Over the course of more than fifty years, Dan has authored over 200 poems and remains actively engaged in his craft, producing a dozen poems annually. In 2020, he unveiled a poetry collection titled “Double Mirage,” followed by the release of “Death Mask” in 2023. Furthermore, later in the same year, he is set to publish another book, “Petroglyphs.”

Death Mask is a collection of his darker poems that deal with the death of loved ones, suicide, and political strife.

These poems vividly describe the emotions surrounding the death of his father, who spent 30 years in a sanitarium, and his mother, who experienced a sort of rebirth after he was institutionalized. The poem about his father “You Don’t Say Anything,” is in three parts, the first two penned in the early 1970’s, and a third part added in 2023. The poem about his mother, “Lay the Distant Mountains,” was written around 2016 before her passing in 2017.

Then there was his brother who passed away at 73 from a bacterial flesh-eating disease, preceded by decades of battling advanced crippling rheumatoid arthritis. His poem is “Gulliver in Chain’s” where his brother, John, is portrayed as Gulliver in “Gulliver’s Travels,” but instead of little people and rope, he is tied to a surgical bed with tubes and other restraints, and the little people are the shadowy figures of doctor’s and nurses.

Another poem, “Mourning an Angel,” concerns his second son, Angel, who died in utero at 7 months into the pregnancy.

In addition to the theme of family, Dan writes about the passing of Leonard Cohen and the suicide of Sylvia Plath in a poem commemorating her 40th birthday titled “Lady Lazarus at 40.”

Other poems in this collection revolve around Dan’s coming of age during a socially and politically turbulent time. They include poems about his decision to evade the draft in 1969, including one where Dan was placed in solitary confinement after feigning suicide. In total, Dan spent 2 months in jail before ultimately fulfilling his military obligation.