This collection brings together the best poems from the author's two collections of poetry (October Censored and A Painted Verse), but thirty years separate the earliest written poem, "Words Will Seem So Beautiful," written when the author was nineteen, and the latter poems written when he was forty-nine years of age. Thus Running Words constitutes a journey of self-discovery, maturity, and growth, both as a person and an artist. You'll find in the same volume poems like "Empty Shit" describing a bachelor waking up and noticing the state of his living conditions and "October Censored" about a dad who, despite seeing a world that seems to be growing more mad by the day, taking joy in his infant daughter's presence.
Other notable poems include "Camille (Claudel)" inspired by the mistress of Rodin and a notable sculptress herself, "Lethal Injection" about a botched execution, and "Live Streams: A Suite" in which the author takes a journey around the world through the use of live camera feeds. There are touching poems about poet's young daughter in "For M., Born Last Year" and "Snowplay," wherein a rare snowfall in Las Vegas is a cause for joy. And speaking of Las Vegas, there is "Vegas Story," a poem detailing 24-hours in Las Vegas. And "Empty," which describes the search for some sort of meaning or inspiration in a dystopian world.
Doug Hatley's poems are notable for their use of strong imagery and a subtle (or not so subtle) use of absurdity, held together often with a dry sense of humor, in an attempt to make sense of this world we find ourselves.