COLUMBIA, Conn., February 25, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Three Crows Hunting (and other poems about conflict) (now available through 1stBooks) is the first book by author and poet Craig M. Szwed. Rooted in personal experience, the 126 poems and thoughts in this book are from his writings of the past 30 years. Szwed believes that conflict does not begin "out there," or with "them." Rather, he feels it is an expression of personal demands on and responses to life and that each person tends to generate conflict sooner or later. For Szwed, the short title poem (inspired by crows battling on a neighbor's lawn,) sums up the tenor of human conflict: "All sought. One, a mouse, caught. One fought, for naught. One squawked, a lot."
Sparked by his interest in seeing things done for the right reason, Szwed collated Three Crows Hunting on the verge of yet another war between the United States and Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime in March 2003. Szwed hopes this collection of writings will encourage readers to count cost in truth, the cost of false peace or of false war, and to think on whether any given war, conflict, personal argument or fight is avoided or instigated for selfish reasons.
He writes, "I, too, question whether we, as a society, ever learn from our collective mistakes. Our historical record seems to differ little from most other societies, in that, the same main types of errors and battles are repeated generation after generation around the world ... (I hope) when an argument or war is considered, it will be decided on righteous godly principles, not for self righteous or self serving interests."
Through poignancy, wit, sarcasm, humor, plain speech or mocking tirade, Szwed's poems challenge author and reader alike to look as squarely as possible at the real issues of personal responsibility and accountability and to take stock of the greater picture as well as the personal side of human sufferings.
Szwed is a Vietnam War veteran, whose military decorations include a Purple Heart. For years, family, friends and professional writers like G. G. Garth urged Szwed to get his poetry published. In 2001, a few of his poems were published in the science fiction magazine Once Upon A World #10 and in the anthologies Tears and Triumphs and Woven Magic. His second book, Pining from the HEAT (and other poems of relationship and intimacy), also, has just been released hot on the heels of his first volume.
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