YES, ALEXANDER? - Bennett Thomas Peter

Thomas Peter Bennett is a Florida native, former professor and natural history museum executive, he has published scientific articles and books, as well as poems and collections. his poems have appeared in, Red Owl, Chebacco, POETALK, The Café Review, Puckerbrush Review, Pegasus Review, and Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, among others, and in various anthologies, such as Goose River Anthology, Cosmos Club Poets Through the Years, and Bay Area Poets Coalition. He is the author of several poetry chapbooks and ten poetry books, including Nature, As One Sees It (2003), A Celebration of John and William Bartram: In Philadelphia and Florida (2005), Hike On (2008), Encore Seasons (2017, Florida Sketches ( 2019), The Applause of Science (2021 and Audubon Explores Florida (2023).

His son, Dr. Alexander Staub Bennett is Research Professor and Director, Opioid Overdose Prevention Program at New York University, School of Global Public Health. Recipient 2018, New York City Department of Health, "Lifesaver Award." The author of many historical and scientific articles about drug addiction and harm reduction, he is a leader in establishing harm reduction centers. The poems in Yes, Alexander were written, based on father son conversations, over a period of some fifty years to create this book of poetry.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Alexander, Alex or Al, depending on time and circumstance, was the source of these life poems.

I thank him for his words, thoughts, and permission to publish them in this collection of dialog poems, of my response, "Yes, Alexander?" to his thoughtful questions or comments over time. And to his mother, my wife over these many wonderful years.

Thanks also to Deborah Benner for her editorial guidance and publishing several of these poems in Goose River Anthologies.

Thomas Peter Bennett

Silver Spring, Maryland, 2024