Works by
Richard David Kennedy
(Writer)

Anthologies

• House Of December (1972, 2006)
  Available from Lulu.com.
  House of December.   Including Selections from Words, And There Are Five Seasons and Interlude Seven magnificent new poems and selections from two previously published collections available only in hard-to-obtain privately printed editions comprise Richard David Kennedy’s House of December. Its author obviously sees “things clearly ...and whole,” to quote E.M. Forster in Howard’s End, and he has also realized Forster’s admitted intention as voiced in the frontispiece of that novel: “To connect…” The poems on physical nature, fleshly and spiritual love, the creative act, and time, all echo Kennedy’s concern with the sanctity of the individual and the presence of the godhead in each and every one. The poet’s technical virtuosity adds further complexity and density to his profound ideas. He makes us see things not only clearly and whole, but differently than before, the mark of an artist of the first rank.

Essays

• Broken Sparrows And Wild Duct Tape (In progress)

Fiction

• The Encuentro (Summer 2008 release)
  The Encuentro isn’t just another novel. A fairy tale in novel form– told as a farce, presented like a play, and executed like a movie, it is indeed “novel” in every way. It is very much as advertised: “A Children’s Story For Adults” – very mature adults; it is also Kennedy as his innovated best, “pulling out all the stops” and turning the medium right on it’s head to make a point, which is his vehicular and artistically stylized expression of his treatise: The Point Of Everything. So, while the subject matter is bawdy, the humor outrageous and the wit nonpareil, it is, to be sure, a deeply profound exposition of the nature and meaning of life at the end of the day. It is, as he has stated, “probably (my) best symphony yet,” and destined to be an instant classic. You will have to look far and wide to find a novel’s author portraying himself in his own book as a “movie director”? The Encuentro is a must read.

• Simon (2006)
  The shock of being diagnosed with a terminal disease- one of the cruelest in medical annals, is made even more confusing and ironic by a fantastic gift that accompanies it...You will laugh. You will cry. And you will enjoy one of the most moving love stories ever written...You will never forget the “man-child”, Simon, with his unparalleled joys and his unimaginable sorrows. And you are sure to be exhilarated by a gripping conclusion.

• The Dunning Of Harley Nesbit (2006)
  What would it be like to wake up one morning under a bridge and not be able to remember who you are, how you got there, and only snippets of your past? This is Harley’s predicament and it’s a mystery he seems incapable of solving on his own…This is where an impish street maven comes in. His name is Dusty, and he’s all too familiar with the besotted Harley, who’s as put off and perplexed as he is intrigued by this queer little man…Things soon change, however, and somehow between the two of them they manage to unravel Harley’s past in a most unorthodox way…Brace yourself, because this is going to be one lurid journey that will shock your socks off! And it all comes to a completely unexpected end! ... Be warned: THIS IS MATURE READING, but if you enjoy a compelling mystery and you have a strong stomach, then proceed at your own risk!

• The Trip (2006)
  Available from Lulu.com.
  A struggling novelist, who edits other writer's copy to make ends meet, goes to an island in the Mid-Atlantic to work on a "serious" book for a travel writer. What happens after that is anything but serious. He encounters an unbelievably bizarre and uproariously funny world of people and events.

Non-fiction

• Psychophysics: The Point Of Everything (In progress)
  A philosophical treatise.

Poetry

• Love & Similar States Of Insanity (Feb. 2008 release)
  To be available from Lulu.com.
  In his own provocative, controversial and inimitable style, Kennedy turns his attention to the convention of verse again for the first time in over three decades. Regarding no subject as “inviolable,” he offers up cogitations of another kind as he thoughtfully explores and expounds on the universal themes of life and love, God and religion and “being alive,” with a particular emphasis on the notion of “sanity”. Underpinning many of his meditations with what he calls Psychophysics, a new school of thought he has created that will be address in full upon the release of his philosophical treatise: Psychophysics: The Point Of Everything, his work also provides us with a new turn of phrase– philosophy in motion. More often than not, he chooses to take the middle ground on certain subjects, preferring instead to make his audience “think” as opposed to alienate or antagonize it. But this is not always the case, and where he takes a stand there can be no doubt where his sentiments lie.

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