encircled - new chapbook

The book is 52 pages and well put together by Glenn Lyvers and the folks at Prolific Press.

The cast of characters from these poems includes my wife, my children, my friends, my students, and my neighbors. From laughter to tears, these are the real stories of the people who encircle me.

Though the theme here could be prone to sentimentality, the poems hit home, from the humor of holding my daughter up to pee in an amusement park urinal to discovering that my neighbor's brother is imprisoned for life, these are poems from life, including

amusement park thrills
true to form,
even in the bathroom
Opal wants to try every ride –

I never imagined
I would one day hold my daughter
while she peed in a urinal
(first published in the Songs of Eretz Review)

in which three small children invade a country club swimming pool
https://www.patreon.com/posts/3360098

in my yard
http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2016/02/poem-of-day-in-my-yard-by-john-reinhart.html