Just Another Sunrise

I do not recall the particular morning that led me to start writing about the sunrise but I do know that being up until dawn and the view from my window facing east in my Manhattan hi-rise on the East River were the trappings that made me set my clock, wake up before dawn next morning, head outside into that March chill, and begin what would eventually become Just Another Sunrise, Poems to the Sun.

The book...

What do we all have in common?

We are all, every one of us, under the sun.

The twenty-four poems of Just Another Sunrise capture the essence of twenty-four East River dawns on random mornings over the course of one year. Look across the East River from downtown Manhattan and watch the sun break over the horizon of rooftops, steeples, and smoke stacks that make up neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens. No two sunrises are ever alike. Changing weather, air quality and clarity, the lay of the clouds, even the presence of wind, birds, and tugboats on the water make each sunrise unique and distinctive in the way its light first shimmers in the ripples of the river and then sets fire to the day.

These poems take us beyond descriptive distinctions to add the poetic qualities of voice, imagery, language, music, attitude, and rhythm to each sunrise. They are about the poet's creative and emotional response to the rising sun as a living thing - as real, raw, honest, and unpredictable as any human-to-human relationship might be.

As a native and lifetime resident of New York City, and a musician and songwriter, Fred infuses each of these "songs" to the sunrise with the voices, styles, and attitudes of the city's streets. He argues. He rhapsodizes. He sings. He articulates his morning world by conveying the singular wonder of each sunrise he witnesses - even those hidden from view - and surprises us with the invention and improvisational artistry of his response. The result is satisfying and rewarding and compels us to keep reading from one sunrise to the next, straight on through to the concluding "Post Mortem," an intriguing optimistic philosophical plea. A bonus of "Fun Sun Stuff" offers bits of solar-related information to round out this one-of-a-kind poetic experience.