Publisher's Synopsis
The inspirations for the poems in this book came from thoughts, observations and life's moments experienced in the West, on the East Coast and in Europe. Tom Milan, being of fourth generation Irish ancestry, grew up in western Washington living in the town of Kelso and Tacoma, a port city located on Puget Sound. The Cascade Mountains lie to the east of Puget Sound and Tacoma with its major peak Mount Rainier dominating the area and the Olympic Mountains can be seen to the west.
Tom attended Bellarmine Prep high school and Seattle University, majoring in Political Science with a particular interest in international relations. During college Tom lived and studied in Copenhagen and Paris. After college, given his Irish roots and to pursue his interest in European history and culture he travelled by motorcycle over six months visiting 15 European countries, including Ireland. He has a Master's Degree in International Management from the Thunderbird Graduate School in Phoenix. Tom lived over 11 years in Washington, DC, working in a Federal agency and, being fl uent in French, he served over 27 years at the civilian headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels. Tom is retired and spends his time between Europe and the United States.
The poems cover a wide variety of subjects including the Northwest wonders of Mount Rainier and the Olympic Peninsula, sad city reflections in "First Avenue Requiem" and "Manhattan Winter Morn," the painters Vincent van Gogh and Hieronymous Bosch, an oil rig tragedy the "Ocean Ranger," and the author Ernest Hemmingway. There are also poems of "love found," "love lost" and "love found again," the small pleasures in life as "Watching A Child Skip" and "Sledding," and observations on modern life in "Sitting On A Crate" and "Just Like Fresh." Music has been composed for several poems and can be heard on Tom's website. (www.tomsfriends.jimdo.com.)
