Emerald Blades' is an anthology of poems stemming from my experiences, both as a juvenile diabetic and a borderline schizophrenic. One of the motivations for this anthology was a simple question—"What's the difference between mania and enlightenment?" Just as the edge between these two is not as sharply defined as one might imagine, so too in life, we often encounter surprising (double) edges. Life, like a field of grass, can seem like both a sea of swords and a sea of emeralds. This duality between Beauty and Pain is one of the major themes of this collection. The other major theme is an adoration of the wonders of nature that we take for granted all too often.

Using a traditional meter and rhyming scheme (sometimes fused with free verse), I have tried to mimic the "iron cage of rationality" (in the words of Max Weber) which we encounter in our society today. This 'rationality' sometimes serves to conceal the enchantment of ordinary life, especially the magic to be found in nature. Similarly, the strict form of the poems is only a mask for the wilderness which they serve to describe. Through this anthology, I have tried to recapture the magic (both good and evil) in ordinary life and remind us of the chaotic wilderness as well as the strict order that together define us.