Their Heinous Crime

The author, Roland Nitzel, started writing poetry as a senior in high school and continued through his college years. During that time, in the early 1960s, some of his professors and classmates encouraged him to submit his poems for publication. He submitted a couple to various college publications, and they were rejected. So, he went about the business of supporting his family, writing a poem when he remembered something from the past that he wanted to explore, or when he felt he needed to react to a current event, or just for the fun of it. When the pressures of the pandemic, political chaos, and racial hatred reached a tipping point, Nitzel started writing at a prolific rate. This collection of poems spans six decades. The book has been called innovative, fresh, intense, unique, raw, and well-written. A wide range of topics are covered: racism, religion, events, observations, opinions, self-examination, and more.