Poet, The Soldier and the Freemason

Combining free verse with traditional rhyme schemes and experimental formats, Charles Cooper's work is a writer at the height of his poetic skill. Cooper takes the reader along with him on a perilous psychological journey through love, madness, and pain. Often varying his writing style from one poem to another, and even stanza-to-stanza, Cooper makes excellent use of rhythm in a number of offerings, particularly his beatnik-inspired effort, "e;The Black Bleeding Heart Beats Alone,"e; and provides readers with searing portrayals of the human condition in eloquently rendered poems like "e;Failure"e; and "e;The Wastrel."e; In the end, This is a stellar effort for Cooper, a literary work true to its author's vision and triumphant in its poetic craftsmanship. - Jay Waitkus, Praise for Desperate Times