Songs Sacred and Profane - New and Selected Poems: Greenside Up and Let It All Hang Out

About the Book

Songs Sacred and Profane is a selection from Thomas' four other books and eight chapbooks plus many poems that have not appeared in book form. This volume contains, in fact, two quite different books published as one. "Greenside Up", written almost entirely looking into his garden, is made up of bucolic works which observe nature and a quiet life. They are well mannered, introspective, and show the poet's sensitivity to language and his world. "Let It All Hang Out" lets loose with poems that show Thomas' acerbic wit at times, his wry approach to human foibles, and his personal take on religion coupled with various aspects of love, mutability, and mortality.

About the Author

After years of teaching English in Uganda, Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, Michigan and Florida, Laurence W. Thomas returned to his native Michigan to concentrate on writing poetry and fiction and giving lectures--in Michigan and Arkansas. This fifth book follows one of humorous poems and sketches, and another done in collaboration with an artist who created collages to accompany the poems. Thomas' work is marked by his wry wit, sensitive observation, and employing a variety of styles and forms that is not experimental since all poetry is experimental.