A Sense of History : A Collection of Poems

Published in both hardbound and paperback with wonderful illustrations by my talented daughter Jill Campisciano, this collection of my poetry is arranged in nine sequential parts, all of which are meant to relate to the title regarding the nature and importance of history, whether personal or collective.

The majority of poems are relatively short lyric pieces, and many of these are autobiographically based, but as the title of the work suggests, the work is intended to demonstrate that our personal histories, when properly examined and understood, result from our inescapable relationship to the various threads of history—whether of humankind as a whole, or familial figures whom we know mostly through myth and yellowing pictures. But our personal history, when properly monitored and pursued, is the preparation for all that will succeed us, whether through our progeny or from our assisting in laying the foundation for “an ever-advancing civilization” as mandated in the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh.

The poems are not didactic, nor is it collection intended to be explicitly religious in nature, though each of the nine sections does imply a chronology—from Part One that deals with various “Theories of History” to Part Nine that concludes with “A Sense of History” implicit in poems about figures and events from Bahá’í history, and about the Bahá’í theory of history—that the fate of humankind will be propitious after all, despite the gloom overshadowing our present circumstances