Poetry. If you—your charismatic, beautifully erotic self—had died young, your ghost would count itself fortunate to have lived, loved, and flamed-out in the company of the wildly imaginative author of VOW. But it's not just ghosts who find themselves envisioned, en-fabled, sometimes horrifically, in these poems: An ex-husband, ex-lovers, and dear friends also populate these questioning, often darkly humorous lyrics. Like them, the future unsettles you because you have taken vows, too, and broken them. Take heart, you hold in your hands the poetic manual for how to proceed.

Excerpt from The Broken Vow, and Other Poems The spell of song is on me, and the lyre The heart's own music pours, but not to thee, O earthly Fame, shall the glad offering be, Higher than this my spirit shall aspire, For 0 what art thou but a eeting breath Bought by a weary life or early death! Sweeter to me the thought, in after days, Cherished in loving hearts my name shall live, Than blazoned on thy rolls, a theme of praise 'mong those who oft but hollow attery give. Therefore these powers of mine thou shalt not claim, For I will lay them on a holier shrine, Whose sacred fires burn with celestial ame, Father in heaven! On thine, and only thine! About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."