what i want to say to you: 29 poems

In this collection of poems, written in 'ecstatic freestyle', Rohn Bayes distills and shares the inner workings of his mind and the messages he finds there as if he were urgently communing with his congregation from the pulpit of free thought and wild wisdom. Influences as disparate as Kabir, Rumi, Whitman and hip hop are evident and the resulting style is bold, unique and refreshing. From meditations on war to transcendent epiphanies on mosquitos to bike rides to Christmas stories, the subject matter he explores is down to earth but universal, common but ringing with the thrill of found truth. I'm not sure who his congregation is - the street people he encounters or the characters in his dreams or everybody he meets but it's compelling as heck. Be prepared to be delighted. If poetry is about passion and being transformed (which it is) then this collection delivers. - Isaka Castanoves