Tom Mach
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To learn more about the books written by Tom Mach; select from the following:
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A Shakespeare Sonnet Shakeup - book cover
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While attempting to understand the sonnets of Shakespeare, I realized the need to put the Bard into the 21st century and write my own sonnets based on each of his themes, so here’s the book the world might be waiting for…. 
Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets more than 400 years ago. How would he have written them differently today?

Well, my poetry book, A Shakespeare Sonnet Shakeup, shows possibilities.

This 172 page book will compare each of his first 77 sonnets to the 77 sonnets I wrote.

I’ve also included a sonnet I wrote called, Sonnet 155, which I created as a tribute to this awe-inspiring poet.
As an example, here are two side-by-side examples of Sonnet # 8
SHAKESPEARE:
Music to hear, why hear’st thou music sadly?
Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy:
Why lov’st thou that which thou receiv’st not gladly
Or else receiv’st with pleasure thine annoy?
If the true concord of well-tuned sounds,
By unions married, do offend thine ear,
They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds
In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear.
Mark how one string, sweet husband to another,  
Strikes each in each by mutual ordering;
Resembling sire and child and happy mother,
Who, all in one, one pleasing note do sing:
Whose speechless song being many, seeming one,
Sings this to thee: ‘Thou single wilt prove none.’ 
TOM MACH:
If you love music, why should it be sad?
Fragrant recalls need music that is sweet
Joyous recollections are good, not bad.
Why not adore something that’s a real treat?
Do you get pleasure from a painful thing?
If the harmony of perfectly-tuned sounds
Allows one to be blessed, we can truly sing.
If you stay single and not make the rounds,
You’ll deny yourself the sweetness of marriage.
Listen to a lively string against others,
How they harmonize like wheels of a carriage,
Children in perfect accord with mothers.
A four-part harmony can well be done,
But if single, you’re a recital of one.

Bio of Tom Mach, poet
His first poem, The Inheritance, published in the Appleton Sunday Post-Crescent, paid him $35. The Journal-World also published many of his poems. Having entered a national poetry contest sponsored by Writer’s Market, he placed 9th in a field of thousands. He wrote a monthly column called Painting with Words, featuring a noteworthy poet and he analyzed one of their famous poems. He won the Nelson Poetry Book Award for his first collection of poetry called The Uni Verse, and received numerous awards for poems in contests sponsored by the California Writers Club and the Kansas Authors Club. Mach did not believe in submitting his poems to literary journals, but he was invited to submit one to Blue Island Review, which published, Only Another War about a Civil War soldier worried about his “momma” at the farm.
  • View Other Poetry Books Written By Mach  |  Learn More About Tom

  • In honor of Tom Mach's contribution to our understanding of the Women's suffrage movement, the State of Kansas passed House Resolution No. 6020 (A Resolution commemorating the Kansas Angels At Sunset Centennial.)

  • Mr. Mach is the holder of Patent No, 3,784,533 (Apparatus for Imparting Gloss to Soap.
  • "I have been in awe of your writing." 
    ~ Peg Nichols​
  • "Your words are music to my ears." 
    ~ Mark Scheel​
  • "...a true gift for making words come alive." 
    ​~ Dian Marchese
  • His 30 funny additions to Pluggers cartoons have appeared in thousands of newspapers.
    ​
  • Finally, he was a columnist for the Kaw Valley Senior Monthly for more than six years.
  • Winner: Nelson Poetry Book Award
  • Winner: J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award
  • Finalist: Best Books Award
  • Finalist: International Book Award
  • ​Jack London Award
  • Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Nobel Prize Nomination Recipient (2012)
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E-mail Tom Mach
[email protected]
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  • Home
  • About Tom
  • Novels
  • Short Stories
  • Children's Stories
  • Poetry
  • Nonfiction
  • Plays