Cordless

This is a thinking person’s poetry, yet not a poetry of cerebral indifference, a work of mind and heart that runs the gamut of human experience from sensual erotica to the horrors of persecution. Here is psychic pain poured into words. Using incisive metaphors and chilling visceral images, black humour and beautifully crafted lines, here is a searing razor-sharp indictment of the evils of hate, cruelty and indifference whether from humanity or a seemingly absent god. Despite the harrowing experiences of his youth, the poet exudes a great love for the best of humanity, for freedom and brotherhood. And one of the final poems in the book should be a must-read for all men--Letter to My Son on his 16th Birthday, a Beginner’s Guide to Women and Sex.

Beyond the uncertainty of the world's inhumanity, lies the fragile possibility of wisdom and perhaps even faith. With a complexity of resonant personal and historical memories, Thomas Verny's keen intellect challenges those who doubt the power of poetry to connect us to each other. Geoff Hancock, editor-in-chief, Canadian Fiction Magazine Thomas Verny’s Cordless is the work of a jester. This powerhouse of masks produces an effect that we have not read in many years. There is no learned rhetoric to dazzle the sleeping mind. There is none of that strange madness some of us share of investigating dimensions that lie beyond our stations. Black stays black in this poet’s words. In the hands of a less sly writer the jabs and jeering would grate the ears of many rulers and serfs. His call for conscienceness comes from a fearless thirst for not so much remembrance as much as the awareness that the torments of evil have been constant and are sadly unending. Antonio D’Alfonso Poetry is at once an act of compression and compassion. Thomas Verny’s subtle inquiries into the challenges of being human are bright with insight won the hard way: by living a life and reflecting, as unflinchingly as one can, on the life we live and the death we owe the universe. Verny's work wins the highest compliment: witty, well designed and articulately presented, his poems bear reading . . . and re-reading. Brendan Howley, screenwriter, investigative journalist, novelist Thomas Raphael Verny ‘s poems are unique in the way he colours his own earthly lyricism with sardonic wit and telling imagery. He has developed a mastery of both the very short verses and longer narrative poems that document individual lives and social milieus. I found myself deeply moved listening to Thomas at public readings, his voice both intimate and intense, sweet and menacing. His poems are full of surprises. Mick Burrs won the 1998 Saskatchewan Book Award for Poetry for Variations on the Birth of Jacob. He is a former editor of Grain magazine and author of 8 books of poetry.

Thomas has published five books including the international best seller The Secret Life of the Unborn Child and 44 scientific papers. He also edited two books: Pre and Perinatal Psychology: An Introduction and Gifts of Our Fathers, a collection of short stories and poetry. Cordless is his first book of poetry. Thomas’ poetry is not concerned, as so much poetry seems to be today, with falling leaves or the beauty of deserted beaches. Like he says in one of his shortest poems: Cherry Blossom Poets I wonder on what planet those poets live who write about cherry blossoms in fulgent bloom and the thousand colors of the winter moon while the earth is burning. These poems challenge the reader’s mind, touch their heart, and delight their soul. Thomas’ poems are accessible, exciting and provocative. They connect the reader to the rest of humanity because we are all one. Thomas is a psychiatrist and lives in Stratford, ON, Canada.