Making pictures from the marks on the wall

This collection of poems is an attempt to use words to establish some control over emotionally charged events without negating the emotions involved. Most of the poems are autogiographical and narrative: stories about real or almost-real people. The collection falls into five sections: "Water," a series of poems written in the year following the death of a close friend; "The Mountain Town," a group of poems describing experiences in the mountains of East Tennessee; "Portraits," a group of poems portraying individuals and single events; "The Graduate," a series of poems from the point of view of a masculine persona; and "Mixed Company," poems about relationships between men and women.