For me, this is a book of attention, both attentive to the world around the poet, the world beyond him, and the inner sea he navigates.

Some of these poems offer a clear vision, the writing so clean, clear-cut, and polished.

In “Blue Ridge Mountains” he writes, “Vermillion fingers stroke the west face/as the sun melts into the horizon/and black falls out of the blue.”

I think the fact that the poet has bipolar disorder lends an added poignancy to the reading of these poems.

In “Rapacious”, he begins, “Funny how the black dog glows/carrying his quarry./ When the game turns,/ He will nip at our heels/ and we will be the hunted,//shooting blanks…”

The book is beautifully produced with eye-catching art accompanying the poems. Some of the artists include Mia, Teresa White, Don Schaeffer, Schar Freeman, Barbara Ruslander and the poet himself.

I think this is a quiet, reflective book to be picked up and read slowly. While reading, step back and l et your inner eye take over.

His poems allow me to enter his unique universe and better understand his vision. In his poem “Flickers,” I find this phrase, “tulle fog fills my brain,” and with just those few words, I am drawn in, captivated.

Dave’s poems run the gamut of the bipolar cycle: from his “black dog” of depression to his expression of joy in his poem “Sweetboy” in which he describes an encounter with a horse he later buys.

The book is a full-color graphic marvel: Dave has carefully selected paintings and photographs and coupled them each in a most unique way to the poems themselves.

I consider myself richer for having experienced this lovely collection and I highly recommend it to all those who love poetry.

Teresa White

My first impression of Dave Ruslander's book, Voices In My Head, grew out of its stunning presentation. Page follows page of artwork and graphics, nestled beneath Dave's poetry, all generously donated by artists who believed in this book from the outset.

Dave Ruslander lives with bipolar illness. He dedicates his book to the artists who contributed and to all people who suffer from various forms of mental illness. While many of his poems speak from his bipolar world, they certainly stand on their own feet poetically, as well. I found them to be moving, well written and a pleasure to read. As a Clinical Psychologist, I worked with individuals with bipolar disorders. In its most extreme form, you can plummet into the deepest depressions then rise to a high that can bring wild spending sprees, pressured speech, sleeplessness, and delusional thinking. Even though medication is available that helps level out these moods, it's by no means a perfect solution and the highs feel like such a relief , initially, that it's difficult to get the motivation go in for further help until the cycle is almost out of control. An extremely challenging illness to live with!

In one of his poems written from the point of view of his illness, I Stepped Back and Blew Out the Candle, Dave writes:

Darkness became my partner
and wrapped itself around me
in a difficult intimacy.

Further on, from Steam Around A Strait Jacket, comes the following excerpt:

Mumbles slip from my lips.
When the prick of a needle
finds my biceps, I will
go to black.

This book is clearly a creation of love and a willingness to bare one's psyche in hopes it will bring understanding and a sense of community to its readers. Read it. Recommend it to your friends. I enjoyed the book immensely.

Pris Campbell, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Published Poet

David Ruslander’s purpose in writing Voices In My Head was to give emotion a language, specifically emotion as magnified by an affective disorder. Each poem stands on its own, but through reading the work as a whole you may be able to see the cycle of bipolarity in a unique way.

In this book, Dave attempts to reach out to the “normal” world from a wild spin of shadow and light; his alternate reality. By means of poetry, he seeks to share the inchoate murmurs of an existence that is inexpressible by any other medium. The book is, then, a passport for a journey into otherness, a travel guide and a dictionary. By the end of the book, you may find your own face mirrored in its pages and you may find the voices in Dave’s head have a word to say to you. That word would be triumph.'

Dave Ruslander, Voices in My Head, DSC Publishing, 2005,

We are approaching a golden age of poetry, partially due to the Internet and partially because of the freedom poets feel they have to experiment with long established poems, producing truly revolutionary poetry. The explosion means, however, there are a great many fine poets who will never receive the attention they deserve. Dave Ruslander may be among those lost in the haystack, but not if I have anything to do with it. Dave is published in the winter 2006 edition of www.mindfirerenew.com.

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Dave Ruslander suffers from Bipolar Disorder, which he has labeled the “black dog”. Voices in My Head allows us not only to get acquainted with Dave and his poetry, but with the disorder. From “Rapacious,” the first poem in the book:

Funny how the black dog glows
carrying his quarry.
When the game turns,
He will nip at our heels
and we will be the hunted.

These are intensely personal poems, which demand we pay attention to Dave’s Voices and teach us about the disorders.

Dave lives in Virginia. His poetry is strong with natural images of the country around him. From “Great Blue Cinquains”:

Blue Heron
Focused statues
Silver rapids shoot fish
Down stream anglers anticipate
Dinner

Voices in My Head, is a full color publication. Dave’s poems are married with great artists, such as David Philpott, Mia, Laryalee Fraser, the author and his wife, Barbara.

Gary Blankenship