A NEW CAPRA PRESS RELEASE
ROBERT EMMONS – “…a man alive to the wonders of the world.”

 

ROBERT EMMONS: The Road to Paradise, Collected Poems by Robert Emmons Foreword by N. Scott Momaday (Pulitzer Prize-winner for The House Made of Dawn)

Previous books by Robert Emmons

Other Places, Other Times (Literary Arts, 1973)
Love and Other Minor Tragedies (The Wayward Press, 1980)


Robert Emmons, the author of the newly released COLLECTED POEMS BY ROBERT EMMONS, is….well, unique. Not only does he have a Ph.D. (he was a professor at USC),….not only has he been CEO of a New York Stock Exchange company (Smart & Final),…not only is he a highly-honored philanthropist (the Herbert Hoover Humanitarian Award),…not only is he an avid art enthusiast and collector……but he is also a poet – a WORLD-CLASS POET.

keylogger software In the foreword to this third volume of poetry by Emmons, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, N. Scott Momaday, says: “(Emmons) sees beyond the superficial aspects of experience to the realities at the center of our lives. He is thought, perception, and imagination personified. He is one who understands the possibilities of language. In his best work he realizes those possibilities precisely, without overreaching or falling short. This is to say, he is a poet.”

This new book is both a collection of the best-loved poems of Robert Emmons from his earlier works as well as more than 30 new poems based on his later life and later experiences. It contains fascinating memories of earlier eras and shows the wisdom of a mature life.

There is a clarity, directness and honesty in Robert Emmons that is reflected both in his poems and in his life as a respected business leader and teacher. Above all, Emmons is a humanist whose concern for the human condition dominates his poetry. He is an astute observer of life and the irony often found in dealing with life’s challenges and the choices we must make.

Emmons speaks with great sensitivity of the alienation and loneliness of modern man, his search for a value system equal to the times, the lessons to be learned, and, most important, his need for love. Emmons' romance with the sea, his appreciation of its mystical qualities and the knowledge to be gained from it, are also captured in these pages.

Highlighting the poems, framed in sections entitled Living, Loving and Learning, are twelve extraordinary full-color reproductions of paintings from the Emmons’ personal art collection by Corot, Bonnard, Camoin, Cazin, Mare, Luce, Martin, Valtat, Raffaelli and Kleitsch.

EMMONS SAYS ABOUT THE BOOK:

“The early poems first appeared in the volume, Other Places, Other Times (Literary Arts, 1973). They reflect the disillusionment and confusion so prevalent during the social and political upheaval of the nineteen sixties. The poems also explore the struggle to find a sustaining value base during a time when traditional values were being challenged.

“ Love and Other Minor Tragedies was a product of the decade of ‘self’ when I was a professor at the University of Southern California. During the seventies, I also worked and wandered around the world as an international business consultant. My experiences are reflected in many of the poems written during the years when self-realization dominated a generation.

“Subsequent to nineteen eighty, I have written sporadically. The new poems are primarily a product of the last five years and carry the tone of a relatively contented observer of life. They represent a period of renewal and greater understanding of life’s challenges, disappointments, and small victories. Perhaps with age, there can come a certain wisdom that hopefully is reflected in the more recent poems.”

TO PURCHASE ROBERT EMMONS' THE ROAD TO PARADISE
  • Trade Edition (hardcover): $27.95
  • Limited Edition (numbered and signed): $85.00
  • Collector's Limited Edition (lettered and signed) in a slipcase: $125.00

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Robert Emmons, in his third published book of poetry, now gives us the fruit of years of wisdom and an infectious love of life. He is praised by Pulitzer Prize-winner, N. Scott Momaday, in the foreword to this book as “thought, perception, and imagination personified.”

Critical praise for Robert Emmons


N. Scott Momaday (Pulitzer Prize-winner): “We come to trust his vision, his sense of the world. The invitation is to wonder, to delight, to solace, to discovery, to the sacred within us. We accept, and we are enriched in acceptance….We are at ease in the presence of these things.”

William Murphy, Los Angeles Times (for Other Places, Other Times): Dr. Emmons is a management consultant by profession, holding degrees from three universities in economics, law , and business administration. These are hardly the qualifications you’d expect to find in the background of a talented poet. And this he is, as the reader will discover upon reading this collection. A gem of a book…”

Robert Emmons, shown with son Ryan, not only is a noted poet, he has been a New York Stock Exchange CEO, an international consultant, a university professor, and an entrepreneur. He also has received numerous honors for his philanthropy and community service, including the Herbert Hoover Humanitarian Award, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Wright Ludington Lifetime Achievement Award, and the City of Hope Community Leader Award. An avid art enthusiast and collector, Dr. Emmons lives with his wife, Christine, and Ryan in Santa Barbara.

 

The painting by Corot is one of twelve beautiful full-color reproductions in this volume. Corot worked out of doors in the outskirts of Paris for several years and eventually set off for a visit to Italy, an experience considered essential to the formation of 19th century artists. His 1838 trip to Naples and visits to the southern coastal towns results in sketches rendered with a new confidence born of careful practice. Among them is this spontaneous yet skillful study of monks under a vine-draped pergola at the Capuchin monastery in Amalfi.

Amalfi – La Pergola de Moines
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, 1796-1875