FOREWORD There is something in here for everyone. The theme "Poetry with Pepper" was chosen because the appetites of millennium children seem to yearn for everything spicy. At the heart of so many of these poems there's commentary addressing one kind of challenge or another; rumour, terror, parenthood, politics, weakness, peer pressure, legacy, and last but by no means least - sacrifice. Along with the commentary comes entertainment. There's rhyme for you whose ears enjoy the resonance, there's metre to petition the rhythm of the soul, beat for movement of the feet and the pounding of the heart. In this work one can find, also, a variety of forms of the art of poetry represented. These include mixed verse, haiku, sonnets, rictameter, odes, lyrics composed for music and melodic verses tastefully embroidered with love. It is to the benefit of us all that poetry as a form of art has withstood the harrowing tests of time and taste. The works of the great ones from Chaucer, through Shakespeare, Milton, Keats, Byron, Moliere, Voltaire, Kipling have been drilled into anyone who was fortunate enough to have had a complete grammar school education. Poetry's unique licence should be preserved and treasured for it is perhaps the fuel that powers the thrust into and out of those invisibly trodden pathways to the soul. "What really", you ask, "is poetry?" Poetry really has no one set definition. Shadow Poetry.com defines poetry as the art of writing thoughts, ideas, and dreams into imaginative language which can contain verse, pause, meter, repetition, and rhyme. It has been said that "To write a poem is to show your heart and soul to the world." - fallenchild. People of Trinidad and Tobago, the country of my birth and my current home, refer to themselves, more often than not, as "Trini". Every dialect has a cadence or inflection of its own; but ours, I've been told, is particularly rhythmical especially when we speak extemporaneously. Sometimes I am tempted to believe that we speak in poetry. By virtue of our dialectic lilt and our humour-driven candour, every Trini is a budding poet. The International Library of Poetry, thankfully, has been a beacon for more than seven million poets around the world; and on repeated occasions during the first decade of the twenty-first century this poet has readily accepted the invitation to contribute to their publication "The International Who's Who in Poetry".
About the Author: Len Lewis was the firstborn to two young parents during the Second World War. By many standards, he had a happy childhood. A very enthusiastic ball player during his teen years, he captained both his high school soccer and cricket teams. He graduated from The University of the West Indies, BSc.(Econ); The Whittemore School of Business at The University of New Hampshire, MBA; and Concord Law School at Kaplan University. EJD. Mr. Lewis, a Fulbright Scholarship winner, has served the City of Port-of-Spain as an Alderman (1996-1999). As a networking/founder member he has served as Alternate Director of the London, UK-based Commonwealth Partnership for Technology Management.