Lost Songs of the Withlacoochee
Lost Songs of the Withlacoochee traces the emotional arc of a great love through memory, longing, and reflection. Moving fluidly between past and present, the poems revisit moments of tenderness, joy, and quiet heartbreak, weaving them into a lyrical meditation on what it means to love deeply. The voice is intimate and confessional, allowing you to step inside a relationship that still feels vividly alive through its language.
As the poems progress, Frederick Kirwin reveals how love leaves its mark long after it has shifted or changed. His poetry explores how memory, grief, and gratitude can exist side by side, shaping the way we carry our past into the present. Rather than offering easy answers, Lost Songs of the Withlacoochee draws the reader forward with its emotional honesty and haunting beauty, inviting curiosity about where this journey of love and remembrance will ultimately lead.
About the Author
Frederick Kirwin graduated from Florida State University with a BA in History and International Affairs and an MA in Government. He passed the preliminary examinations for the PhD program in Government, received a teaching fellowship, and co-authored a scholarly article with Richard Gray, PhD, titled “Presidential Succession in Chile: 1817– 1966,” published in the Journal of Inter-American Studies (January 1969). He later withdrew from the program to accept a Shubert Fellowship in Theatre, earning an MFA in Playwriting.
His published works include Lost Songs of the Withlacoochee (poetry), Confessions of a Drowning Man (an epic poem), Songs Of the Garden of Delights (poetry), Body Carnal (poetry), Body Sacred (poetry), Talking About Diana's Death (a non-puff parody), Billy and Dakota (a BL love story), Dog Bites Man (a thriller), Past Love, Praise, Indifference, Blame (a play).
Production of his plays includes Billy (Playwrights Horizons, NYC); Swan Dive (Playwrights Horizons, NYC); Dog Bites Man (Marlborough Theatre, Brighton, UK, and later at the Rock Theatre, Brighton, U.K.); The Lottery (Tristan Bates Theatre, Covent Garden, London, UK, and later at Fox Theatre, London, UK); Talking about Diana (King's Head Theatre, London, UK, and later at the Camden People's Theatre, London, UK).
Kirwin is the recipient of The Dramatists Guild Fund Award and five Edward Albee Foundation Fellowships, and he served as Playwright-in-Residence at the North Carolina School of the Arts. His screenplay for the film, Dog Bites Man, received ten Best Script Awards.
