galen warden

A musician who can no longer play a tune, and often can’t even listen to a note, James Strazza can still write a poem. In the first half of Unsung, his poetry eloquently expresses the unvarnished horror of being trapped in his bed since 2019. In the second half, he shamelessly shares romantic memories and imaginings that have gotten him through years of endless days and nights without any companion but his mother.

This is James’s second book. He wrote his first book soon after becoming unable to leave his bed or make any music due to a severe neurological condition: myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). Lyrical: Poems that will blow you a kiss or punch you in the stomach, was published in October of 2020, just three months after he wrote his first poem. Poetry came naturally to him after years as a songwriter and musician.

An unpredictable disease, without sufficient research funding, his ME improved for several years and James was able to create music on his computer and sing into his best vocal microphone, without leaving his bed. When those abilities left him again in 2024, he immediately turned back to poetry with renewed determination to create in any form he could.

Unsung, Poems Written in the Dark, reveals a deeper level of self-awareness and greatly improved poetic skill. If his first book was an introduction to the world of poetry, Unsung is proof that he has grasped and mastered the words he needs to share his dark world with the rest of us.