VISIONS OF A SKYLARK DRESSED IN BLACK is composed of 2 works of short fiction and 52 poems. It was first written and published as the global community not only came to grips with the reality of the attacks on 9/11 in 2001 but as a number of catastrophes shook humanity to its collective core throughout the first decade of the new century. People during that time on the one hand found themselves often reeling from the manmade horrors of war and terrorism. On the other, they also had to cope with the seemingly increasing fury of nature in the form of hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Yet these external challenges frequently intensified individuals' inner resolve and moved them to confront physical world chaos with a persistent kind of grace and startled integrity.