In the right circumstances, writing is a lifeline-the only defense against an inner world where uncertainty and depression reign.

Dylan Wolfram understands this better than most. Alone and suffering from severe depression, Wolfram saw his internal conflicts mirrored in his Athenian home's continuing social and economic unrest. To survive, he wrote, and in writing, found some measure of solace.

Lethal Hands depicts Wolfram's personal journey, where depression colors every aspect of his life. His atmospheric poems conjure a small room in Athens, Greece, where cigarette butts litter the floor, empty bottles line the windowsill, and a poet fights to transfer his inner despair into the written word.

Although the world Wolfram conjures is dark and gloomy, it is not without hope, appearing unbidden, yet welcomed when needed most. Lethal Hands offers poetry that resonates precisely because hope is so fleeting-and the issues Wolfram faces so universal.

Drink the gin. Inhale the odor of stale cigarette smoke. Contemplate those moments-common in many a life-when the sheer burden of living seems unbearable. And, at the end, throw open the window and welcome the sunlight, even as it highlights the last wafts of despair and pain.