time period, while still teaching, he painted over six hundred paperback book covers and illustrations as well as painting many easel paintings and writing three books—the highly sought-after Students Guide to Painting, Drawing the Human Figure from Life Memory and Imagination, and The Early Photographs of Bettie Page: The Making of an American Icon. This is his first book on poetry.
Jack Faragasso says he is a deist, a mystic, a realist, and a dreamer. He says he has always had one foot in the real world and one foot in a mystical world. In this world, his mind is a whirlpool of ever changing thoughts, colors, and images. When these erupt to the surface of his rational mind, he calls them inspirations. Many of these have found their way into his writings paintings and illustrations.
Mr. Faragasso doesn’t call himself a poet, having spent his entire life in the world of art, producing easel paintings, illustrating, teaching drawing and painting, and writing on and about art. All of a sudden at his very advanced age, the floodgates of his mind swung open, and there was a torrent of intense feelings and emotions of the joys and sorrows of love. He was compelled to write these feelings and write them along with other thoughts of life. He followed no rules, sought no style. He did not struggle to write a poem and wrote only when the inspirational thoughts came into his mind. These are sincere, and they come from his heart and soul. They need no elaboration or clarification—they just are. They come to him at any time or place. He jots them down quickly for these thoughts are very shy and do not like to be looked at for any length of time. The result is this little book—his first on poetry. Poems of Love and other thoughts runs the gamut of emotions from the most tender moments of love to the ecstasy, power, and torment of passionate love.
