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Leonard Roller
TOPIC-
From ancient Greece to the 21st
unlock the mystery and beauty of the cosmos in verse. In his charming new collection,
DARKLIGHT, Leonard H. Roller, one of those poetic seekers, leavens his fascination with the
cosmos and love of writing poetry with a gentle humor that will leave readers chuckling while
they ponder the great celestial questions and What It All Means.
In the 77 poems in DARKLIGHT, Roller employs a range of poetic styles – from classical
sonnets to free verse – to present his unique vision of such astronomical concepts as black holes,
dark energy, the “Big Bang” theory, white dwarf stars , multiverses, the possible beginning and
end of our universe and the existence of God.
Readers need not be well-versed in such subjects – or in poetry itself – to enjoy Roller’s
poems. His writing is user-friendly and will appeal to those who love poetry, are intrigued
by cosmology, as well as those looking for something different, a touch of profundity, but
refreshingly free of pretense and confusing obscurity. Roller’s ideas and writing style go down
easily. Simply put, the poems in DARKLIGHT are fun.
Roller holds advanced degrees in journalism and literature, is well-read in physics and
astronomy. His love affair with the heavens began as a “star struck” boy peering into the
night sky through a telescope given to him as a birthday gift. Though infatuated with poetry
throughout his life, he began to take writing poetry seriously after reading a book by actor
Stephen Fry titled “The Ode Less Traveled,” a manual on poetic style and form.
century, poets have gazed at the heavens, trying to
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DARKLIGHT – 2
“I discovered that I really wanted to write poems,” Roller says. Astronomy and things celestial
became natural subjects for him. In time, he started to send his work to literary magazines, where
many of his poems were published.
Roller’s poetry reflects his darkly humorous view of the universe. “It has both a light side and a
dark side. I don’t know what God had in mind, but it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that
He made the world – and us — tongue-in-cheek, a cosmic cocktail of tears and laughter.”
The imagery of Roller’s poems is striking and amusing. A black hole is likened to a gobbling
troll, a quasar to a wedding feast, the death of stars to the fading of a movie queen:
As time and celestial taste go by,
They are no longer stellar queens.
Whether with a shriek or a sigh,
They leave the screen.
Roller hopes his poems will encourage readers to think a little about where we came from and
where we’re going, “…about what we’re doing here and why.”
About the Author
Leonard H. Roller was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He holds a BA degree in journalism
from New York University, an MA in comparative literature from Columbia University. He has
worked as an actor and public relations executive whose clients included such stars as Audrey
Hepburn, Kirk Douglas, Joan Crawford, Paul Newman, and others. He’s been a communications
consultant for Lockheed, Mattel, and Hilton Hotels and Resorts. He has served as a French
translator for the U. S. Army in France, where he spent leave time climbing in the Alps. The
author of a communications training text The Profits of Persuasion (International Resources,
1986), his poems have been published in The Lyric, Pearl, The Storyteller, Deronda Review,
Ancient Paths, Snowy Egret, Space and Time Magazine, Thema, California Quarterly, and many
others. See author’s web site at www.leonardhroller.com for more information.
Date Recorded: 3/12/2014
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