In his debut collection, Song for My Left Ear, Song for My Right, Jim Richards examines the sweet and strange journey from the small country of childhood to the perplexing universe of adulthood. He experiments widely with form-readers will find villanelles, free verse, short lyrics, aphorisms, and prose poems. With a tone that fluctuates between serious and absurd, his work ponders the landmarks of birth and death accompanied by the mysterious music that soothes and terrifies in between. Often surreal, these poems are filled with probing questions and questions as answers that don't offer an easy route on life's map but shine like streetlamps punctuating the dark road.