THE REASON:
To my family and friends who have asked to see my poetry --
the Web seems like a convenient way to please you.
Publishing them this way has also forced me
to polish and finalize my poems, for which I thank you.
You others, who may drop by from time to time,
are also welcome to examine them.
To all of you, my poems are given here modestly
for your amusement, hopefully for your enjoyment,
and -- if they merit it -- thankfully for your appreciation.
Here are 10 poems to introduce my poetic self.
Others will be added as time and chance permit.
I began this website in 2002 with these ten poems.

Big News! (2006) After several years of inaction, I
began to expand my website from the original 10 selected
poems, which form the first grouping here, to include
groups of poems that range from my earliest efforts
(my Romantic-Graduate-School Period) to my latest
(my Celebration-of-the-Artist Period).
In particular, the latter refers to a series of
poems in sonnet form celebrating 24 printmaking artists
of the first half of the twentieth century discussed
in a set of wonderful essays by the critic Carl Zigrosser
in a 1942 book. I have finished poems for all of these artists,
more than one poem for an artist in a few cases.
In a few other cases, where my poem describes a picture,
I have included an illustration of the picture. As you will see,
I have also left some room in the website for future poems.
There are large gaps of time between my periods of poetic inspiraton,
so I cannot predict when my next batch of poems will become available.

More News! (2008) I have added some more poems to my website,
a few old ones, the rest recent or fairly recent. In Poems & Songs
of the 80's I have added 5 more. In Ten More Assorted Poems, two more,
one of which the poet Hugh Ogden, who died at the start of 2007
in a tragic accident, specifically asked me to write for him.
In The Shakespeare Poems, one more. And in a new grouping called
Two Holocaust Poems, two poems.

THE WHO:
I am a retired theoretical physicist
who began writing poetry at about the same time
as I began graduate work in my field.
I have no formal training (as they say) in poetry,
but rely on my ear and my feeling
to keep me from an excess of sentimentality.
I strive to understand, and capture in my poems,
that mysterious and elusive thing called poetic beauty.
I am not a modern poet, but I am still alive.
Needless to say, I would love to hear from you if you care to write.

THE FINE PRINT:
Each poem presented here is
an original creation of mine,
and is copyrighted by me.
None have been published anywhere else.
Please copy them for your personal pleasure,
but not for commercial use.
For permission to publish any of my poems,
please contact me via e-mail at arnoldc100@aol.com.