Reviews, Praise and Excerpts for and from Wounded Heart, Naked Soul by Ralph Haselmann Jr.

Wounded Heart Naked Soul by Ralph Haselmann Jr., 2001 xlibris, 1-888-7xlibris, www.xlibris.com, www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, www.borders.com, 140 pages perfect bound paper back.

Ralph Haselmann, Jr is myriad things to different people. Poet. Gadfly. Lovable nutcase. Lousy driver. Wounded Heart, Naked Soul, his first collection of poetry, gathers the disparate facets of his world into a volume just small enough to fit into your memory. There is a grand sadness creeping through some of these pages, many of which deal with unrequited love and the loss of dear ones. Still there are great rays of light streaming through the clouds as well, so much so that one gets the impression that this magic land might be warming up for good. Wounded Heart, Naked Soul, with its heavy rhymes and youthful outlook, isn’t for everyone. Still, it’s a kind panegyric for those who have passed and a sweet laudation for a life of hope.
Robert L. Penick/Chance Magazine

Wounded Heart Naked Soul by Ralph Haselmann Jr., 2001 xlibris, 1-888-7xlibris, www.xlibris.com, www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, www.borders.com, 140 pages perfect bound paper back.

Part of a being a poet is letting yourself be vulnerable. As Frost said, “a poem is a lover’s quarrel with the world.” The poet then must engage what he loves in a sort of battle, questioning his own being, pondering the meaning of meaning, and the random injustices of a chaotic world. In Wounded Heart, Naked Soul Haselmann does just that. He lays his cards out on the table. Whether wrestling with his own sexuality, or his manic depression, Haselmann exposes his wounds to the open air, and at times rages at his fate. Despite this, the poet, a spurned lover of sorts, still engages the world and revels in its possibilities. This is evident in his poem, SO MUCH IN LIFE TO DO, so much in life to do/so much in life to see/Run, don’t walk/anxious to be.” After the horrible car accident that this founder of www.lucidmoonpoetry.com survived and is still recovering from, we hope Haselmann realizes what he will “be”, and I might add, in short order. Douglas Holder/Ibbotsen Press

Wounded Heart Naked Soul by Ralph Haselmann Jr., 2001 xlibris, 1-888-7xlibris, www.xlibris.com, www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, www.borders.com, 140 pages perfect bound paper back.

Wounded Heart, Naked Soul, available in either regular printed format or as a downloadable file, becomes the first “electronic book” to be reviewed here in Phoenix Bookshelf. Having had his work published in nearly 50 magazines, author Ralph Haselmann Jr. is now venturing further into the world of publishing, presenting here a collection of his poetry that he has been writing since 1989. Several of the poems featured in this book are either about, or dedicated to the author’s favorite actor, River Phoenix.

River of Tears

River, for a brief shining moment
You were the light of life in everyone’s eyes
Don’t disappoint your mother, see how her heart is broken
Don’t disappoint you fans, see how they are grief stricken
Don’t grow up, stay young and innocent forever
River, through your films you will last an eternity
A beautiful ghost that haunts the spectrum
Thank you for sharing and baring your soul with us for a while
We celebrate and commemorate your birth and life, not your death
Au Revoir, Rio, my brother…

A lot of the poetry relating to River was actually written on the day after his death, and the author has since admitted to us that his heart was full of both sorrow and anger when he wrote them. Those emotions come across clearly in his work and enable the reader to feel a strong sense of empathy towards the author.

Rain

If I burned all my notebooks,
Would the flames release a ghost of you?
If I threw away all my inhibitions,
Would you come back and be my true?
Take me away on a magic carpet ride
to a dream world where from reality I hide
River, River, River running free
wash away my pain and let it all be
Hey Jude please answer my call
All I ever wanted was a friend like you that’s all
If I started out tomorrow on a search for someone new
Could they ever replace the way I feel about you?
If I woke up from this long nightmare dream
Would I feel better about life, is that the way it seems?
And that’s the way it is, cause I can’t change the way I feel
River, River, wish you were still real
Shower me with love and teach me again how to feel
Hey Jude please answer my prayer
How I wish you were still here
If I could turn back time you know that I would
I’d save you from yourself if only I could
River, River, River running deep
I pray for you my soul to keep…

For River Phoenix

Included as part of the book’s closing pages, the author reprints a letter of thanks he wrote to Premier magazine after they printed a moving tribute to River after he died. Again, his words speak for us all:
“….River deserved better than this. He deserved a more caring environment of people who could help him with whatever problems he may have had, and tell him when he was screwing up. I realize River was an adult, and he was ultimately responsible for his own actions, but he obviously couldn’t cope with the pressures that the film community placed on him and the phony, clean-cut, healthy, straight image his publicist and the movie business demand he portray in order to remain bankable. But what can you expect from a place that eats its young. River’s death will have little effect on the club going scene, except now they have something more to feel numb about. The world seems a little less caring, a little less friendly, and a hell of a lot colder since River died. I wish I could say that River Phoenix will rise from the ashes like his namesake, but in the end, all that we have is a hauntingly beautiful screen presence and a river of tears…”
The Rio’s Attic Administrators
www.river-phoenix.org
attic@river-phoenix.org

Wounded Heart Naked Soul by Ralph Haselmann Jr., 2001 xlibris, 1-888-7xlibris, www.xlibris.com, www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, www.borders.com, 140 pages perfect bound paper back.

