Like a fine wine, poetry should be sipped, savored and enjoyed. 150 new poems in this book await your pleasure to read and treasure.

Written while living in Walla Walla, where wine tasting is a common activity, the idea for a "poem tasting" came to me, since a single poem can be imbibed, swirled around in your mind, leaving notes of delight and enlightenment. You'll find the original poems in this book to be a nice variety of flavors - some thoughtful, some amusing, some forthright, some plainspoken.

The challenge, of course, is to find the poems that have meaning for you and allow them to become a part of you in the process. Fortunately, you don't have to select just one bottle to take home. All the varietals are right here in this book, ready for your exploration, discovery and evaluation during your next poem tasting.