Toishan: Book One: In Words and Dreams and Songs

Toishan: Book One (An Epic Poem of 6 books)Spanning more than 1,300 years and over forty-seven generations, Toishan bookmarks at key points in time the contributions of the Chinese men and women who built the American railroads. A new Bard rises!

A master of character development, John E. Cashwell brings to life his players in simple, eerie impressions. A surprising read. Worth the time if you are a history buff, a poet or a true romantic. ***** --- Dwight A. Hugues

A new Bard has arisen in North Carolina. One refreshing, breathtaking, fast-paced poet who lives in every page. I tried it. I liked it. You will too!***** --- Gaston B. Gundlach

Cashwell accomplished something here so pure and real its implications border on the devout. Mixing faith,love and passion in an incomparable and zesty bouillabaisse.**** --- J. Wolley Russell

Hardly a devout piece that portrays a Buddhist Priest as a womanizer. And with a black woman in North America before Thomas Jefferson? Hardly historic! Actually a poor, sad concoction of fantasy, fiction and fuzzy history. Rightfully so, a quick read.** --- Susanna M. MacLeary

Whether it be "Java Man", "Peking Man" or "Lucy (... In the Sky with Diamonds") there were the ancient australopithecines, later Homo ergaster and then Homo erectus (comparably modern, upright beings classified as hominids) who left the Savanna and spread out across most of the globe a few million years or so ago to possibly as recent as twenty thousand years. Nothing fuzzy about that. A great and thoroughly well researched read.**** --- T. A. Siebenheller

I love Bibi Anbee. I want her to be real. But she is. She is. On every page of Toishan. A haunting, thrilling, paralyzing read. I could not put it down. Done in a day or less, but with you for all time. Hurrah! For poets like this. *****---Malcomb W. Grossenheider

It is a bold writer who dares to tackle head-on the subject of what it means to be human. Something that John E. Cashwell does with tenderness and inexhaustible curiosity. A well-done read!" ****---Richard E. Sigphen

Cashwell's poem is a surprising, moving, and life-affirming embrace of the human condition. Herein lies victories, failures, potencies and frailties---all becoming thrilling, liberating and quite often paralyzing rather than dour portents of life . . . or death. I'll read it again and again. *****---Brice W. Rynolds

Thia is an amazing read. Setting the stage for five more that I'll anticipate with great need. It's a long way from Fusang to Promontory Summit. I can't wait to take the ride. The character development alone will represent a first-class ticket. Roll on Toishan! *****---John Apple Bowman, III.