"A FRIEND IN FANTASY"

Published in 1964 by Exposition Press (New York), "A Friend in Fantasy" marked Rudolph's early California period. A resident of Santa Barbara from 1961 to 1965, he brought a classical sensibility to the gold-lit landscapes of his new home. A clash of cultures to be sure - the established traditions of the Europe and the East, with the dangerous uncharted future of the West - in which Rudolph's muse found fertile soil.

Like many artists before him, I'm sure he could not help but notice that these sunny shores contained their own seductive peril.

Realization

Morning began with a rose on the wall
And a stalwart palm in the street.
Why did I choose to look over the wall
And fare to the end of the street?
The rose was heaven, all in all,
And the palm was a psalm complete.

REVIEWS

"It is extraordinary how this young American poet couches the perplexities of a modern temperment in a style which savors the great Elizabethans." -- Liliana Scalero (Italian author and translator)

"Rudolph Schirmer is a Romantic poet whose range covers a wide variety of poetic forms and whoe depth probes multifariously into life's meaning.." -- Richard Eberhart