By Rich Mancuso
BRONX, NEW YORK, March 2- Author and poet Lucian A. Sperta-Nunez started to write when he was younger. The soon to be 50-year old, and resident of Pelham Bay lost interest in what he was writing because there was that insecurity. Now, 15 years later, a copulation of his poems and works are being published at a rapid pace.
He has published 10 books in less than a year, mostly on Amazon and available on digital, Kindle and paper back. Authors and writers are accustomed to seeing their works culminate with a best seller listing with the New York Times. However, in this era of technology, Sperta is adjusting to getting noticed as a top 100- seller on Amazon.
“I can’t sleep at night,” says the mild mannered author. “I turn off the light, have the pen and pad near me, write, click and save.” With minimal sleep, he prepares, and boards the nearby 6 train on Buhre Avenue at 4am. Then he resumes and writes, on the journey to work as a fulltime care coordinator for the New York Institute of Community Living in East New York.
The job can be a mental challenge. Sperta tends to those addicted with substance abuse, alcohol, and the abused. The day is a challenge and the reward and outlet comes with his writing about topics from past and current experience. Like any writer, the biggest challenge is constant proofreading and frustration when a common typo is missed.
Two of his most recent works, “Fahishah” and “Al-Fitan” are on that Amazon list. The latter is a compilation of Sperta’s poetry of the last year. There are poems in both works that relate to experiences of overcoming addiction and abuse as a child.
Many compilations have appeared in magazines, paper back, and sold in Barnes and Nobles book stores.
Yes, writing to this author is indeed an outlet that is getting noticed. The events and experiences that in his words were, “The angry little kid that was in treatment made me, write poems.” Twice, “Yesterdays Rain” hit the Amazon Top 100, and that was also an accomplishment and unexpected.
“Reviewing these books,” he says, “I never thought it would reach the top 100. I was playing around on my computer, came across Amazon and said ‘Oh my God, my book is there.’” Wars and current event themes are about living his adult life, whereas the ranting and raving come from experiences as an abused child and being “That angry little kid that was in treatment.”
Creativity does play a role in the words and the rapid pace of getting his works published. However, those experiences, more so the present, are quickly putting this author on the map. Currently, Sperta has another work almost complete and he writes frequently about his pet cat, “Pepper.”
He writes about a pigeon in “Fahishah.” The titles of works are unique. “I wanted to get titles that were not common but related to what the book is about,” he says. While some look at pigeons as a nuisance, on his way to work Sperta noticed something that inspired the poem, “Don’t watch Over Me.”
“One flew and another was grieving. One did not leave the other from his side and I wrote a poem and took pictures and was inspired. Maybe it triggered my history of childhood loss. A pigeon was dead talking to a pigeon that was alive. That is how the poem is written.”
One of his favorite recording artists, the late Donna Summer and her song, “MacArthur Park” is based on a poem in “Al-Fitan.” He uses the title of the song in some of the stanzas.
“With my life story going through it,” he says. “It talks about how I was abused. It is a long poem but so deep to write. It brought back to my teenage years of drugs, alcohol and sex and one of those things that was more hard core.”
Yet, writing from experience has become an outlet. “The internet was overwhelmed and I did not have the mindset,” says Sperta. “It was too much and too complicated. and I think now, because I am older and more settled and recovered.”
That partly explains finishing one work and moving on to the next after facing reality that writing was his call to ease the pressure and pain. It has become a second job, more than a hobby and this quiet and reserved author does not seem concerned about the financial reciprocation.
Writing and getting sold on the internet can be an arduous process and getting paid takes time.
“Even if I come up with ten poems, I am going to publish it,” comments Sperta. “Its’ 12:48AM, I got up and a title just came to my head called, “Weeping Willow.” Sometimes I allow the poems to lose themselves. I already wrote two of them. It’s a tree that appears to be sad and glorious at the same time.”
He says, “Sadness like that came to me like, “Boom”….describes where I am, this person who is weeping but strong at the same time.” Sperta continues to work on the 13th chapter of memoirs that describe fear and trembling. And still to be complete, “Missing Time on the 6 Line” that is more than poetry, rather his persona and experiences in the home and on the outside.
“I didn’t want people to see me just as a poet who was going through these trials and tribulations. I wanted people to see my other side. “And of course, Sperta continues to write about “Pepper.”
The writer born in East Harlem can be reached at his web site: http://lsperta.wix.com/alazim or lsperta@optimum.net or on Facebook author and Poet Lucian A. Sperta-Nunez.
Email Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com
