Antonio Cassone

Ramblings from the Ragged Edge Antonio Cassone

Publisher Marketing: In their sixth publication (third volume of poetry), Antonio Cassone brings a collection of edgy material, written mostly at darker times in the author's life. The book is in three parts, the first of which is "Poetry" that runs the gamut of emotions; passion, newfound love and the loss of it, mostly from a special friendship with a seemingly younger man - or a few chosen "others" and all that goes along with it. Addiction, smoking, suicidal thoughts, depression, sexual frustration, gay bashing, bullying, discrimination, robbery and war are also explored in this work. The second part is "Realization, Acceptance & Healing Epiphanies," which is more poetry about finding love can sometimes hurt, hanging onto it and letting go - all the while allowing one's spiritual side to see them through. Finally, the collection closes out with "Prose" primarily a 'best of' from the author's blog. This includes hard hitting social commentary on breaking news and outrage over yet another senseless murder; tributes to passed on celebrities and icons including Senator Edward Kennedy, singer Loleatta Holloway, Aaliyah and movie icon Elizabeth Taylor; perspective on President Barack Obama's 2009 Nobel Peace Prize and a heart-wrenching open letter to the author's mother on what would have been her 69th birthday. As is custom with Cassone's previous works, they seek answers to life's trials and tribulations by looking within and sharing with the reader the most personal of feelings to help us all grow and evolve, to rise above from the murky - in the hopes of learning and seeing the light. Contributor Bio:  Cassone, Antonio ANTONIO CASSONE is an accomplished, best-selling author with twelve books to his credit, including A CELEBRATED LOVE: THE MARRIAGE EQUALITY POEM AND OTHER POEMS FOR LOVE, LUST, PURPOSE & PRIDE (2013); THE WARMTH OF CHRISTMAS - PHOTOGRAPHY BY CASSONE, VOLUME 1 (2013); HOW TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS WHEN THE WORLD DOESN'T STOP SPINNING (2013), OPENING THE NAKED WINDOW (2008), book two of their memoir series and THE NAKED WINDOW: EXPOSED/REVELATIONS (2009), books three and four of the memoir series were released as a combo through Create Space, along with BLUE SKY: ... WRITINGS FOR STEVEN AND OTHER PEOPLE I HAVE LOVED FOR SO LONG (2010), a third volume of poetry (with some prose) RAMBLINGS FROM THE RAGGED EDGE (2013), DIVA/CASSONE: A COLLECTION OF POETRY - THE RECONSTRUCTION EDITION (2013), LOOKING THROUGH THE NAKED WINDOW: THE RESTORATION CHRONICLES (2013), which is a re-issue of the first installment of the memoir series with a tighter edit and a bit of new material and ELOQUENT VERSIFICATIONS: POEMS MY FATHER LEFT ME (2013), a collaboration with his late father, Robert "Rocky" Cassone showcasing his dad's poetic works. CASSONE has over 150 poems published on various poetry websites and has been honored numerous times for his works by The International Society of Poets, Famous Poets, The International Library of Poetry and The Iliad Press. ANTONIO CASSONE, originally from Detroit, is also a photographer and entertainer with a career enriched with many diverse projects since 1988. He has produced, performed, written and co-directed two major, award-winning plays; the semi-autobiographical "The Ashley Correspondence" in 1993 and "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" in 1995 at 1515 Broadway in Detroit's theatre district. Cassone produced/performed/directed eight "Extravaganza's" in the 90s, which were fashion/variety shows and several spoken-word recordings including "Diva/Cassone," his first poetry cd. He currently resides in South Florida and is penning the rest of his memoirs NAKED WINDOW book series, another poetry collection and has a variety of spoken word and video projects in the works. He also started the Cassone2007 channel on YouTube with the 'web reality series' GETTING READY (which features a behind the scenes look at Cassone's female impersonation career and other facets of the multi-faceted artist's life), which is now in its 20th season and you can also find select spoken word recordings and select slideshows of Photography by Cassone.