PROFESSOR IS AUTHOR OF POETRY BOOK

"Human Weather," a collection of poems by Ted Hirschfield, separates the passions and contradictions of life into four phases: time and place, love, philosophy and religion.

Each theme interconnects within a web of paradox.

"The reader will be aware as to what life is and what life should be," Hirschfield said.

A professor of English at Southeast Missouri State University, Hirschfield will introduce his book to the public Nov. 14. An autograph party will be held in the University Center Party Room.

Hirschfield will recite excerpts from his book at 7 p.m. A reception will follow.

"Most of these poems show an awareness of a deep contradiction. It also encompasses the changes of human existence, much as the changes in weather," he said.

His book charts 30 years of poetry, which he refers to as a "gift in-kind to America."

"When I was 10 years old, I moved to this country from Germany. Even though I did not know the language, this country took me in. Ten years later I was teaching English to native Americans at a university level. This book represents those experiences ... to enrich them and ennoble them," he said.

The paradox of his life begins underneath the section heading, "And Catch Us Newly Unaware," where time becomes a study of contrast and place evokes feelings of sacredness.

For example, in his poem "Reburial," the two concepts are intertwined. When an archaeologist peers into an ancient grave, time becomes meaningless.

The elements in the grave reveal that the death was sudden and violent. After he turns the skull upward and to the east, he repacks the dirt around the remains.

"The poems hold a sense of surprise and displacement ... that one can be startled by time and become caught up in it," he said.

The intensity takes on a more joyous tone in the section "Nodding Eagerly to You". Most of these poems extol Hirschfield's love toward his wife and his daughter, he said.

Yet, an ominous presence between the lines is rekindled in the section, "And All the Trees Looked Crucified." Topics on guilt, friendship, old age and youth share equal column space.

The final section, "Bitter Sacramental," contains just one poem, which examines the effectiveness of organized religion and the promise of idealism. The apex of the book lies within this final section, but the turning point is left up to the reader.