Peter Karplus

Dancing with Fear, Rejection, Doubt, and Hope. Peter Karplus Revised edition

Poetry, like most anything worth paying attention to in life, is the product of hard work, dedication and consideration. Any poet worth his or her salt knows that the hardest part is not finding the topic, or developing a style or voice, but rather digging out the 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 life and allows oneself to see the truth, the good, bad or ugly. The poems of course will speak for themselves. They will show you the joy, sadness, frustration and irony of this man's life as he worked to make sense or sometimes show the nonsense of some of his experiences with everything from romantic love, family relations, human ignorance to Halloween and silly childhood memories. Here in is fun, imagination, depth and folly, ingredients that are hard enough for many of us to cultivate and keep alive in our hearts and minds.  For this 41-year-old individual, who has to live with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and people's reactions to his speech impediments and bent body, the triumph of will, courage and understanding displayed within is, well, mindboggling. This work, his first folio, the result of 26 years of studying and writing poetry, shows a breadth of style, although certainly similarities and relationships between the poems are there for the more discerning student of poetry to 'dig out.' I think you will enjoy this work as much as I did helping with its construction. You can pick out one poem at a time, or read several, an aspect of any collection I particularly appreciate. Debra Stevens, English Instructor, Diablo Valley College