Into Light is M. D. Friedman's first full-length poetry book and reflects the experiences, observations, dreams and epiphanies of a lifetime. It speaks quietly about the calling of the heart and loudly about injustices of the world. Eclectic in style and content, this collection, connects both the inner and outer realities of a life well lived.
You can purchase the print and e-book versions available at Liquid Light PressLulu Bookstore, or any other book distributor. It is also available as auidobooks (as Volume One, Volume Two & Volume Three) at all audiobook outlets, and as albums on all music streaming services (except for Spotify).
Mad Dog Friedman's BandCamp page is the exclusive home for enjoying everythingInto Light, (https://maddogfriedman.bandcamp.com/album/into-light-the-poems-of-m-d-friedman). This is the only single place you can listen to ALL 67 of the audio poems from M. D. Friedman's INTO LIGHT poetry book as well as read all the text, and watch all associated "digital poem" videos for free without annoying advertisements. If you decide to purchase unlimited download and streaming access, not only are supporting new media poetry, you will also be able to download to all BONUS ITEMS including the "musical" version of "Two as One" from Mad Dog Friedman's WORD album, the image files for the front and back cover of the print edition, and both the pdf and epub versions of the e-book. It is the the best place online to enjoy the entire INTO LIGHT multimedia collection.
These poems are the masterwork of a different kind of man than most men I’ve known in my 73 years. He is, as we used to say, "his own man." More than a disciple of some orthodox poetry "church," you'll meet a mindful, funny, wise and compassionate person in these texts, unafraid to speak honestly and vulnerably. From Li Po to Robert Johnson, memory care to contemporary politics, grieving lament to defiant slam, MD lays it all out about as clearly as a poet can while leaving enough tantalizing mystery to feed the reader's soul for days on end. He really believes "It is a miracle to be alive."! His poems encourage me to believe it, too!!
~ wayne a. gilbert, poet and Colorado Governor's Creative Leadership Award winner
This long anticipated poetry collection opens like a portal that will rainbow a monochrome world. Reminiscent of Rumi and Hafiz, you will taste the landscape with your tongue, unable to separate your own inner body from the mountains and sky you inhabit, “not the waterfall, but the water falling,” ... “no longer sculpted by gravity.” A love poem to life herself, you will want to take your time, savoring each languid line. “I am taken by how much I need this.”!
~ Valerie A Szarek, poet, musician, Spiritual teacher and Colorado Authors League award winner
You know when you begin to read his manuscript spanning decades of his life, that M.D. Friedman is a poet and musician who captures the light then casts it over the pages - perhaps not always reaching the darkest corners, but illuminating a more remarkable life for all its vicissitudes. Whether the rhythm be felt in the exacting nature of one’s mind, or in a Colorado forest, this collection of poems will take you there then back again, where you will perhaps remember standing still, “deep into the mouth of fog”. You will know as you read on, there is hope the fog will lift, for the light to return, or perhaps experience acceptance of those affecting moments in which M. D.’s luminous words resonate: “I wish I could take you. Here in the middle/of nowhere, there is so much to share./The silence shatters into light.// It is a miracle just to be alive.”
~ Lynn Kincanon, Poet Laureate of Loveland, Colorado
WORD by Mad Dog Friedman features musical
compositions based on M. D. Friedman’s poetry and
includes musical versions of seven of the poems from M. D. Friedman’s most recent poetry book, Into Light.
Here is a video of M. D. Friedman performing two poems from Into Light ("A Good Dog" and "Cruel Surgery") at the R Gallery in Boulder, Colorado, on January 24, 2023.
Here's one of the pieces from my set as a featured poet at the 3rd Annual Karen Chamberlain Poetry Festival on March 30th, 2013. I want to thank all my friends at the Bouldering Poets, Slam Nuba and Freedom of Speech poetry readings for all their support and inspiring me to write and perform this piece. I am talking to you. This is what my good friend, the master jazz Sufi poet, Wayne Gilbert, had to say about this poem when I sent it to him: Omigod old man i wanna be in the audience when you preach this sermon. i love the "half" stretch esp. wanted to shout "amen" holler "you tell it brothuh" collapse in the aisle speaking in affirmative tongues. i feel your words your chant rant pour out of my own body my own heart mind desire. you tapped a root in this one! i wanna be there when you shake it down at some open mic tell 'em all how it is!
