DWOK

This first collection of incoherent squawks was originally published in 2015.

Towards the end of my senior year of high school, I began my first attempts at poetry. I was fortunate to have met some particularly special people that year, and it is these people on which I based a great portion of the poetry found in this collection. I hope my admiration shows, in poems like "Bud," "Midnight Music," and "She Left Me Breathless."

And while reminded of the beautiful memories discovered in the midnight music with friends, companions, family, and lovers, I cannot fail to admit that 2015 was a difficult year. A year of great changes, heartbreaks, insecurities, and instability. The influence of these darker moments can be seen in poems like "Apoptosis of the MInd," "Leech," and "Oh, What a Night."

But the combination of the good and the bad had its purpose: my love for poetry hasn't wavered since the very first poem hand-written, the aforementioned "Midnight Music." Some of my friends would tell you that I oftentimes become obsessed with making my words perfect. It's this desire of producing something of which I can be proud, and to which others can find themselves a home when I myself could not. The appreciation, devotion, and (loving) criticism towards this art form are expressed in poems like "Immortalized," "Life, Love and Belief," and "My Favorite Poems."

Thank you, all.
- Gavin Poplawski