When I told my nuclear physicist father that I write poetry, he responded: "Don't we have enough poetry already?" Somewhat taken aback by his question, I suggested, that while we might have enough poetry to be read, there will always be a need for more poetry to be written. I believed then, as I believe now, that a poem can emerge as a necessary and inevitable response to experience. Its carefully chosen words have the potential to endow experience with credulity, perspective, authenticity, dignity, memorability-all that we may desire, all that we may require when we are summoned to the difficult days of our collective humanity.

Not all the poems contained in this volume rise to so lofty a challenge, but if even a few of the poems contained herein can do for you a little of what they did for me in their writing, I will claim a measure of success. For in that moment, you and I become, however briefly, partners in the human enterprise; we become less alone, better able to return to the challenges everywhere around us. We read; we look up; we go on.

Each of the poems in this volume challenged me to step back, to look more deeply into what was before me, to discover, where possible, a significance at risk of being otherwise overlooked or lost altogether. Poetry of the sort I have endeavored to write neither constructs nor restricts the realities or the experiences upon which it rests. Its purpose is to express, and in that expression, seek both a plausible and an enduring meaning. Such is the challenge of poetry for both the poet and the reader. A serious poem needs to be read almost as carefully as it was composed; indeed, it will likely need to be reread, perhaps reread many times and in many different ways. But if you are holding this volume in your hands, if you are contemplating a look inside, if you are willing to read and reread, chances are you and I are already partners, we just haven't met until now. Welcome. I wish you well.

About the Author

Richard W. Leland earned his PhD. degree from the University of Minnesota. For almost 35 years, he taught a variety of courses at the college level. Writing has always been a persistent priority for him. He recently published his letters to Donald Hall, and hopes to publish the six plays he has written some time in the near future.