The Mad Angler

<p class=ql-align-justify><em style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>From the Introduction by Jack Driscoll</em></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Michael Delp's Mad Angler alter ego is equal parts environmental crusader and water shaman and his hostility toward those feral hogs of greed isn't so much invective or diatribe as it is an appeal for sanity in a world gone well mad. And at the heart of the heart of these poems is a voice attempting to transpose madness into song rant into meditation the mist coming off the water and in spite of the piss swill of corporate runoff. </span></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>And so the occasion of these persona poems is twofold: First to confront and speak - and in direct and unavoidable proximity to those darker hearts of developers - the language of cherishing and its corollary the spirit and pursuit of preservation. And secondly to foster a respect for and to defend the ancient and abiding imperative of committed stewardship. </span></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>I say cheers for such madness left unchecked and unapologetic a wildness of heart that celebrates and holds every feeder creek and current every wetland and backwater and swamp. Edgy irate calling out the soul traders the Mad Angler's passion for moving water runs deep and in the mysterious and beautiful and oftentimes haunting images of these poems. </span></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>