The Uusual Thing Published by Lulu

Available at www.lulu.com/

A collection of poems, some with illustrations, previously published in journals

or websites,..

New York, N.Y. (PRWEB) April 28, 2006 -- The Usual Thing, a collection of
challenging poems and illustrations is now available at Lulu and will soon be
available at Amazon.

The collection is a diverse exploration of spiritual, political, and intimate

issues reflecting an original and controversial point of view that the author
considers to be at the rational center of thought and reflection.

These poems are not mystic or mushy, but reflect a long period of inexpert
gardening; becoming a Yankee fan when they were in last place; a long and
unsuccessful search for the Jesus of history (as opposed to the Christ of faith();
the true nature of the American republic, and of course the meaning of 'love.
Since all of these searches for meaning turned up null results, the default effort
was to create poetry or what is called poetry in our time.

The underlying struggle of literature is to deal with the very convincing

statement of Kurt Vonnegut, that we are all here to 'fart around and don't let
anybody tell you any different.' In doing this one discovers that life is indeed
about sex and money and the test of character is not to deny this but to handle
it.

Literature helps. Everything, history, biography, even some physics, is a form of

fiction. Whether or not the universe exists, we make up our own view of it or
decide to subscribe to the often nutty views of others, astrologers,
psychoanalysts, numerologists. Nonsense is nonsense; the history of nonsense is
called scholarship.

Harold Lorin did a career in Computer Science and is responsible for some of the
atrocious software on the planet. But he also discovered that the mental processes
of writing a poem is not unlike writing a computer program. There is the
possibility of elegance and precision in both undertakings.

These poems have been influenced, but not determined by the poetry T.S. Eliot,
Thomas Hardy, Matthew Arnold, W.S. Merwin, Billy Collins, e.e. cummings, Tennyson,
and others. I do not think there is too much cryptonesia.

"The Usual Thing" is not usual at all...

1 2 May 2006

by Karen Corcoran Dabkowski

and that is the charm of this book, which is steeped in myth and religion and a
sprinkling of dark ironies. Harold Lorin's style of writing is a cross between
deadpan comedian and lover of antiquities, and he makes the blend in ways that
find us greeting Sisyphus as one would a fellow on the bus: who has his problems-
but is working through them to an impossible transcendence. Hal's work is 'holy':
there's no other word for it. And when he introduces the subjects of aging, dying,
growing old together- he opens his veins for us.

Lucy's Lorin's artwork make the perfect match to the words on the page, burnishing
their richness to a fine, bright clarity. This book is one I handle with reverence
(another word not heard much anymore)- but it is true. It's covered in love and
the sense of wonder we were born with and it's poetry books like this that allow
us to rediscover the 'gods' in all of us- toiling, troubled- larger than life.

Karen Corcoran Dabkowski

Editor, 'The Blue House', poetry ezine