Plump Black Crows, Stories and Poems

Plump Black Crows is a collection of five stories and five poems all from gv simoni's early work. The stories explore the sometimes subtle, often brutal interplay between the creations of nature and the constructs of man. The first story, 'The Agnostic,' looks at a young man's first public humiliations that occur at church and at school. The last story, 'Another Day,' recounts the mundane doings and nostalgic memories of an old man 'doing time' on a cold and rainy day . In between, the three remaining stories explore the burgeoning friendship between an old, veteran climber and a young tyro, an infidelity both physical and intellectual that divides two one-time friends, and the self-loathing of a man scarred by war, by family, and by society.

The poems provide a counterpoint to the stories. They are constructed as free verse, but do have a semblance of structure. More word games than poems, simoni blends concrete images with abstract notions to create impressions that tease the intellect and kindle the emotions. While the five stories have a distinct chronology, young to old, the five poems merely offer suggestions of a similar development.