You may want to send this pdf version of "Three Poems of Healing & Transcendence" to help a friend with their grief. (This pdf sampler features the poems "A Good Dog," "Bedside Manner" and "The Last Time He Opened His Eyes" ).
I am proud to have been selected as one of the first featured poets on VerseWrights, a new up and coming poetry sharing community.
The Kill (A "2-D " or2 directional poem by M. D. Friedman with M. D. Friedman reading the poem down the columns and Mariamne Engle Friedman reading the same poem across the rows. Sound art also by M. D. Friedman.)
My work has appeared in numerous small press publications and online magazines including the Improv Magazine, Hiss Quarterly , Wired Art from Wired Hearts, Kookamonga Square, Job's Turkey, Arcade, The Green Horse and The Dry Creek Review.
Please help keep poetry alive by supporting live poetry!
Older Poetry Books by M. D. Friedman
"Where We Reach is passionate, well-crafted, and deeply insightful poetry. [ M. D.'s] control of sound and language is excellent. … a particularly unique, very powerful voice and set of insights as well: …[His] understanding of the cross-connection of the arts, and … ability to read artists of other genres, is both extraordinary and very, very moving." -- Jared Smith
Click on the book cover to view a full free pdf preview version of each book.
Digital Poetry by M. D. Friedman, A New Genre of Poetics
“The Word" (2007) is the first digital poem I ever created. It's the dada fusion of all my creative pursuits at once. It represents a new genre of poetics, fusing my experimental sound art, digital art, photography and animation with original spoken word poetry. This piece deals in a humorous way with the difficulty of expressing transformational experience in written language.
Original poetry, sound art, visual art, photography, and animation by M. D. Friedman highlight this ground breaking video short.
This work showcases a growing mastery of M. D.'s combined talents to produce experimental, experiential, electronic literature fusing several multimedia elements into a new genre of poetics. Featuring state of the art 3D animation, "Know Where to Go Crazy" (2009) is a two voice poem with the second voice heard animated into the viewer's head.
"Forever Trespass” (2007) is a digital poem exploring the question, "Does the poem own the poet or the poet own poem?" The sound art for this piece was constructed from the 2D (2 directional) poem, "Forever Trespass". The "normal" voice is reading the poem vertically (down the columns) and the "harmonized" voice is reading the same poem horizontally (across the rows). The video was made by animating my photographs and digital art and integrating it with the original sound art.
"The Kill" was M. D. Friedman's
first 2D (2 directional) poem
composed in the Spring of 2007. M. D. Friedman is reading
the poem vertically
(down the columns) & Mariamne Engle Friedman is
reading the same poem
horizontally (across the rows). A live performance of this poem was recorded in April of 2008. It was then enhanced with original sound art, animation, and visual art to produce this experimental poetry video in the Fall of 2010.
Never Ask a Poet Directions is a digital poem (video) that resulted from a collaboration between M. D. Friedman and SUB(liminal) Space Research Group. The poetry, sound art and video were created by M. D. Friedman. The choreography was created by SUB(liminal) Space Research Group and performed by dancers, Caitlin M. Gill and Kim Cunningham in conjunction with Boulder Fringe Festival's 2011 Poetry in Motion Project. Caitlin M. Gill's and Kim Cunningham's performance of their artistic response to M. D. Friedman's "Never Ask a Poet Directions" poem was videotaped August 13, 2011 by M. D. Friedman as part of the Poetry in Motion Project event. The video was edited and original sound art for the piece was created by M. D. Friedman in December of 2010 and January of 2012. The text only version of "Never Ask a Poet Directions" was first published by Liquid Light Press as part of M. D. Friedman's Leaning Toward Whole chapbook released in June of 2011.