Böcker av Robert Benefiel

Come Under Fire is a collection of poetry from the author Robert Benefiel. Many of the poems here are presented in print for the first time since they were written during his mid 20's to his early 30's. Ranging in voice, from tall tales to realistic self portraits of himself and the world, the pieces included show a distinct voice seeking truth and honesty using the human interactions and sparse means at his disposal during this period in his life.

The Burning Easel is a new collection of older poems by Robert Benefiel. The pieces included in this volume touch upon the interactions that the living have with, and on, each other. Pieces can range from the personal to the absurd, with the author recognizing both the creation of a moment and its simultaneous disappearance. Whether you are looking for a more serious piece, or one of levity, the author allows both a peak into his own life as well as the way he looks at the existence of others, through some of his older work.

Classic Works Of Brutal Honesty is a new title by author and artist Robert Benefiel. The works in this volume are works extracted from earlier writing in the author's life. The poems bounce around from humorous to autobiographical, straight forward to abstract, sometimes all within one poem. The pieces are presented not as a look at the past, or a comparison to later work, but as pieces worthy on their own, staying true to their intent as the author originally intended them to be.

Wandering In And Out Of Consciousness is a newly collected group of older works by Robert Benefiel written during the mid-90s. Periodically the writer decides to gather and edit this older material, putting them together for print in new volumes. The poems collected here are based on the theme of the writers own personal wandering from one place to another, from past to present, from reality to dreams, from truth to beliefs. Whether it is being punished for a flag falling in class, getting a paint set sent in the mail and painting figures on the walls, or gathering flowers at night for a lover when broke, the pieces all carry with them the theme of the responsibility of being alive and of being unashamed to do so, wherever one may go.

The Endless Ampersand: Love Poems 2017-2018 is a new volume of poetry from the author and artist Robert Benefiel. Though not written with any one person in mind, the work which comprises this book is considered the third and final book of love poems (along with Love Is What You Think It Is and Femina Aeterna). As the title suggests, The Endless Ampersand is meant to demonstrate the feeling of eternity when in love. Ranging from straight forward longing to the surrealistically erotic, the poems included here carry through themselves a wide range of tone and subject, expressing the emotional weight needed of vulnerability, the obsession that it can take to be in love, and the strength it takes to stay that way. Sometimes romantic, sometimes funny, yet always candid, the poems never stray from their original message: Being in love, even with all its challenges, is far better than being unloved, for we may feel like fools doing it, but we look like bigger fools if we give up on it.

Person Place Thing: Compendium 3 is the third compilation of the author Robert Benefiel's work. Meant as a means to introduce new readers to a vast amount of the writer's work in a short time, and selected by the author himself, the compendiums typically span five books and collect both some of the more well-known pieces along with other lesser known works. Whether approaching the poem from a direct storyteller mode, or in a more simplified abstract fashion, the poems always take on the unique view of a prolific author already having published over 20 books in less than 7 years.

Renderings of Hope, Garbage, and Everything Else: Compendium 5 is the latest collection of work from author and artist Robert Benefiel. The material for this compendium is derived from the books Come Under Fire (2018), Falling Apart To A Beautiful Song (2018), I Wish You Were Never Born And Other Lullabies My Mother Taught Me (2018), Getting The Paper (2018), and Depression, Bleakness, And Their Beautiful Faces (2019). No new work has been introduced in this book.

Femina Aeterna is another full edition of love poems from the author Robert Benefiel. The poems contained in this collection should be considered a companion piece to the book Love Is What You Think It Is. Most of the work presented here was originally written at the same time (with very few exceptions), and were intended as possible pieces to be included in the previous book. However, due to the glut of material written at that time, they were put aside in favor of a flow that had a progression. In this book however, like in love, the author has decided to let love be as sloppy as it wants, recognizing that the pieces here work together better as a whole than dispersed and scattered throughout other books. As a result the work spans many different aspects of love, from traditional to romantic to abstract to straightforward to personal to impersonal to humorous to raunchy. Neither caring how long or short the piece is, if it repeats itself in theme later or not at all, or whether using romantic language or curse words, the work itself tends to build a chain of connections without effort. In this volume the author proves his only intent is to display the many different facets a love poem can take, while continuing to show his own personal affection for love, and the lovers that makes him feel it and want to express it.

