Eugene Washington, author of Love Has Everything to Do With It: Writings About Love and the Lack Thereof Two decades ago Eugene Washington was watching the news when one story in particular caught his attention. A woman in Fairfield County had been doused in gasoline and burned alive by her boyfriend.

"I couldn't shake that visual," Washington, 59, said. "Ruining that woman's fate was not enough. That image moved me to the point that I had to do something. That is when I delved into the subject of domestic violence."

He had always been involved in civic causes, so Washington took the opportunity to contact Sistercare, a service for battered women and their children, to see what he could do to help. He eventually joined the board and served for two terms.

The poetry in his recently self- published

book Love Has Everything

to Do With It: Writings

About Love and the Lack

Thereof is a culmination of his many experiences as an advocate against domestic violence. The ten poems comprise the first of the six sections in the 150 page book. Each segment represents a different type of love - Godly love, romantic love, and in the case of the first section the "Lack of Love."

"Women are one of the great resources of our community," Washington said. "They are the doers of society. When a woman is punched it's not just a single incident. That ripple is felt at the PTA, in the church, and at work."

It was October 2007 when Washington was first encouraged to put his poetry into print. He was giving a reading at an event he organized "Can't We Just Get Along?" when a woman approached him and told him he had to write a book.

The playwright and postal worker of 37 years began compiling old work and creating new pieces. Many of the domestic violence poems are based on encounters he has had with battered women. Washington drew on his experiences with women serving life sentences for killing their mates for the poem "Couldn't Live With Him."

"It's very much like a drug addiction," he said. "Whenever he's home she wishes he were gone but the minute he leaves she tracks him down until it destroys them."

Washington believes that education and open discussion are the only way to address the topic of domestic violence. In 2004 the Columbia native organized the first all- male march and rally against domestic violence.

"The more we talk, the more we can get at this problem," he said. "How can I talk to my son about drugs and sex outside of marriage and not teach him about honoring women?"

Washington credits his late father, James, with teaching him how to honor his wife of 35 years, Gloria. He includes a letter to his father in the book. His parents moved to Columbia before he was born, where his father took a job as a worker at the farmer's market. Eventually, James built his own businesses, all the while remaining faithful to his wife and children. "He taught me what it meant to be a man," Washington said.

Washington's book will be available locally at Cokesbury Christian Books at 2730 Broad River Road beginning June 6 and from his soon- to- be completed website www.genewashingtonproductions. com.

"Domestic violence is an equal opportunity destroyer," he said. "We have got to be about the business of bringing it to the fore."

Editor's note: During the month of April, excerpts from Eugene

Washington's book, Love

Has Everything to D o With

It: Writings About Love and

the Lack Thereof, will be

featured in The Columbia

Star.