Local poet, author and essayist Louis Daniel Brodsky has published 74 volumes of poetry, covering a vast range of subject matter, from the diners of rural America, to the aftermath of 9/11, to the joys of life and love. None of these previous volumes has been as deeply personal and emotionally affecting as his most recent collection, “Saul and Charlotte —Poems Commemorating a Father and a Mother” (Time Being Books, $16.95).

Saul and Charlotte Malter Brodsky had an enduring love affair that lasted through courtship and a 65-year marriage. During their long, robust marriage, the Brodskys would have five children, L.D., Roger, Jeffrey, Babs and Dale. Saul would achieve great success in business while Charlotte was very generous to local philanthropic projects and causes. They were most proud of their namesake Saul Brodsky Jewish Community Library, established in 1983, and located in the Jewish Federation Kopolow Building. It has become one of the finest Judaic libraries in the Midwest, and an invaluable resource for scholars and the entire community.

In this splendid and highly readable volume, L.D. Brodsky covers all aspects of Saul and Charlotte, as a young man and woman who fell in love, as strongly etched individuals, as parents, grandparents and community leaders.

L.D. Brodsky credits each of his parents for having instilled strong values and high standards in his own life and work.

He drew deeply both from his father’s pragmatism and business acumen and from his mother’s love of, and appreciation for, art and culture.

He earned his B.A. degree magna cum laude from Yale University in 1963, an M.A. in English from Washington University in 1967 and another M.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University the following year. From 1968, while continuing to write poetry, he assisted in managing a 350-person men’s clothing factory in Farmington, Mo. and started one of the Midwest’s first factory-outlet apparel chains.

Brodsky encapsulates the hard-driving, focused energy of his father Saul in “Miss Hulling’s Cafeteria,” evoking the wonderful eatery that served the downtown business and shopping community for decades in St. Louis. With a few poetic broad brush-strokes, L.D. Brodsky depicts his dad at age 32, already a young man in a hurry, ready to catch fire, distracted by concerns over his “still lonely wife,” and resentful at being “looked down upon” by haughty German Jews — and how all of these thoughts are banished by the “overwhelming aromas” of Miss Hulling’s Cafeteria.

Fast forward in the book to “Three-Doctor Afternoon,” in which the poet escorts his father and mother to what turns out to be a “three-doctor afternoon.” The robust 32-year-old Saul who rushed from his office to Miss Hulling’s, has been reduced to a shadow of his former self. L.D. writes,

I realize that my languishing, sad-eyed dad,

Having vanquished lymphoma

At the age of eighty-seven,

Has lived way too long.

He concludes this poignant work with the tired resignation of accepting the harsh truth about the situation:

This five-hour, three-doctor afternoon,

We’ve made the rounds,

Staving off the inevitable.

We’re tired from trying to keep the dying alive.

When death finally takes Saul Brodsky, his son is left feeling empty and confused, and his mom, Charlotte, must prepare to life without her beloved husband, as expressed in lines from “Living Together”:

Slowly, our parents’ home is reconciling itself     

To accommodating only our mother,

Who lost her husband, our father,

Not quite three weeks ago.

Each day brings a few transformations,

Some subtle, some not,

Such as the removal of the hospital bed,

Oxygen machine, and nebulizer from their bedroom…    

But she is not ready for a purgation.

Somehow, his spirit, essence, vital image

Is still intimately one with things in the room,

She trusts her senses to make the decisions

Intuition over intellect,

When it comes to adjusting to his nonexistence.

After all, her home and her heart

Require time to grow used to living together, alone.

Thanks to Louis Daniel Brodsky, the words, thoughts and feelings of his dynamic, success-driven father and his sensitive, artistically inclined mother have been lovingly set forth for generations of readers to enjoy. He has indeed fulfilled the Commandments, “Honor thy father and thy mother” with this impressive and deeply moving collection.