The Shapes of Natural Things

About the Book

This, The Shapes Of Natural Things, is a book of poems about nature, love, God and the intersection of plant, animal, human and divine things. It is written in rhyme and meter, with the exception of the limerick which is not strictly metrical. The poems in this book are mainly dedicated to one woman, but there are others to and about other friends, as well as about issues that interest me in the realm of religion, philosophy psychology etc. It is the third book I have written under the name Blake Townsend Romanov, the others being Pare My Heart and Draw Me A Spirit. Those books are dedicated to other women, and as with them, I have used a pseudonym not only for myself but for the muse. In spite of the singularity of its dedication, this book, like the previous two, is meant to be enjoyed by all. As a poet, I indulged in rich language and bountiful melody and my goal is not so much to change poetry as to provide people with the very sort of joy for which people in the past as well as today have looked to poetry. I am an entertainer, though my thoughts are earnestly given. In my view, poetry is a region in which the logical and the aesthetic blend: ideas can be beautiful, especially when they are adorned with choice words. That said, I very much want my poems to be understood as well as to impress. I feel that metaphor, however, is a type of lying that leads ultimately to truth. We were pulled away from the literal truth of what is being discussed only to resolve metaphor and the object of description in a metaphysical unity of meaning. That being said adorning of ideas is not merely in lexicon or comparison; it must be sensory as well. Thus I have attempted to draw on the beauty of natural forms and natural life and hope that those sensations, especially images, stand alone as beautiful even independently of the critical context. Finally, I have tried to make this book thematically related throughout, and one of my major themes has been the relation between the will of the spirit, and natural things, instinct, and the binding of cause effect, the limitation that come with inhabiting form and with our perception which is bound to form. Thus I call it: The Shapes Of Natural Things.

About the Author

I am only going to divulge a little biography because I value privacy (enough so that I publish under a pseudonym). I am in my thirties, born and raised in New York City. I am more or less caucasian, a mixture of Irish, Scottish, Russian, Austrian, French Canadian and Swedish. My parents are not native New Yorkers, and I have roots in the West, the South, including New Orleans, and also in Boston. I am to some extent a scion of privilege, having gone to private school, though politically I defy privilege. I am Christian, more or less liberal tolerant Christian, but with some Evangelical fervor behind it all. My favorite metered poet is Ralph Waldo Emerson, and my favorite free verse poet is Wallace Stevens. I also love Emily Dickenson and Edna Saint Vincent Millay is certainly an inspiration. I also love Dylan Thomas, owe a lot to Shakespeare, and am lately given to Robert Lowell. My favorite novel is The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence. I love fantasy novels, such as the Lord of The Rings, and the Earthsea series (I have never outgrown my love of magic and fairy stories). I love nature and have benefited in this respect from my parents' house in the country as well as time spent in communal organic farm settings. I love animals and children and all things that have not been through the assembly line of social consciousness.