The Fire Dance of Carnations: Lyrics of Love

There is poetry and there is poetry. These Lyrics of Love were composed in a public-oriented tradition. They were written for a private satisfaction but designed for a general audience. Much modern poetry is written for a poetry circle, not a public audience. One has to be able to grasp coded allusions. Not so here. These lyrics have been tested in public and evoked pleasure and positive feedback from ordinary folks. The goal has been to reach depth of thought and feeling with clarity of language. John Hoad writes in the romantic tradition of Burns and Wordsworth, Longfellow and Whittier, and the great British and American hymn writers, from whom he learned his rhythms and the cadences of his verse. This is freshly minted old-fashioned verse, telling the age-old story of love - its passion, its vision, its hurt, its oddities, its humor, and its meaningfulness. Real men and women walk its pages. And the Romantic tradition that sees the soul in and beyond the sensual is evoked in language that is both plain and profound.