Name Ed Roberts | Role Poet | |
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Books Whispers, Tears, Prayers and Hope | ||
Ed roberts free wheeling
Ed Roberts (born June 27, 1958 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) is an American poet, writer and publisher currently based in Yukon, Oklahoma.
Contents
Ed roberts his words his vision
Biography
After a life-threatening illness in the year 2000 Roberts decided to publicly share his work. His writing is influenced both by his long Oklahoman and Native American heritage as well as by national and international topics including cultural, political, and social issues. Different organizations refer people to his poetry web site [1] to fight alcoholism, drug abuse, and terrorism.
Several poems and articles were published by The Poetic Voices Magazine, The Poetry Sharings Journal and on the internet. In answer to it Roberts was asked to read his poems and talk about poetry in schools, universities, and at poetry festivals. In 2005 Roberts was awarded to represent the United States with 9 other writers at the Odyssey International Festival in Amman, Jordan.
Roberts is a member of the Academy of American Poets and the Poetry Society of Oklahoma http://www.oklahomapoets.com .
Works
His debut A Poet's Last Stand from 2002 is a collection of poems and song lyrics written over a 25-year period.
The Poetry For Life Project consisted of three books. The first book Poetry For Life contains poems dealing mainly with drug and alcohol abuse. The second book Save Our Selves deals with abuse in family, suicide, and the loss of loved ones. The third book A Walk Through Time is a collection of historical and political poems. The project closed 6/25/10
He received his first Pulitzer nomination for his 4th book "Whispers, Tears, Prayers and Hope" from 2008. Again, his work strongly encounters political and social themes, such as the war in Dafur (Whispers, Tears, Prayers and Hope), the death of Benazir Bhutto (A Flame Lost), or modern slavery (Slavery). Robert's work presents everyday life mirrored in poetry that does not hesitate to show how life in Kenya and Wisconsin, though worlds apart, suffers from the same inhumanity.
He has received his second Pulitzer nomination for his latest book "When Words Escape You, You Can Use Mine." https://www.amazon.com/When-Words-Escape-You-Mine/dp/1499563361/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427002885&sr=8-1&keywords=when+words+escape+you
Style and content
His poems are mainly written in free verse ignoring traditional rules such as regular meter, rhyme, and alliteration. According to Roberts these characteristics of poetry "would not translate the same in other languages." (The Oklahoman, August 21, 2005) The focus of his work is rather its critical content. Therefore, social topics such as drinking and driving, rape, political, and historic issues such as the Oklahoma City bombing, Iraq, hunger and poverty, and cultural discussions about poetry, art and science build the content of this modernist poetry.