I put together a book of my poetry featuring writing from the 1980s to the present. It is available for $20. From the introduction:

I chose Abraxas as the title for my book in reference to the book Demian by Hermann Hesse. In that book, Abraxas is referred to as a god that is both good and evil. All human beings have some of both in us. One usually overcomes the other, and which one wins the battle depends on a person's true mentality. My poems discuss the states of both hope and despair.

Some of my favorite poets are e. e. cummings, Jim Morrison, Charles Bukowski, Henry Rollins, June Jordan, and Mary Oliver. You can see their influence in my words. My love of poetry began when I was 18 and read Jim Morrison’s The Lords and the New Creatures, which was followed by Wilderness. After seeing the movie Hannah and Her Sisters by Woody Allen, I fell in love with what was to become my all-time favorite poem, “Somewhere I have never traveled, gladly beyond” by e.e. cummings.

I have been greatly influenced by the work of Bukowski. People either love or hate his poetry. I can relate to the grittiness and his unapologetic way of getting down in the dirt. Life isn't pretty sometimes.

I am most motivated to write by emotional pain. I have a Dark Passenger who is always with me. My Dark Passenger is my mental illness. My writings can lean to the dark side, but writing about my pain helps decrease its power. The more I fear it and try to avoid it, it grows stronger. And then I become more vulnerable to it.

Whether you like my work or not, I hope that it makes you think, and perhaps gives you some insight into mental illness, as most people are touched by it from someone they know.

I sign my poems “NoExit.cjh.[year]” as a nod to my friend Todd Scovill, a brilliant writer who went by the street name “Exit” and died of a drug overdose in 2008.