Peculiar Perspectives Book Cover
Twenty-four glimpses into the absurd,
the tender, and the beautifully human.
These twenty-four short poems are personal rather than political, reflective rather than polemic – quiet observations shaped by a life that has been, at times, unruly, uneven, and richly human. They invite the reader not to debate or defend, but simply to recognize: to nod in wry agreement at the small absurdities, contradictions, and tender ironies that fill our everyday lives.
Drawn from a long and garishly checkered journey – one navigated more by instinct than intention – these poems distill experience into brief, free verse moments. They could have unfolded as sprawling autobiographical narratives, layered with embellishment and softened by false modesty. But that is not their nature. The voice here leans toward the epigrammatic rather than the epic, favoring canapés over feasts – small, carefully offered portions meant to be savored, not consumed all at once.
At the heart of this collection lies a lifelong devotion to language. Beyond family, the author’s enduring love affair has been with reading, writing, and speaking words – finding in them both refuge and revelation. These poems arise from that relationship: an urge not just to observe life, but to shape it into something shareable. Many of these pieces have found their way into print and into the air – read aloud to audiences, sometimes more than once – where their quiet truths and subtle humor continue to resonate.
The subjects are not grand events or sweeping declarations, but the small, often overlooked details that give life its texture: fleeting thoughts, peculiar habits, private contradictions, and the strange comforts we build for ourselves. Each poem captures a moment of recognition – sometimes amused, sometimes bittersweet, often both at once. Together, they form a mosaic of perspective: two dozen glimpses into a mind attuned to the eccentricities and quiet wonders that surround us.
This is a book that does not rush. It lingers. It invites pause. It allows space for reflection, for a half-smile, for the subtle realization that what seems uniquely strange is often universally shared. There are no epic climaxes here, no sweeping resolutions-only the gentle accumulation of insight, the steady uncovering of meaning in the seemingly mundane.
In these pages, we are reminded that life’s significance is rarely found in its grandest moments, but in its smallest ones: the passing thought, the odd realization, the quiet acceptance. These poems offer not answers, but companionship-a recognition that we are all navigating our own peculiar paths, doing the best we can with what we notice, remember, and feel.
This little book allows us to smile at the absurdities we put ourselves through, while also inviting us to slow down long enough to savor the moments that offer contentment. It is, at its core, a celebration of the imperfect, the peculiar, and the profoundly human.
About the Author
Ed Ahern resumed writing after forty odd years in foreign intelligence and international sales. He has had over six hundred stories and poems published so far, and twelve books. Ed works the other side of writing at Bewildering Stories where he squats on the editorial board, and at Scribes Micro, where he is the idle figurehead.
What Others Have to Say
“I became a straggler in the jostling crowd
elbowing forward toward an unseen cliff,”
If you are ready to ‘wander into the thick woods without trails or patterns’, grab a copy of Ed Ahern’s Peculiar Perspectives. This poetry chapbook, containing 24 poems, will lead you to a world shaped by experience, memory, aging, and epiphany observed from the quieter edges of life. Just imagine how fascinating it would be to traverse through these fascinating, often overlooked byways and alleys of everyday life, sharing the wit, candor and unflinching honesty of his poetry.
Munmun Samanta – Author of Yellow Chrysanthemum
Ed Ahern may call himself a “geriatric poseur with aching muscles” whose courting of intimacy with life is touched by shades of mortality. Believe him. And don’t. He may sense that he’s becoming fractional even as he picks up all around him “lingering aromas / of a burning world.” Believe him. And don’t. Why do I waver as I come into the presence of this mind, this imagination, this man? I can only guess that it may be because here we have a poet who walks through the loam of life even as he floats above the muck, leaving me, in the process, to hang in the air holding on to ambiguity by one hand and ambivalence by the other. Until, that is, I read him chanting “Over time there is only the gathering.” Then I settle into a sense that now we have arrived, he and you and I, to rest in our all-too-human world-fragile and unique, and precious in the haunting darkness of the universe.
Professor Ralph Nazareth, distinguished leader of Curley’s Poets
Ed Ahern’s wit glows in the dark as he walks through the woods losing and finding his way back through the trails he creates with his sharp-edged words. And his understanding and compassion for those who are lucky to know him glow in his original, heartfelt images.
Janet Krauss, adjunct professor emeritus from Fairfield University, author of Borrowed Scenery and Through the Trees of Autumn
Peculiar Perspectives leads readers into the untamed menagerie of Edward Ahern’s musings about nature, aging, family, loss, and everything in between. Filled with open self-reflection, as well as a humorous, sometimes jaded viewpoint, this collection is a sampling of some of Ahern’s best new poetry. He is excellent at illuminating those quiet moments and reflections that no one talks about, but everyone knows about and will never admit to. Reading these short verses, you’ll find yourself smiling at the absurdities – and the intrinsic rewards – of being human.
Alison McBain Award-winning poet & author of The New Empire
Prolific Pulse Blog 