An intense emotional exploration awaits you in A Famine of Tears. In it current cultural trends meet Modernism, Romanticism, the Renaissance, and Classicism, with Ric Couchman's Caribbean upbringing and his exposure to Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism providing added flavor. This book of poetry holds nothing back. It is an unrestrained, a candid, and a raw exposition of our humanity. It makes it palpable, putting the spotlight on our fears, our prejudices, our weaknesses, our strengths, our desires, our failures, and our triumphs. And while the rawness of our humanity is laid bare in this book, it is our humanity that is celebrated. You will not fail to notice the empathy and compassion that make up the book's undercurrent. Ric Couchman's background in literature and philosophy also informs this work, but that background does not get in the way of his poems' simplicity and of their appeal to the average reader. Not to be overlooked are the photo images that accompany most of the poems in A Famine of Tears, and this is where it categorically parts company with other books of poetry. The photo images (from the cover to the interior) are Ric Couchman's own creation. They are no mere addenda but are themselves an essential part of his overall creative process and, as such, should be given due consideration. They, like the poems in his book, speak eloquently, lending their voices to the voices of the poems they complement.
About the Author: Ric Couchman's appreciation and love of poetry began in high school where he was first introduced to British and Caribbean poetry, but he began writing poems only about ten years ago. He hates writing, but you won't know this from reading his poems, from reading his blogs, or from the fact that he teaches writing to high school students. While he hates writing, the interesting thing is that he's very good at it. Ric Couchman's abilities, accomplishments, pursuits, and interests are wide-ranging, but the distinction he cares most about is being known as someone who is compassionate and as someone who is willing to see the best in others even though they might be showing their worst. His attitude to life and to people is summed up in his mantra, "Life makes sense; people make sense." He is happiest when he is teaching in the classroom, when he is out backpacking, jogging, or biking, or when going through his foreign film collection. His life's mission is speaking out against injustice and against violence in all its forms.