Young Poet Covers Broad Array of Topics in New Collection

L. Stoney offers a unique collection of poems on a wide array of topics on life and its challenges in his new book, "Titanic Verses" and Other Poems (now available through AuthorHouse).

Completed when Stoney was just 22 years old, this collection of more than 100 poems carries wisdom beyond his years. Using elaborate imagery and wordplay, he crafts verses that touch the reader from a variety of angles: political, factual, social, emotional and erotic.

Separated into 10 sections, the collection includes poems about historical and recorded facts; the downtrodden from beggars and the homeless to poor workers; the Earth and pollution; war and its effects; politics; erotica; and more. The semi-autobiographical collection also serves as a memoir as Stoney tells of the political pain in the country of his birth and the transition he faced from a life of disadvantage to that of plenty.

The poem "Soul Brothers" illustrates his use of wordplay to bring a lighthearted twist to weighty subject matter:

I handcuffed my own soul today
Sold it to a hand-carved friend of clay
And sought to stay behind my skin
Hoping to hide my deadly sin
Arrested my own heart today
And fed it to the wounded tiger
I can feel its wounded heartbeat
In the cage that is my ribcage
For it is my soul I pledge to you
A pledge for a loan I never took
Do with it as you wish, as you will
The debt is mine, the friendship still ours!
Ours, and I realize my soul friend
Is no better than the rest ...

Born in Zimbabwe, Stoney began writing "Titanic Verses" and Other Poems when he was student president of the Creative Writers' Circle in high school. He completed the collection at the age of 22 while training as a chartered accountant and studying for a bachelor's degree at the University of South Africa. He has served as a senior auditor and later as a finance executive at two multinational companies in Africa and beyond. He now lives in New York where he continues his career as an auditor. "Titanic Verses" and Other Poems is his first book. More information is available at http://www.titanicverses.com/.