Falling Apart To A Beautiful Song is a new collection of poems from the author and artist Robert Benefiel. The material presented here is a departure from the straightforward and often biographical work of previous books, choosing instead to present ideas in a less direct, albeit still, meaningful way. Closer to a stream of consciousness that has later been edited, the poems range from a checker and a chess piece getting a drink after work, to coming across a makeshift memorial, to a simple fold in a blanket being able to influence a person's thoughts. In the sense that one can make bacon and eggs in many different ways, the writer chooses to present his unconsciousness in a very consciences way, even if it is not in a standard or direct form. By doing this the author lets the reader fill in some of the gaps with the faces and ideas they have in their own heads when thinking of death, life, love, or many of the themes found in the work of any author or artist around the world. Whether viewed as babbling or brilliance, the author presents the conception that one can just as easily look like the other, but that a little of both can be derived from any artistic expression.

The Crazy Decide Who's Sane As The Flowers Scream For Spring is a collection of poetry written during a creative glut for the author. Expanding on the idea of language as observer and participant. Many themes and ideas are repeated throughout the book, often taking the same concept and repeating it in different ways like an echo. Throughout there is the building up and blending of a voice, to lose information and pronounce it simultaneously. The effect is to separate moral from religion, love from lust, death from change, trust from blind following. Often within the book the line is either blurred or becomes quite clear, with many tones of joy and sorrow reverberating throughout. By the end of the book one is forced to see that while parts of reality are based on one's choices, there are also parts that are not effected by one's beliefs.

This is a collection of poetry cultivated from a prolific period in the author's life. The poems brought together here reflect on a movement away from an incredibly turbulent life to a more sedate and calm introspective. Having given up smoking and going to bars during this time, it shows both the humor and depression of realizing who you were, what you are, and wondering what that will become as you move through tough times to try and feel comfortable in your own head. Neither a rejection of the seedy parts of society, or a complete acceptance, the author continually shows he understands that those parts do not disappear because you change. If anything it is coming to terms with what those things mean to one's self, as an individual decides who they are without rejecting who they have been.

Becoming Clear is the 29th grouping of new work by the author and artist Robert Benefiel. The poems presented here were written during a recent and extraordinarily prolific period in the author's life. Sometimes intricate, sometime straightforward, the title itself suggests a dual possibility of feeling one is fading into non-existence while at the same time becoming enlightened, and the work inside tries to reflect that. Whether the pieces reflect on meeting a man living in a friend's garage as a child (The Dibney Museum), past work experiences for minimum wage jobs (A Card For Joey), marriages ending but not quite over (Temptation Comes Along), or just recognizing one's endurance through horrible times (23 And Counting), the work inside tries to address what it's like to realize something while sacrificing something to become enlightened.

Ear Rent is a new book of poetry by the author and artist Robert Benefiel. The title is derived from suggesting the price one pays to get the attention of another, as well as having been used as a term to have one's ear cut off to pay back a debt. By titling this new collection of poetry Ear Rent he understands he is asking the reader to stop and listen to what he has to say, but that he is also paying off his debt to society by giving it back the poems it influences. Derived from no one style, the work can come from completely surreal vestiges, or from plain and ordinary circumstances. Whether looking at a rubber toy starring at him from the bottom of a bathtub, relaying a news article, or enjoying the beauty of a surreal moment of hickory trees being on fire, each poem represents just one of the many ways the author is responding to the world tapping on his shoulder and asking for the time.

