Ted Becker has led many lives: Class clown of his high school. Sports editor of his college newspaper. Consumer researcher for a large Madison Avenue advertising agency. Member of the legal staff for the Attorney General of New Jersey. Military intelligence. Professional graduate student. Itinerant academic. Guerilla theatre producer. Boogyboarder and bodysurfer. Mediator. Ex-husband (twice). Online journal editor. Author of 12 books on law, politics and political science.

But what about poetry? Well, it’s been dormant for most of his life. But there were two previous eruptions. One came in Paris in 1964. The other in Laguna Beach, California in 1969. The third, this haiku stage, is the longest and most serious. It seems to come in waves and intensify.

There will be great glee

when the white hot lava flow

steams into the sea.