I have been delighted to note the publication this week of my new book of poems, Tinted Distances (Turning Point Books, 2011: ISBN 978-1936370337), and today I offer “Island Hurricane,” a sample poem from the volume:
ISLAND HURRICANE
Sizzling ends of live wires, clotted
. . . . . in treetops or spilled onto downtown
streets by toppled towers of power
. . . . . lines, now hissed and writhed like snakes
knotted in their nest. Mudslides
. . . . . flowed by, running black in the avenue
gutters, and shallow rivers of brown
. . . . . water wound around surrounding hillsides
along narrow roads scarred with ruts,
. . . . . as if smudges of printer’s ink had bled
down wet pages of an old newspaper
. . . . . left out in heavy weather. At the center
of this little village, some storefronts
. . . . . wrecked and glazed with muck were marked
by torn awnings, worn cloth flying
. . . . . like taut nautical flags raised in warning.
After a haze filled the air—so much
. . . . . sand and soil cast up by gusts—the hard
rolling winds even seemed as dark
. . . . . as those low clouds still swiftly shifting
overhead, shrouding the razed roofs
. . . . . and fallen wallboards covering the dead.
. . . . . —Edward Byrne
As the publicity notice for the release of Tinted Distances reports, the book is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. In addition, I am currently offering a sale of signed and numbered copies of the volume. Readers may find more information about Tinted Distances and details on purchasing the autographed discount copies at my web site, which also presents a further selection of poems from this new collection and others for readers to browse.