Richard Cole is the author of three books of poetry: "The Glass Children" (The University of Georgia Press), "Success Stories" (Limestone Books), and "Song of the Middle Manager" (Grayson Books). He is also the author of a memoir, "Catholic by Choice" (Loyola Press). His poems and essays have been published in The New Yorker, Poetry, Rattle, Prairie Schooner, Hudson Review, Sun Magazine, The American Journal of Poetry, Image Journal, and a number of anthologies. Honors include an NEA fellowship and a Bush Foundation grant. He earns a living as a business writer in Austin, Texas.

Books by Richard Cole:

Other poems on the web by Richard Cole:
"My Wife Believes in Reincarnation"
Four poems
"A City Is the People You Know There"
"How Much Does Your House Weigh"
"Deepwater Horizon"
"The Silence of God"

Richard Cole's Website.

Richard Cole on Twitter.

About Song of the Middle Manager:

"How in the world of balance sheets, mergers, and slick brochures, does our humanity grow and blossom? These poems of sacrifice and salvation pulled me in with their 'stubborn harmony,' their tendernesses, their conversations with god, their compassion, their ability to find how 'this mortal beauty will save the world.' Song of the Middle Manager is disturbing and utterly beautiful."
—Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

"I admire Richard Cole for his trek across the landscape of the business world. As for his art, count on intelligence, profundity, the heart in sync with the mind. These are generous-spirited poems, giving freely of themselves, always alert, always meeting at places between astute poet and eager reader alike."
—Ken Fontenot

"Richard Cole's wonderful book, Song of the Middle Manager, tackles two difficult subjects—the world of business and the world of the spiritual. His accomplished poems embody the present moment of algorithms, computer terminals linked to server farms, and 'treasures in a museum built with oil.' And Cole's voice—both witty and playful—is full of understanding and great tenderness as he examines the accommodations we all make to exist in the world; as the author says, 'Every unremarkable donut shop/is somebody's act of faith.' ...Song of the Middle Manager is strong work, heartfelt and smart, a book of devotion you can bank on."
—Robert Cording