This book is for any artist who is sincerely striving to produce the truest realization of their craft. These poems are dedicated to you who create, regardless of your medium. More so, it is dedicated to you who are candidly going for the throat of your vision, never settling for half-measures. The amount of mental, emotional and even spiritual stress on a truthful artist can never be overstated. The frequent and often total failure of the public to grok what art means or represents, the endless stream of criticism, the lack of exposure, compensation, appreciation and recognition, is truly soul-sucking. Attempting to move against the grain of complaints from family, friends, fans, publishers, agents and the public in general is no small task. For this reason, I am ever the fan of the underdog artist who crafts their own, unique purpose and vision, especially when facing seemingly unbearable pressures to move in a different direction. I stand beside all of you who are manifesting what you actually see, hear and feel deep inside, not what is merely popular or profitable. I consecrate this book in the names of all true artists. This is for you who move with courage toward your Muse. Note that I said courage and not fearlessness. Where there is no fear, there is no great overcoming. Great victory stems from great challenge. I ask you to stand strong and let your light shine forth. Share your truest vision... of the universe, of the world, of you.For they who slit their own throatsSpilling blood upon the altar of artFor them who glue the words together After the thing itself has fallen apartTo you who dip your quills into the bitterAs well as into the sweet and goodMay this sustain you, as you captureAll of those ideas that no one else couldIntroductionon the page is a collection of poems. That much is straightforward and easy to explain. In one sense, it's a bunch of poems about poetry itself, about being a poet, knowing other poets and all the myriad of experiences that poets and writers in general have. It's about wrestling with creativity, the difficulties of separating creativity from neurosis, rejections from publishers zines and journals, uncomfortable silence felt after reading a piece at an open mic, doubt and stinging ego. It's the joy of having one or perhaps a roomful of people love your work and trying to recreate that experience. It's about isolation, practicing a craft no one pays attention to anymore, feeling ostracized when you see mindless masses eating up someone's work, when you know that it's garbage. It's about day job, wanting only to write, having words but no time... time but no words. In short, it's art, dedicated to artists. on the page isn't simply a bunch of pieces about poetry and poets and "poeting"; If you've logged very many hours of trying to be a writer yourself, then you know that it's a feeling one does not simply switch on. Sometimes doubt and insecurity creeps in. You're not good enough. Oh, that's cute... you think you're a real writer. Don't quit your day job and other types of mental self-sabotage. When people say "Don't quit your day job", it still hurts and you have to process that. Writers, dancers, actors, musicians, sculptors, photographers and other artisans, create their art not for money but because they have to. It's a spiritual calling, even among atheists and sometimes, especially among atheists. Hearing poetry is often a transcendent experience -your own poetry can be, if you're lucky- and that's exactly as it should be. Art is a balm for the soul. Art heals the soul of the creator, as well as anyone who views it or hears it, as long as they choose to open up to it. Which brings us to a more modern challenge, that of the times we live in. Most people are so stressed, they're in a type of PTSD trance that doesn't allow the medicine to work. And your art (if it's good) is indeed medicine, a desperately needed medicine.