Many of the poems in this remarkable collection by Richard Cole focus on the often "unsung" individuals who populate various sectors of the business world, individuals whose humanity too often goes unrecognized. These poems are generous in spirit and intelligent in outlook. In Song of the Middle Manager, Cole skillfully investigates the ways all of us must navigate between our ideals and the compromises the world demands.

In 1996, a humble stock clerk, Dave, working for a West Yorkshire distributor of frozen food grew dissatisfied with the extant corpus of paranormal literature - None of which provided answers to his questions. In attempting to gain first-hand knowledge of the supernatural, Dave decided to find a 'genuine' psychic to instruct him in these mysteries.
To separate genuine 'Sensitives' from charlatans and other such delusional individuals, Dave devised a simple experiment - He would make a crystal skull and invite anyone claiming possession of paranormal gifts to 'Channel' his creation. The Skully test was hardly rocket science! Dave's skull is either:

A - An ancient, quartz crystal skull and 'super computer', possibly carved by aliens stranded on Atlantis, and a powerful supernatural device enabling communication with highly-advanced extraterrestrial and non-corporal entities.
B - A plastic toy, less than a year old.
The paranormal is a multi-million Pound, global industry. Its practitioners range from amateur Tarot readers advertising in local newspapers, to household name 'celebrity psychics' charging five-figure sums to flex their supernatural muscles.
In August 1998, a Press Release requesting assistance from, "genuinely gifted psychics" marked the start of what would become probably the largest paranormal investigation ever undertaken. News of Skully's discovery attracted worldwide interest, curiosity and speculation.

In attempting to discover more about the mysterious origins and alleged supernatural properties of this priceless artefact, four thousand respected and renown Sensitives, Mediums and occultists 'Channelled' Skully. None deduced, either by supernatural or other means, it was them and not Dave's creation under investigation.
Over the next five years, a story unfolded which quite simply defies belief. Fuelled by a heady wave of New Age hysteria generated in the years leading up to a new millennium, the Skully experiment attracted worldwide interest, incorporating the rare talents of thousands of the most respected Sensitives this planet has to offer. Its results and conclusions are controversial in the extreme and not without cost.
This tale is not merely a damning expose of the working practices of professional psychics as a whole. It is also a chilling warning about the very real dangers faced by those who dabble in the murky world of occultism. As Dave and those closely associated with the Skully experiment discovered