In Stained White Shirt, a Catholic School reference, Norton Nearly explores the deep stains of untimely death, lost love, addiction and survival. Regrets laundered by love are expressed through free verse and aphorism. Reading Nearly is like jumping into the shallow end of the pool. The bottom arrives fast, but the water is warm and safe once you are in and moving around. Real people will enjoy a swim through Norton's clever yet understandable imagery...a drowning staved off by simply standing up. Stained White Shirt is Norton Nearly's first book of free verse. Nearly has lived a difficult and adventurous life filled with illness, death, addiction and relationship woes. But he managed to survive these and still find joy. Norton Nearly works a Corporate job during the week and lives a bohemian writer's existence on the weekends. Norton Nearly is a pen name used to obscure his identity.