THE BOOK: Dropping Ants into Poems
PUBLISHED IN: January 2, 2017
THE AUTHOR: David Eric (DE) Navarro
THE EDITOR: The We Write Poetry Wordshop™ (a poetry workshop forum) and myself
THE PUBLISHER: NavWorks Press through Blurb Books (NavWorks Press is my own independent imprint)
SUMMARY: Consists of 27 contemporary poems, an additional 18 Zen poems, and 1 piece of flash fiction that all work together to develop the main theme of exploring the Timeless Lore of our past and cultivating it to bring forth the new seeds of thought and knowledge to sow and plant for future generations. The book also contains an article on contemporary poetry, and there is a final surprise bonus at the end of the book to spice up life.
THE BACK STORY: Dropping Ants into Poems was conceived and written during National Poetry Month, April 2016. It was a challenge to myself to write a new chapbook, 28 poems, in 30 days. The poems were still the product of my 46 years of writing poetry, but were written from the solitude of a mountain get-away, and my foothills office as I isolated myself for a month to do nothing but dream up and work on this project. The end result was 27 poems with the 28th poem actually becoming a compilation of 18 Zen poems. It also features an article on contemporary poetry and a secret recipe for Navarro’s Greek Seasoning.
WHY THIS TITLE: It is explained in the foreword of the book. Briefly, ants are insects, the study of insects is entomology; the study of words and word origins is etymology. Put the two together and you get ento-etymology or an “in-secti-vestigation”. Billy Collins wrote a poem that mentioned “dropping a mouse into a poem…” so I played off that in one of my poems in the book explaining why it is better to drop ants into a poem. It will all make sense when you read the book.
WHY SOMEONE WOULD WANT TO READ IT: To make sense of the bizarre title and find out what kind of zany stuff resides in the head of this crazy poet. Just kidding. It is good poetry that makes sense up front, yet it still has a good degree of word-play in it, and some layered meanings. The whole concept is quite an amusing and entertaining theme, the “germination” of seed and the seeds of thought, ants crawling into poems to find the seeds of language and then tracing the word origins back to their nests. The main speaker or persona of the book reveals the “rebellious” child in himself, who skirted around formal education to read the “Timeless Lore” to be found in libraries, on bookshelves, in desks, in schools, in electronic devices, wherever “word colonies” reside nestled between covers.
REVIEW COMMENTS: “In this delightfully quirky collection, DE Navarro travels from sports teams to Ancient Rome, from the Western World to the Far East, from war to peace, from the genesis of life to a view of how we contribute to the unfolding of our future. There is societal commentary, and contemplation on personal growth, unique images of nature and captured moments of current culture. Many of the poems are philosophical, occasionally ironic, but overall deeply hopeful, infused with energy and optimism. The forms vary, but the collection is unified by the unique voice of the poet. The poetry is unusual, pushing some boundaries, but always gently, sometimes playfully. I am enjoying it very much.” — Vera, Jan. 22, 2017.
“This is a wonderful book of poetry. DE Navarro has a way with words, humor and wisdom. If you put it on the shelf, it will come right back out to reread again and again. Loved it.”
[Used on the back flap of the book, words from other poets/writers sent to me.] By Robert Woods — “What DE Navarro writes is powerful. But the real treasure is the heart of this writer. All his words have power. But the power of words comes from the spirit in the heart of the writer. He has the spirit of the word master in his heart. It is a joy to read his works.”
By Susan Stumpf — “Wow, you really are a master with words. Very intelligent writing, but at the same time, with poetic flair sprinkled about and definite passion. I like your style. You are very deep in your relationship with words. You are married to them, and they to you. What a symbiotic relationship you have with the English language. Your writing totally blows me out of the water. I’m impressed. What a journey it has been through your amazing poetry!”
By C. Van Steen — “I easily found myself lost in your poetry. Your talent is quite extraordinary! You have the ability to bring power through words/themes, through strong description and imagery.”
AUTHOR PROFILE: http://www.de-navarro.com David Eric (DE) Navarro — Los Angeles, California, USA Founder of NavWorks Press; Author, Poet, Editor, Publisher, Speaker, Life Coach. Originator and owner of the We Write Poetry™ forums and the Pride in Poetry Prize™ and Publication series. Husband, father, mentor and friend. Professional banking Sr. Analyst, Tech Editor/Writer.
Born in Newport R.I. in 1962, his family moved to Chicago, Illinois by 1964 where he was raised in the inner city on the Southside until he was ten years old. At ten his family moved to the rural setting of Crown Point, Indiana where he learned to enjoy nature, free to roam in fields of swaying grass and wooded copses rich with ponds and swamps.
In 1977, at fifteen, he found himself in the suburban setting of Munster, Indiana where he remained until he went off to college at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana. First published in 1980 in the Purdue Exponent, ever since, many of his poems and articles have been published in various magazines and literary journals worldwide. See his Amazon Author Page for all the available books his work appears in: https://www.amazon.com/David-E-Navarro/e/B00H55NBIQ/
SAMPLE CHAPTER:
LOCAL OUTLETS: I sell signed, discounted copies of the book in my online store called The Curio Bookstore and Curiosity Shop or just “the Curio” for short, at http://www.thecurio.ecrater.com
WHERE ELSE TO BUY IT: Worldwide at any bookstore (it can be ordered), or at any online bookstore like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million,etc.
PRICE: It retails for $10.00, but I sell it for $5.00 at the Curio and it is signed besides.
CONTACT THE AUTHOR: navworks@yahoo.com / (205)764-4598 / http://www.de-navarro.com
Snowflakes in a Blizzard 