Notes of a Private Eye and other Poems

About the Book

This is a delightful compilation of comical and touching poems by Norma Edmonds Calderone, a beloved California poet. The book is divided into two sections, "Notes of a Private Eye" and "A Shared Fire." "Notes" is a unique, 14-poem series featuring tongue-in-cheek wit, word plays, puns and twists of language. The second half, "A Shared Fire," includes the "best of" the revered poet's last seventeen years of writing. It also features cherished humorous works not included in her first book, Voices.

Her first book, Voices, was published in 1984. Between then and her untimely death in 2001, Norma wrote a plethora of poems, some of which won recognition and others that are just delightful of their own accord. This new collection was nearly ready for publication when she became ill with lung cancer. Many of the selected poems have won prizes. In fact, Norma had a two-inch binder labeled "winners or printed." It would have been a daunting task to choose from among those and her other works for the new book. Fortunately, she had already selected her favorite pieces, some of which were not even prize winners. Her daughter, Angela Calderone McCord, completed the publishing as a gift to Norma's family, friends and the poetry community in general.

About the Author