by Rodney Johnson (Author) Power and emotion. This brief book of poetry and short stories has something rare in poetry today, power and emotion. Some are about love or lost love, some are about alienation, some will upset you, some will make you sad, some will tug at your heart; but all will make you stop and think. Most are written in free verse, but some are written in Imagery, Ballad, or random rhyming style. The short stories are about life and so two of them have some slight adult content and two of them are semi-autobiographical. The first short story is written in a very unusual or even an abnormal way. It is a story about a conversation between two men walking into a bar and sitting down and drinking. There is no background or narrative written. The only words written are the ones spoken by one of the men. Even his thoughts are not written. Yet it is easy to follow, but a very compelling story. All the poetry and most of the short stories were written over 40 years ago by the author with no intention to ever have any of it published. Author Biography He is in his 70's now and this is his first book. He has held a wide variety of jobs; working in the celery & blueberry fields starting when he was 13, a Social Worker, acting Western Regional Director of a Federal Agency, 3rd shift Plant Superintendent when he was 28, helped Veterans returning from Iraq & Afghanistan (he is a disabled Veteran), he was a Federal Investigator for 22 years who often worked undercover. He worked full time while he attended various Colleges and Universities. He has a B.S. degree from Grand Valley University and worked on a Masters at Illinois State University. He has a minor in English. He has five children, four of them he raised by himself for much of their life. He has seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. He has also visited 4 other countries. Presently he lives in the Houston Texas area with his much younger (and beautiful) wife (for 24 years now) and their 21 year old daughter. Number of Pages: 60 Dimensions: 0.14 x 9.02 x 5.98 IN Publication Date: November 19, 2017