Brutified is a collection of poetry written by the author Robert Benefiel. The poems contained within it are from a larger cache of poems written in 2019. The pieces themselves range from narrative to abstract, bibliographical to fictionalized, allowing for a fuller range of expression and voice. What each piece carries is the idea of surviving the brutality of the world, others, and even one's self, in hopes of gaining insight and retaining one's compassion. Whether the piece is addressing the idea of finding one's own art at a junk store, or stumbling across a love note written before, but after, a lover has left them, or even watching a young midget be chased through the mall, the author never ceases to try and present the emotion and meaning at the core of each piece in a blatant yet subtle way.

Getting The Paper is a collection of new works by the author Robert Benefiel that chooses to reflect upon the beauty of the mundane and the normal conditions of someone existing on the lower end of the monetary spectrum, regardless of if they are an artist or not. Straddling neither absolute poverty, nor being able to escape debt, Getting The Paper chooses to embrace the idea of just getting by in a world that is continually held together by words and spit. Whether it's having a deeper than usual conversation with someone taking your fast food order, or an incredible artist like Vivian Maier eating raw canned food and dying in anonymity while her life works are rotting in a storage unit, this book chooses to put denser ideas aside for straight forward revelations. Themes such as work, depression, struggle, relationships both male and female, and expression, attempt to explain how even when things can be so dismal, people have a tendency to still carry on, and it is through these topics that the author creates a more direct revelatory process where an acceptance can be found in recognizing both the necessity and the torturous aspects of normalcy while living at the bare minimum, or lower, to simply say you are still alive. It's knowing life is not pretty, but that you still can't stop staring at it, and eventually if you look long enough you can find something beautiful in it to keep you around maybe a little longer.

Call It Whatever You Want: Compendium 4 is a collection of material from the author and artist Robert Benefiel, and can be found in the previous books The Morning Roars Slowly, Verbalizing Existence, Enduring One's Own Mind, Femina Aeterna, and Give The Word. These compendiums are meant as an introduction to the author's material and style over a wide range of books. No new material has been introduced in this volume.

I Wish You Were Never Born And Other Lullabies My Mother Taught Me is a collection of poems from the author Robert Benefiel's earlier years, written between 1995-2000, and considered a part of his Black Notebook series. The pieces included under that grouping were a retyping of material ranging from notebooks, typewriter material, handwritten notes on the backs of everything from cocktail napkins and flyers, to early pieces saved on floppy discs, with all of them finally being transcribed in 2005. Many of the pieces included in I Wish You Were Never Born were never finalized with editing, or considered for publication back when they were originally written, due to the glut of work the author was already producing, and the excessive amount of moving around. That being said, he still amassed an impressive back catalog of material that may never be completely transposed. The pieces specifically included here essentially focus on the main principle of survival, whether it be through work or vice. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always trying to be honest, the poet's work in this book reminds us that many times in life one is simply trying to survive the world, and not be stripped of our humanity through the emotions and choices of ourselves and other people. It is by realizing this that one can start to retain their humanity even as one is continually having that humanity challenged whether by our dislike of others choices or by our own creations, creators, choices, and caretakers.

Depression, Bleakness, And Their Beautiful Faces is a new collection of poetry by the author and artist Robert Benefiel. The pieces that appear in this volume were produced over the course of 6 months and were reflective of the dark mood that the author had entered years ago. Used as a catharsis, the work tends to represent the negative spaces in the author's head without seeking either shame or apology. The very title of the book itself is meant to show the attraction one can have towards their own decimation, and the desperation one experiences once that attraction gets out of control. Understandably the author also recognizes that through the horrific parts of ourselves such as doubt, sadness, or depression we can also find new meaning and the potential to rend new identities from our old while creating hope, elation, and satisfaction without falsity. By publishing these works the author makes no attempt to hide their results from his own life or others, being straightforward in both admitting his repulsion and attraction to such elements. Whether identifying the alienation which causes one to be their own council, feeling disconnected from others, or becoming enthralled with destructive forces, the book never seeks to entirely glorify nor belittle the effects of these darker parts of us. Instead it tends to recognize that they are prevalent and possible within all of us, as we dangerously experiment with our emotions until we either control them, or they control us.