This serial was planned for 2014, to begin with the conclusion of First Contact. However, I have committed to a type of organic method writing where fiction is concerned. When I woke this morning at 3:14 a.m., a might late for my 7:00 p.m. appointment with the man I coach for, and having missed a walk-in boxing lesson, I was drawn to this file that I outlined 11 months ago. The protagonist of Poet is Akbar Qama, a guilt-haunted boxing coach. I can think of no better mindset to be in for the inception of his strange tale, than I am just now, sitting in his shoes, having disappointed a person who was looking for what the boxing coach is supposed to cultivate—discipline.
“I find refuge in the Lord of the Daybreak:
Against the mischief of his creation;
And against the mischief of the night when it overtakes me…”
-Sura CXIII, The Daybreak
For Machete Ricardo—may you carve out your freedom home, Brother.
CONTENT Notes
1. The Burner
2. Repose
3. Discipline
4. Among the White Devils
5. Plight
6. Right
7. Something Less
8. Daylight
9. Twilight
10. His Pound of Flesh
11. On the Sea of Fright
12. Devil’s Dawn
The perspective interludes written for the original serial will be integrated as chapters, making Poet a dualistic narrative of about 20 chapters.
The Author’s Notes from Late Summer 2012
Poetic Justice
As I was coming home on the bus today I began considering the plight of a boxing coach I know, and how different it is from the norm, as the guy is totally off the information grid. I was stricken with this thought while outlining a questionnaire for a group of genius level table-top war-gamers for whom I had agreed to transcribe the content of a rules meeting concerning an upcoming year-long game.
Then I saw a Nation of Islam guy in his black and white suit selling bean pies and the Final Call. By the time I reached my desk I had written half of a short novel in my head, and had to spill my guts in the form of an outline so that I could clear my mind.
That story will be titled Poet: The Enlightened Fate of Akbar Qama, about a retired militant Black Moslem enforcer, currently dabbling in his grandmother’s Native American beliefs, who, as Kismet would have it, is called upon to aid a frighteningly intelligent White Devil in distress.
