If Not for These Wrinkles of Darkness: Rembrandt van Rijn: A Self-Portrait (White Pine Press Poetry Prize, No. 6,) - Softcover

Seventeenth century Dutch painter Rembrandt's life, known to us almost exclusively through the paintings and tantalisingly thin written documentation, is the stuff of real drama: he survived several plague outbreaks, two wives, and four children. Taking their cue from Rembrandt's work, these lyric poems convey the emotional life of the artist and show him as deeply human: flawed, burdened, sympathetic, and desperately honest about himself and others.

Stephen Frech holds degrees from North-western University, Washington University, and the University of Cincinnati. His book 'Toward Evening and the Day Far Spent', won the 1995 Wick Poetry Chapbook Contest and was published by Kent State University Press. His work has appeared in numerous magazines, including the Georgia Review. He lives in Chicago.