A Very Different Book

Atomic Kiss is a collection of thought-provoking poetry exploring emotion and the human condition. Why was this an important book for you to publish?

After writing “War, What Comes After” I needed to provide another way for people to connect with or be introduced to the warrior from that book. My intent in my series of poetry books is to have them all connect and show the depth of psychology in a person. “Atomic Kiss” is intentionally a very different book but it contains lines and poems that connect with my first book. In particular, ‘You I Envy’ and ‘Atomic Kiss’ are direct constants that play off poems from my last book, with ‘Atomic Kiss’ being the sister poem to ‘My Sarin’. They provide an alternate context in which all the poems can also be interpreted as a psychological and emotional look at the Veteran returning home. But I also wanted the poems to provoke thought on different subjects as well, such as technology and the different types of abuse that people inflict upon each other.

Did you write this collection of poetry for this book or was it written over time?

Some of the poetry was meant for my last book but would have made it too unfocused so I saved those poems and built new poems around them and their themes.

My favorite poem from the collection is ‘AI > Human’. Do you have a favorite poem from this collection?

Besides that poem I like ‘The People that We Meet’ because the narrator felt one way but never allowed that to show. I also like ‘Crius of the Rams’ because there were several poems scattered throughout the book that laid the foundation for that poem, such as ‘Abuses Many’ and ‘The Language of Manipulation’. The poem introduces language commonly used in organizations as tools to exclude individuals or manipulate them. Phrases such as ‘perception is reality’, ‘valuable insight’, and ‘learning points’ are positive phrases but also have a dark twist in that they are often used as cover for discrimination. It starts to become very cult-like. The 2nd half of the poem uses more archaic language that most people wouldn’t know without using google. It even references an obscure mythological figure named Crius. This is because when manipulating, individuals may often attempt to overwhelm others with obscure and grand verbiage or ideas. It paralyzes the victim. This poem prepares the reader for the next book, which will discuss personality profiling and its damaging effects on people.

What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?

The relaunch of “War, What Comes After” is complete so the 3rd book in the story arc is code-named “…and Even the Stars were Bothered,” based off the name of one of the poems. I am aiming to release it around Spring of next year.

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