A former math and chemistry major with a love of NASCAR racing, Edward Byrne might not seem to be a typical poet. But Byrne, a professor in the English department at Valparaiso University, recently published his sixth book, "Seeded Light"  (Turning Point Books 2010), a collection of previously published poems that he has written over the past few years.

"I won a scholarship in math and chemistry," says Byrne, who lives in Valparaiso with his wife, also an English teacher, and family. "But I took an elective course in creative writing, enjoyed that and then I took a poetry class taught by Mark Strand who was a poet laureate and a Pulitzer Prize winner."

And so Byrne switched majors.

"People often ask that," he says with a laugh when questioned about his parents' response to a son eschewing the safety of a science degree for the rigors of writing poems. "But I presented it to them under the guise of being a professor and so they were fine."

And indeed, life as poet/professor suits Byrne, who has a B.A. and M.F.A. from the City University of New York and a doctorate in English from the University of Utah and whose works have appeared in such literary powerhouses as American Poetry Review, North American Review and American Scholar and has taught at Valparaiso since 1984.  Influenced by Robert Penn Warren (the only writer to win a Pulitzer for both poetry and fiction), Robert Lowell and Robert Frost ("I call them the three Bobs," he says adding that his wife suggested he add another Bob to the list, the songwriter and singer Bob Dylan, another favorite), Byrne says his poetry begins with an image.

But poems aren't just something to be jotted down before moving on to the next one. Byrne says that each image then must come with a conflict and then some sort of resolution. Following that is rewriting and then even more rewriting. And although his poems in "Seeded Light" have a darkness to them, he says that they also have glimmers of light just as the title of his book implies.

"The title 'Seeded Light' comes from a poem by Pablo Neruda," he says noting that it refers to the stars we see on a dark night that seem to seed the sky. "So even when it is darkest, there is that glimmer."

The cover of his book also portrays that sense of light glimmers. Painted in 1917 by Charles Burchfield, whose work Byrne first discovered 1996, it is a scene from a painting on display at the Brauer Museum of Art at Valparaiso University which has several of the painter's impressionistic  works. In an interesting aside, Burchfield's daughter, Mary Alice, at one time attended the university.

"His work is described as transcendental landscapes," says Byrne about the paintings which also have been described as organic and luminescent. Byrne has a short video about the artist on his BlogSpot, http://edwardbyrne.blogspot.com.

For those who are interested, Byrne is offering numbered and autographed copies of "Seeded Light" available at a 10 percent discount and free shipping. They can be ordered by sending a check for $16.20 to Edward Byrne, Department of English, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN. 46383.  The books are also available through online booksellers such as Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com