Not Marble Nor the Gilded Monuments

Not Marble or the Gilded Monuments…” consists of many poems I wrote over the years while a student in college and during the course of my life. Many of them reflect the theme of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 55, which was dominant in the sonnets: this verse will last longer than civilizations, and it will last “as long as men can breathe or eyes can see.” Shakespeare saw far beyond his time, yet he made no provision to preserve his works during his lifetime. Fortunately, it was his theatrical group that gathered his plays and published them as the first Folio. Eventually, his poetry would also become part of his legacy, and none is more remarkable than the 154 sonnets he wrote. I read and studied them all, and I took the time to memorize twenty.

Shakespeare was fixated on the theme of preserving the beauty and wonder of a man he obviously loved. Shakespeare wished to protect his stature in his sonnets, but scholars aren’t sure of who the man or men were. The theme of preserving the person in a poem is what I emulate in my own poetry in this book. I hope the verses I have written will stand the test of time, and perhaps my grandchildren’s children will read them. I wish the reader joy in reading them.