(AGAINST SILENCE)
In every direction...

PLOT
The sad story...

HISTORICAL EPISODE
two feet of clay...

NINE SIGNATURES
In your head, slender curlicues of blood...

LIFE
no one survives it...

10/11
creeping naked around a church...

MYSTERY
I found the murdered man's ______ in my hand...

THEFT OF A LINE FROM STRAND
Torment of love--...

STOP MY EARS
in the middle of the night...

HIDING
in the forest...

SECRECY
A long time till dawn...

UNLUCKY MOON
the tin fear...

SEARCHING
Broken sky, light rain...

BLANK OF BLANKS
no hand can hold...

FALLING
A fine grace of falling is in the leaves...

AT DAWN
Darkness breaks away from...

AT THE PLACE
Standing where something died...

STRANGE FISHING
Blameless...

BEING DEAD
it can't kill you...

JUDAS IS IN HELL
our child-life with its magical intents...

GETTING PEACE
I got inside...

LISTENING TO THE DEAD
you have it all your way...

HEAVEN
is this what it means...

First, a collection letter. Later, foot-washing, cows, cashmere and oranges, the beginning of thefts, hiding, secrecy, more letters. These "Other Works" are not Account of My Days. That is one common feature. They were published as chapbooks. Another commonality. To me, what they signify as a group is friendship. Many friends helped and advised me in the process of writing the poems and making the books. I listened closely to some of their advice and, from the evidence of what was produced, not too closely to the rest of it. I am grateful for all.

A couple of facts about these collections. The following notice appears in the front papers of Standing Where Something Did:

"Atlee Mullett's Experience" and "Uria Byler's Elegy for Palmer Lehman" are manipulated found poems from the Amish newspaper The Budget, Sugarcreek, Tuscarawas County, Ohio. "Herbal" was constructed, in part, from entries in A Modern Herbal (Dover, 1971).

Also, The Sad Mailbox is a reprint of Letters, with some new material. Rather than repeat the earlier pieces, I limited this realization of The Sad Mailbox to the five additional letters.

These "others" preceded and overlapped with the beginning stages of Account of My Days. In some ways, everything on this website is part of one project. I do think, though, that each of the chapbooks has its own character and that, as a group, they form their own distinct zone within that project.