Ronald C Flores-Gunkle

Selective Vision Ronald C Flores-Gunkle

"For my wife. For the poetry in her eyes." With this dedication to Selective Vision, the reader knows that something special awaits. And as the introduction warns us, the work was written in Puerto Rico during the dark years between two hurricanes and a pandemic; the poet hopes the verses emit a little light. And they do, which in my mind is the purpose of poetry: it makes us read, ponder, and do so again and again: creating and enjoying the beauty of words and images is surely a great part of what makes us human. Anyone who loves Gerard Manley Hopkins, W. B. Yeats and Emily Dickinson will enjoy the work of Ronald Flores-Gunkle. He shapes the time between birth and death and wrestles it well. Here are some of my favorites: PenumbraMy thirty-third straight sunrise(Yes, I keep count, ) But it is the pre-rise that moves me From my bedTo watch stars...... Edges of shadows castBefore and afterDawn and dusk, Birth and resolution. The Me I Used to Be, The Sleeping Place, Coitus Interrumpis and A Tropical Thanatopsis among all the other good verses establish him as a real poet for our times. I look forward to the next collection of Ronald Flores-Gunkle's outstanding poetry that reflects American, Puerto Rican and classical traditions within a contemporary context. May he continue his work even if not inspired by hurricanes and plagues!Loretta Phelps de Cordova, Author of The Chronicles of María Teresa de Villalobos: San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico, 1650