Just like every story there must be a beginning. The same is true with poetry. “When Dreams Are Murdered”, in essence, is the Genesis of the works of poetry by Mark Cisper. This is to say, it is not the true beginning except for the first six poems; salvaged from other sources after the original 91 pieces he wrote in 1991/92 while still in high school were lost.

The time span in which these pieces were written is from 1991 to May 1993. This you will see is true for the author has included a Chronology at the end of the book; something he believes has never been done before in literature. This Chronology will demonstrate to you he exact date in which a piece was written; and at times will show several were written in a day as well as the gaps in time between pieces. One last note on the Chronology: you will see exactly when he began keeping track of dates.

Let’s begin the journey of the life and works of the Word Art of the Poet by the name of Mark Cisper.