Robert Benefiel

Smoke Outside With The Rest Robert Benefiel

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.