Well Versed

Out of Shakespeare’s Dream!

“Making the heaven of heavens your dwelling-place,…”

With these words, poet and actor Abdiel LeRoy hails his belovèd Shakespeare and sets the stage for his characters to appear.

His lines have echoed in BBC broadcasts from famed actors such as Kenneth Branagh, Mark Rylance, and Judi Dench. His sonnets have appeared in newspapers, literary magazines, and publicity for New York’s Lincoln Center. And his verses were commissioned for performance at London’s Pentonville Prison.

“O eye of God,/ Our myriad-minded Shakespeare,…”

But in this collection spanning two decades, LeRoy finds room to praise other poets too, among them Auden, Blake, Dante, and especially John Milton, whose Paradise Lost has inspired his own works of epic poetry.

Finally, LeRoy takes us on a whirlwind ride through the performing arts of four continents, witnessing in spellbound wonder as dancers channel harpies in Beijing, then tumbling to infernal depths with Tango musicians in Buenos Aires.

You won’t find a living poet today more steeped in the minstrel’s tradition, weaving mayhem and mystery, magic and myth, all in verses worthy of the Bard himself!