Melees with Muses (Softcover, B&W printing)

“With ‘I’d rather face the wrath of Hell,’ John Kagebein begins Melees with Muses, a chronologically arranged selection of his poetry. The young boy who wrote those words became the mature poet who continues to live and write with boldness and ardor. His poems spin with the playfulness of Rain Dance, weep with the painful honesty of Hello…Goodbye, and inflame with the seduction of The Dance, all illustrating ingenious ways of shifting rhythm and lyric expression. Throughout, there is an imbued sense of gallantry. We are reminded that sincerity and allegiance to our values are hallmarks of the noble soul. These carefully crafted poems range from the cool, sparkling clarity of thought to the fiery heat of passion, dual edges of the rapier Kagebein brandishes with both precision and zeal. Melees with Muses is his scabbard and his poems have been unsheathed. Touché” ~ Grace DeCicco

by John Kagebein