Surfings: Selected Poems

The first major & definitive collection of poems by the legendary Will Inman, featuring stunning selections from over forty years of his experiences and meditations ranging from the wildernesses of Arizona to his early days as a poet and activist in the tough Lower East Side of Manhattan, to his artistic and cultural roots in North Carolina. Nearly all these poems in this collection were published throughout several decades either in broadsides, or in Inman chapbooks. The book's cover features "Anticipation" by award-winning poet/artist David Chorlton. Will Inman's "Surfings" has been awarded the distinction of the year's "Best Selected Poems" by the Latitudes Foundation. Whether writing about the streets of Brooklyn or the deserts of Arizona, about human triumph or human suffering, Will Inman's reputation among other writers and critics--nationally and internationally--is formidable and historic.

Will Inman was born in 1923 in Wilmington, NC, and received his BA in 1943 from Duke University. For many years he was active in the labor union movement, the War Resisters League, and other activist groups. After many years on the East Coast, notably New York City, Inman moved to Tucson in 1973. His key issues are peace, justice, brotherhood, and freedom of every variety. His poetry brings together layers of the cosmic with a profound spiritual sense of place and being, in reminiscent echoes of Walt Whitman. His is a holy war that seeks to empower rather than destroy, to bring about emancipation from our shadow selves rather than deny the anger, rage and frustration locked within us, to give voice to the voiceless ones and to what may seem a voiceless world that is constantly under attack by industry, war, and politics. Not only has Will Inman distinguished himself as a poet of excellence, writing about subjects dear to the human heart in an elevated language that resonates profoundly and passionately with an uncommon depth of courage, but he is also simply a fine human being who recognizes the responsibility of each of us toward our community, toward our earth, and toward the members of all species who inhabit it.