LOVE | EVOLVING
This book, written over 25 years, tells the history of a romance. It describes beginnings, the yearning, the hesitancy, the first kiss. For awhile their pasts return, overwhelming the nascent buds of their love, bringing the pain of separation and doubt. But patience brings blossoming, as in a poem about March that starts softly with the wind and a whisper and grows into a love scene any lover will understand. The poems describe how to keep passion alive through the many phases of love and marriage, body and soul, from the utter joy of newlyweds to the comfort of lovers’ routines, savored and treasured.
Dr. Michel Small
Born in France, the eldest of five children, and raised in San Francisco, his home a five-minute walk from the Pacific Ocean and from Golden Gate Park, Michel Small graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a major in English Literature and a minor in French. From there he attended the University of Bu&alo, graduating with an M.A. and Ph. D. in English. He taught for ten years at Behrend College of The Pennsylvania State University and then moved to Redding, California to teach at Shasta College, retiring in May of 2023.
As an undergraduate Michel was named to the All-American fencing team and twice was
named outstanding fencer in the Western Conference. He won Teacher of the Year awards at
Behrend and Shasta College. He has published on Nathaniel Hawthorne and D. H.
Lawrence early in his career, and then switched to writing poetry. He has published poems in
several journals and was the featured poet in Porolio North, a collection of works from
Northern California authors. He often speaks as an invited poet and at open mics in the Redding area. He has just published a collection of his love poems, Love/Evolving, and is working on another collection. Michel is married to Shelliey Divine and had four children by his first marriage (a son died in a mountain climbing accident) and has another daughter with Shelliey. He often visits his brother, three sisters, children, and nine grandchildren. Besides reading and writing, his hobbies are long hikes and playing tennis.
