Hellfire Poems

R. J. Austin is a lifelong resident of Haliburton County.
He is perhaps our Poet Laureate. The first poem in this book
should be enshrined in stone on the shores of Head Lake.
R. J. is a maverick writer, combining the wildness of
Robert Service with the temperment of Edger Allen Poe.
Some of the poems convey the sensation of burning
exquistitely on the spit. Other poems have a ghoulishness
to rival Stephan King. Yet other poems are extremely loving
and tender. R. J. is a man of many complexities and the
wild spectrum shows in his poems.

Brian J. Grieveson
Loon Lake
Nov 11/93

cover design based on a painting by William Wilson