Preface to the Second Edition:
Five years after publishing Flowers of Shanidar, I began
reading it again, and making notes in it. I have noted elsewhere
the difficulties I had to overcome to write in my own book. My
readers will note that I am never bashful about writing in
books, as I warn my friends who loan me books of theirs to
read. I am so accustomed to writing notes in books as I read
them, I will probably forget that this is not my own book and go
ahead and write in it. Most say go ahead. Those that don't, I
usually don't accept books from them to read a second time. I love books with ample margins and lots
of blank pages at the end because it gives me lots of places to write notes, poems, and ideas.
Well, Flowers of Shanidar met all those requirements: it belonged to me, had ample margins,
and had lots of blank pages. Why did it take me so long to actually write in a copy of Flowers of
Shanidar?
First I needed permission to use a copy of Flowers of Shanidar for notations. Once I made the
first mark, that copy was dedicated to my notes. That act of defacement was the first step to this
Second Edition.
I began reading my poems aloud slowly, that is, it was a couple of years before I started. I had a
favorite one which I liked to read aloud, Mumbles From Below. It was inspired by my associating
the persistent reports of unidentified flying objects with breakthroughs of the collective
unconscious into everyday life. As an individual might experience it, it would be their Self that is
the unidentified flying object that makes its presence mysteriously and unexpectedly known.
Thus the "O" in UFO would be the Self.
After many readings of Mumbles to various groups, five years had passed, and I began to read the
other poems. They were jealous, I'm sure, of the attention I'd bestowed on Mumbles. I began to
write down the titles of my favorite poems from Shanidarfor reading aloud in the front page of
my editing copy, and I soon found the list had grown so long, I was confronted with the
following revelation: my favorite list of poems is the Table of Contents.
When I write down a poem, or more likely, simply sketch out an idea for a poem, the result
usually doesn't meet my own standards for a real poem, but I've learned to trust my instinct
(distrust the critic in me) enough to put the poem aside and come back to it in a day or two.
Re-reading it then, I usually see the germ of the idea and begin to type it into my PC, editing and
fine-tuning it. After a backup of its file and a printout of the poem for my editor (Del) to read, I
set the poem aside for it to gestate, to cook, for a year or so. Cooking a poem is like cooking a
salad for me: salads must be set aside and allowed to come up to room temperature, at which
time they are ready to eat. So, too, for poems.
Reading my fully cooked poems in Shanidarafter five years, I began to understand them at a new
level. Reading them aloud, I noticed that I sometimes changed a word, left one out, or added a
meta-comment to the listeners. I have incorporated these minor changes as appropriate so that
readers of the Second Edition can have the flavor of being present while I read them aloud. This
might be likened to a final flourish of seasoning or dressing on the room temperature salad before
serving.
I also corrected two minor typographical errors that my team of sturdy proofreaders had missed
earlier. To provide incentive for them to do better this time, I am offering a reward to any reader
who findsa bona fide typo in the Second Edition. ( A bona fidetypo is any one that I agree is a
typo.) The reward will be a surprise for two reasons: 1) I don't expect any to be found, so I will
be surprised and 2) I haven't decided what the reward will be because of reason number one.
And, finally, after keeping many listeners waiting while I searched the
book to read a particular poem, I have added an Index of Poems, so that
you and I may quickly find a favorite poem of ours in Shanidar to read to a
special friend.
Read on.
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