Writer, journalist, and award-winning television reporter Dan E. Slocum reaches into our philosophical souls with Private Tears, his third volume of poetry, following New Words (1996) and The Bends (2009). Through his contemporary free verse poetry, readers are privy to the inner machinations of a master wordsmith. Like a literary surgeon, Slocum lays the subject matter open for probing and examination. The moments of wincing pain are mitigated by his calm pragmatism. The title poem reveals Slocum's unique ability to be simultaneously present and detached within the same moment. Titles such as "Aging Queens" offer quiet repose before readers are shocked out of complacency by seemingly innocuous titles such as "Consider the Sunny Day," that are loaded with bloody realism. Slocum's poetry has had a steady following for nearly two decades and his fanbase continues to grow with this latest volume.