Living Crazy

Craig writes:

It’s available in hardback or paperback, signed or unsigned.  General release through bookstores and online giants like Amazon will not occur until March 1.

For unsigned books, here’s the link for ordering:

http://www.cyberwizardproductions.com/diminuendo/light.html

For signed books, here’s the link:

http://cechaffin.com/light.html

The hardback runs 156 pp., the paperback, 161.  Both are fine editions, perfect bound, and the hardback will last for years to come.  They also make great gifts for your friends!

It’s my first volume in eleven years and Kathleen and I spent hours whittling down my production to what we considered the best, as I’ve published an average of 50 poems a year for the last eleven years.  I’ve pasted in two short poems below as examples, although they cannot represent the work entire.

Self-promotion is not my forte, but I believe in this book.  I believe it will appeal to poets and non-poets alike, as I have striven to make my poetry accessible in an age where people have actually come to fear poetry as unintelligible.

Should you find it in your heart to purchase a copy, I will, of course, be grateful—but happier at the pleasure and inspiration you might receive from the words of your fellow traveler.

Thine in Truth and Art,

C. E.(Craig Erick) Chaffin

Details

Forget the overdue book,
the music clubs whose disks you never returned,
the extra cellphone charges
for missing the free minute zone,
the soft nagging of dereliction.
Were you ever any different?
Capitalism depends on forgetfulness.
Who can keep up? A friend told me,
"You must get a credit card
that earns free air miles." As if!

There are people who worry
about the insurance on their jewelry,
pick up dry cleaning on time
and organize their shoe racks.
Do you really have the energy?
To manage every detail
you must attend to every wrinkle.
You may miss the pearly trout
beneath the willow bank,
the luna moth drying
green wings with purple piping
on the white clapboard.

The Game of Life

As an infant you discover your body.
As a toddler you explore things
and try to master your body.
In kindergarten you make friends,
in elementary school, circles of friends.
In middle school you discover sex.
In high school self-absorption makes you
what you think your peers think of you.

At twenty ambition nudges you,
by twenty-five you are working hard.
At thirty you have worked hard enough
to see what your parents did to you.
By thirty-five you should have forgiven your parents.
At forty who you are should be obvious.
By then you should have built
a cottage from your broken illusions
else start from the beginning.