Poetry Best Seller?

Charles Sorley’s Ghost is my tribute to the soldier-poets of World War One. The book recounts the lives and deaths of nearly sixty English-speaking and –writing poets who served during the war and were killed or died in service, from Rupert Brooke and Charles Hamilton Sorley to Wilfred Owen. Owen, who was killed seven days before Armistice ended the war, said, “My Subject is War and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity.” Like so many of the poems I read from these men, my own poems are earthy, accessible, but pointed. So far, the feedback I have gotten on the book is strongly positive. As I often quote, George Carlin wrote that “far more people write poems that read them.” Few poets make the bestseller list, a place dominated by sensationalism and escapism, both of which allow us readers to veer away from our own reality for awhile. Now and then, work that confronts reality and strips away its outer covering gains a foothold. And on extremely rare occasions, that work is poetry. All poets dream of reaching a large audience; I am no different. I have long wanted to prove that I can handle fame and fortune and everything that goes with it, and thank you all. I no longer define success exclusively by commercial standards, but I do still dream, and of course I want to reach you – as many of you as possible. I am so very proud of this work. It may be the best thing I have ever written – so far. And wouldn’t it be cool if a volume of poetry by a currently little-known made the New York Times Bestseller List, and better still, if it were mine? It’s not the money I might earn – okay, that’s part of it, but mostly it is this: I wrote Sorley to be read. It became important to me to echo a century later the lessons these brave men learned, so that, perhaps, my grandchildren will not have to learn them all over again. All I can do is put myself out there, which I have done (and will continue to do). The next bit is up to you. So if you agree and want to read some really good poetry, buy me – and spread the word. Charles Sorley’s Ghost, poems and essays, is available on Amazon and Amazon Kindle. Just enter “Roy Blokker” in the search box.