Foreword:

"These Words: Collected Shades of Meaning," was a collaborative effort between me and my brother, Kai Wolfram - he the contributing artist, and me the poet.

Over the years, I have much admired my late brother's artistic abilities, as evidenced by my homage to him in my poem, "The Master," that can be found within this collection.

Written in the late 1980s, these poems helped me deal with pent-up, late teenage angst and those creative cravings that demanded a release; I was in university at the time. Originally produced in a limited, unpublished run of ten books, in December 1987, it never occurred to me to publish the collection to a wider audience - until now.

I lost my brother in August 2018, and I thought that one way of honouring his memory is to re-issue this collection in published form. In addition to the collection's original three pieces of art, I have added some additional pieces that are in my possession, and which he finished a few years later. I have also appended my September 2018 eulogy to my brother, and some photos at the end of this collection.

In addition to this, a very close and dear friend of Kai's, Mr. Paul R. James, has brought out a coffee table style book which contains the complete body of artwork created by Kai over his lifetime. This will finally allow the public to view what Kai so stubbornly wanted to keep hidden because of his insecurities, and they will then see for themselves, the amazing talent that my brother once exhibited.

As to these poems, when you read them you are reading the words of a much younger man, with a younger man's issues, and I am no longer that man. I have written and published some poetry since my university years in anthologies such as "Word Fest," and "Canadian Imprints," however, new writing projects beckon that will take my attention away from creating new poetry. Please be kind to the younger man who composed these poems (I certainly have to!), and please note, that outside of a few tweaks here and there, they are largely as they were when first composed way back in the 1980s - warts and all!

I hope you enjoy this small taste of my brother's art. He worked in a variety of artistic mediums, and was very good at all of them. It is a double tragedy that he refused to allow his art to be shown to a wider audience, and then, died before he ever achieved the recognition he so rightly deserved.

Hans Victor von Maltzahn

Mississauga, ON, Canada, 2019/2026.