Overview

This poetic exploration of working-class American transformations from WWII to the present day recalls the thrill of a sixth grader witnessing his teacher's legendary home run smashing the principal's office window; a Marine at a crossroads of ultimate despair; the goodness of a reformed convict serving a long sentence without the possibility of parole; a skilled immigrant whose dreams land him a menial job washing windows; an enigmatic interethnic love hurdle; a dying AIDS victim rejoiced by his heterosexual teammates; a pioneer real estate developer's reputation destroyed by audacious racism; an incredible secret discovered by chance through ancestral DNA; a barber saving a family from deportation . . . and more. Here, too, are musings on the animate, inanimate, and fourth dimension. The final ten poems, under the arching title Wrench, are a bold consideration of rapidly deteriorating American democracy. Richard J. Ackerman Jr. is a retired orthodontist and professor emeritus at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He was born and raised in Kansas. He served in the U.S. Air Force Dental Corps in Alaska, followed by thirty-six years as a university educator and private practitioner. Upon retirement, he began writing poetry. This is his third book. He and his wife split their time between California, Colorado, and Missouri. They have two married children, three grandchildren, and a Labrador mix named Aspen.

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