my reading list for April 22nd

After consultation with Tag and an in-depth absorption of the ambience of the local B&N (including gratuitous, but totally sincere, flirtation with several of the workers there...sigh) I can, with some gravitas, announce my likely reading set for my visit there on the 22nd of this month, to promote every book ever written or conceived by my mind.

Warm Apples on a Summer Day (from THE COMPLEAT PANTHER CYCLES) Tag talked me into this one...it is his favourite from the cycles...I can't blame him. Softly sentimental and very down to Earth amidst epic issues of life, death, love and immortality.

From Out of the City (from FROM AN UNEXPECTED QUARTER) Practically a signature piece. Okay, not practically...it is a signature piece. I want to get myself sufficiently wired on adrenaline and caffeine so as to deliver on the promise of it.

When First I Chanced (from 101 GREAT LOVE POEMS) A simple and gentle piece, full of reverence and joy and hope.

Love Gods of a Forgotten Religion (from, not surprisingly, LOVE GODS OF A FORGOTTEN RELIGION) If there's a performed poem more identified with me than "from out of the city", this is not it...that would be "The Unicorns"...but this one is in the running for second place.

The Reich of Self-Discipline (from THE COMPLEAT PANTHER CYCLES) Bitter, passionate, patience at the very breaking point, a colour in my palette not often used.

Traveller to an Antique Land (from FROM AN UNEXPECTED QUARTER) The honest and passionate pilgrim of love's gesture of surrender to dreams yet unfulfilled. Just a wonderful bit of memory and hope.

To Dream (from 101 GREAT LOVE POEMS) An often overlooked gem, this one was a surprise to me, even. This will be my first public performance of it.

Icarus (from LOVE GODS OF A FORGOTTEN RELIGION) Saluting the courtship and marriage that gave me my children. A fist shaking in the face of winds yet to blow.

and my three encore works?

The Unicorns (from INVOCATO) Is there a poem more identified with me? This work still startles me every time I see how sophisticated the stylings, how effortless the wordflow was. Writ when I was barely a man.

First Date Blues (from THE MORGANTOWN SUITE POEMS) A crowd pleaser, to say the least. A look back at my hapless years, trying to figure out the secret behind girls, when I was in high school.

and finally...

I rained poetry (yes, it does appear in LOVE GODS OF A FORGOTTEN RELIGION) Can't not do this, if time allows...too popular, too much fun to get lost in. I may even open with it, if I dare.

So, there it is...pick away, children....oh, and I have answers to a few more questions posed...I'll get to them later...probably tomorrow...it's almost time for "Distraction" on Comedy Central.