Spaces In Between is a collection of poems which covers the span of poetry-writing years of Gil Saenz all the way from the first published poems of 1985 to the present. The subjects cover such themes as: love, romance, fantasy, dreams, beauty, nature, spirituality, philosophy and notions about time. The style of the poems is varied and in this way, one particular style never prevails too long. Some poems rhyme while others are unrhymed and still others are prose-like in their style. You can agree, disagree or just feel neutral but each poem captures the attention, or stirs the imagination of the reader in one way or another. There is something to suit everyone's taste. Poetry-lovers and aficionados will be delighted with this collection of poems for the sheer variety of themes and subjects. It is romantic, nostalgic, entertaining and enlightening at different times and in different ways.The title, Spaces In Between, as may be seen in the title poem refers to all those idle moments that are spent by most of us as we wait somewhere for something. Sometimes, we're waiting for a bus, or waiting for a plane, or waiting in the supermarket check-out line, or waiting in a doctor's office. To become aware that we have so much idle time to think, imagine or wonder about things is one of the main ideas that Saenz is trying to put across. Thoughts, especially unconscious thoughts, whether good or bad many times determine our behavior. The more we are aware of this, the more we can be less automatic and more selective about what we are thinking. A lot of the poems here involve experiences and incidents which are only a few moments or 'spaces in between.'
Gil Saenz was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He recently retired from the Internal Revenue Service in 2004 where he had been employed as an Information Technology specialist at the IRS Detroit Computing Center.
In the early part of his life attended grade school at Holy Trinity and Douglas Houghton elementary schools which were both located in Corktown, a section of downtown Detroit located on the near West side of town. Later, he attended and graduated in 1959 from Western High School also on the southwest side of Detroit.
He then served a four year term in the U.S. Air Force and was stationed mainly at Minot Air Force base in North Dakota. He worked as a Personnel Specialist and did a four month temporary duty tour in 1963 at the Ramstein Air Base, near Frankfurt, Germany.
In 1968 Gil graduated from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan with a B.A. and English Literature major. Afterwards, he was employed with U.S. State Department in the Foreign Service as a U.S. Diplomatic courier from 4-69 to 10-70.
Writing poetry and writing in general have become one of his favorite pastimes and interests.