I have read your book.  It's very good, and interesting.  I like the raw, powerful emotions within.  For your site:  “Wounded Heart, Naked Soul, Ralph Haselmann Jr.'s first book of poetry portrays a world rocked by death, uncertainty, fear and awkwardness.  The raw, powerful emotions contained within the book are gripping.  Anyone who has ever come out, or ever been an outcast, or ever felt small, will find something in this book.”
Sheeri Kritzer
Director,  Bisexual Resource Center
PO Box 1026
Boston, Ma 02117-1026
www.biresource.org
awfief@cs.brandeis.edu

Haselmann writes with a certain melancholy--but with it he offers hope--because of his belief in the natural goodness of Humankind. His faith in emotions--and delight in exposure of the soul--is a reminder that romanticism is very much alive and well."
--Roy Smith, Dark Horse Reviews

"Ralph, thank you for the broadsides…Your warmth and compassion come through very strongly in the poems…"
--Charles Potts, editor The Temple

"…The author reels, spins, whirls into an ambiguous world where love, longing, lust and loneliness collide like a violent July thunder-storm…"
--from the foreword by poet and friend Kevin M. Hibshman

For Mark Waser

13 years "burning down the road, nowhere to run,
ain't got nowhere to go…" -Bruce Springsteen

You came to my funeral, but I was the rain cloud
who pissed on you
I made you cry for your best friend because I'm greedy
and I need the attention, even in death
You came to my funeral, but I was the wind that
tore at your face like a desperate ghost wanting to climb
back into a body and be human again
I made you shudder because I can be cold and cruel even in
death, just like when I used to tease you in life
like a bratty brother

You came to my funeral, but I wasn't the reason why you
were so anguished and upset
I made you angry because you realized as they
put me into the ground how you could have been there
w/ me in a split second change of plans
I made you realize how pointless life is and how we are all
utterly alone
How we are born free of the earth but always manage to
somehow get shoveled back into it and buried over
when the asshole upstairs decides to turn out the lights…

Hearts And Thoughts

Ghido, you were the patriarch of our family,
your warm smile reassuring and strong;
You lifted the lamp of your light towards God
and he cast your shadow 83 years long.
And for over half a century your marriage lasted
and you shared the wonder of love and of life
with Thata, the matriarch of our family and
your beautiful sweet caring wife.
Together you answered the question of whether
an unfulfilled life is worth living, because
you accepted God's gift of your lives by
devoting them to the Church and to giving.
But it's hard for me to see you now, your body frail,
your heart, chest and lungs weak and racked w/ pain,
and I wish I could reach out and heal you,
and have my sadness wash away w/ the rain.
But my tears can no longer hold you or comfort you when
your spirit and soul are no longer wanting of this earth
So it's just a matter of accepting the full arc of life and the
fact that we die a little bit each day from the moment of our birth.
So I'll try to remember all the good things now, like your laughter
and your favorite joke about "Fresh fish for sale today!"
Because although time heals all wounds of the dearly departed,
and hearts and thoughts, like lost loved ones, regrettably
fade away,
You'll live forever, Ghido, in our hearts and our minds,
in our thoughts and prayers, until we see you again in Heaven
on some impossibly bright sunny day…

Love, your grandson, Ralphy

(Inspired by the Pearl Jam song "Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town" from their Vs. cd)

You Can Still Go Home Again

Let me love you tonight
we've got some time to kill
Put your arms around me
calm my racing heart, be still
Stroll w/ me through your garden
where "lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed"
Play for me on your secret stereo
where Song of Myself last boomed
Follow me down into the valley
where Leaves of Grass are strewn
Walk w/ me at midnight
beneath a glowing Lucid Moon
Let's ride a river raft
out from the "poetry waterfall of the heart"
and Starting From Clinton
we can vow to make a new start
Help me make it through a Season In Hell
let our soul Illuminations be our guiding light
Hold my hand as we say An American Prayer
and make our way through the Wilderness tonight
Share your emotions and desires w/ me
and know that It Catches Its Heart In My Hands
Be my brother, my lover, my soulmate
let our hearts Howl out w/ joy so everyone understands
Come sit beside the campfire light w/ me
in the darkness of My Own Private Idaho
Let's flip the pages of our notebooks
so the poems come alive w/ an animated glow
Take me along w/ you into our deepest dreams
where the night is full of open possibilities
And life is not all that it seems
Know that I'll always be here for you
Know that however far you choose to roam,
heading out On The Road always means
one day you can still come home…

For Ross