I started writing poetry or little jingles for my morning posts on Facebook in 2009...it was and still is a way to pass time while I drink my coffee. From jingles, it grew into verses of ABAB poetry. My inspiration comes from photos, old sayings, a word...an incident, or anything that strikes a nerve. Many of my poems have been inspired by a high school friend and a photographer, her name is Ruby Karmann.

Welcome to the May 2019 Issue of WILDFIRE PUBLICATIONS, LLC MAGAZINE.

From the author of this book To write these words so you could look I think about the time it took Love and hope formed each rhyme Capturing each moment and event in time.

Poems from the heart by a man who has lived – and loved – life to the full. In the 70s he was a huge pop star, with Number 1 hits like 'Rock On' and 'Hold Me Close'. In the 80s and 90s he became a star of the stage with lead roles in GODSPELL and MUTINY! Most recently he became a Number 1 hardcover bestseller with his autobiography, OVER THE MOON. Now comes a wonderful collection of his poetry and lyrics. Here are nostalgic poems recalling his family's traveller roots, such as 'Travelling Tinker Man', and 'Fairground Attraction', verses filled with memories of his warm and loving boyhood, like 'Beano Day', 'Dad' and 'Upton Park' – and poetry reliving the highs and lows of fame, such as 'Celebrity' and 'Like Moths to a Flame'. Humour, anger, nostalgia, triumph and tragedy. The joys of being a lover, a husband and a father – here is something for everyone.

As the most famous composer of Telugu kritis or (kirtanas), Thyagaraja, who is fondly remembered as Tyagayya, has caught the imagination of filmmakers in the Telugu film industry. Apart from references to his works, using the kirtanas as songs, two films were made on his life. Chittor V. Nagaiah made a biographical epic on Thyagaraja titled Tyagayya in 1946 which is still treated as a masterpiece of Telugu cinema. In 1981, Bapu - Ramana made Tyagayya with J. V. Somayajulu in the lead role. Another attempt is being made by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao to picturise Thyagaraja's life.

On 29 April 1841, a week after his thirty-fourth birthday, Louis (Aloysius) Bertrand died of tuberculosis. This malady, his destitute poverty, and his errant existence qualify him as a quintessential poete maudit, whose one great work, Gaspard de la Nuit: Fantasies a la maniere de Rembrandt et de Callot, was not published until 1842. Now widely considered as the first collection of prose poems to appear in France, Gaspard inspired writers like Baudelaire, Mallarme, Huysmans, and Andre Breton. This study offers a rereading of Bertrand's book grounded in modern critical theory, including the work of Derrida, Bakhtin, Barbara Johnson, Genette, Lacoue-Labarthe, and Nancy. It elaborates a new perspective on a work that contains all the paradoxes of the genre, with which theorists still struggle.

This book of poems is, at times, a journal of some of my experiences, although sometimes it is tongue-in-cheek, or wishful thinking. It probably reflects accurately how an older person with years under his belt assesses life. (though, sometimes, its just goofiness). That’s what life should be.. serious, happy, and silly.