Spiritual and sensual, Tyrannical Angels and Other Love Poems speak to a beloved who is both earthly and divine. Inspired by the mystical poetry of Jelalludin Rumi and John Donne, this collection invites the reader into an intimate space of humor, metaphor and self knowledge. This volume is inspired by a lifetime of reading. The poetry of Donne, Marvell, Shakespeare, Keats, Eliot, Whitman, Dickenson, Kinnell and Rumi have been key influences. Although I have been writing poetry on and off since the age of 10, it was always a private pursuit, shared with friends or the occasional university poetry journal—until now. This collection fulfills a promise to myself (when I thought I had lost these poems to the tyrannical angels of digital hardware) that I publish. They were written (with a few exceptions) within a four-year period and address a Beloved who is both earthly and divine—in the mystical traditions of Jelalludin Rumi and some of the early Christians.