What the New Year Has Brought

I find myself drawn back to working on the two projects that I had begun last spring.  The poetry book will be the first one finished and will be something that I am very happy to have taken the time to create.  Poetry is what I first began writing while in my teens and some of the poems included in this book were the first creative pieces I put on paper.  Yes, I did say paper since when I was a teen there were no personal computers or word processors.  There were typewriters and there was the pen and paper.  Nothing could be more daunting than to sit and stare at a starkly white sheet of paper while I struggled to find the right words to begin my epic story.

Poetry for me is a friendly medium of expression.  I can write what I feel in disjointed phrases that convey far more than the simple nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs would have normally denotatively (yes, I know it is not a word) imparted to the reader.  Many people don’t have the time for poetry, it does not resonate in their being and is such is not part of their lives.  It is one of the motivation to keep it short and sweet.  It is also possible to attach too much to form and structure for my taste.  In many instances Iambic pentameter might as well be a salty limerick.   The piece must be capable of enabling the reader to emote and it must attack the inner being in such a way as to illicit a feeling, any feeling.

Warmth and comfort are just what we need at certain times and we can use a small snippet of verse to buoy one up to lift the soul from the depths of what quagmire that its trapped it and restricted it from experiencing the joy that life can represent.  Is verse a panacea?  Does it cure-all ills? I answer with a resounding ‘no’.  But as the you read it and the small smile forms upon your face and you sense the gentle embrace of a memory so fond that you are transported to that point in time and space.  That is what I hope can be done, to that end I aspire.

While we do need times of assurance there are other times when a hard punch to the gut will bring us to a level of consciousness and facilitate clarify, the basis for epiphany.  In this revelation we can see ourselves and others in our proper place.  Achieving this is extraordinary but not impossible.  I have read such pieces that have had that effect on me and while they may not register with you to the same degree of force that they had with me, I am confident to say that there are other works that will.  I strive to create one of these for some unknown person in some unknown place at a time when it is needed most.  To whom it is written is not important, the fact that it is written is almost irrelevant, the moment in time when the two are joined is the place where we see God working.and that is truly all that matters.

All work is done for Him.  I hope that I am a worthy instrument, a good and faithful servant that is patiently awaiting his Master’s arrival, doing His bidding and best using the talents that have been so graciously provided.  Having said this I want you to know that the poems that are being assembled for this new book are not always godly and contrast where I was in my life’s experience.  You will find God present within the pages and perhaps you detect the gentle nudge to return to Him, where we all belong.