The title (On the Path Not Taken) stems from Robert Frost's poem of close to the same name; but Mr. Villarreal's poems speak to the easier road most Americans choose to take: the urge for the good life ushers in the Crash of '29; the notion we are too privileged to be moved leads to our entry into WWII; our choice to honor inordinately tapers into the "personal" tragedy of '63; thirst for height as symbol for greatness spawns an unthinable 9/11. The OTPNT Poems piquantly tools away at these conceits; more, they question who we are as Americans. We can see our past only dimly when not aware; It strengthens the will, if antithetically, almost whimsically, To our detriment- And to our continual lack; The measures we take from then on are much Too angularly felt to transform- Too estranged from us to matter. Excerpt from the poem A Beginning Time