Poetry

Shine a Splendid Light – Poems and pieces from a life restored

This book is the result of having been alone for years until one day – the Universe blessed me with the reawakening of romantic love. I was thunderstruck from afar.
These collected poems and brief essays celebrate the restoration of my life. I was a single father for many years, and I devoted my life to my three children. I suffered some serious health issues due to immense stress.
With much soul-searching and long discussions with my marvelous kids, I left America and moved to China to be with the woman I love. I lived twenty percent of my life there before returning to the US. My time living in a foreign culture inspired my writing and changed me forever.
In China, at the Dean’s request, I created a Poetry Appreciation class for my university. I taught hundreds of students to love poetry and to write their own poetry. I was also the foreign editor and lead writer for a monthly magazine and weekly newspaper.
These poems capture the emotions of times of great change in my life. Love inspires all my writing. Love is the most powerful force in the Universe and that power restored my life to me.

SAMPLE

PREFACE

These collected poems and brief essays celebrate the restoration of my life. I was a single father for many years, and I devoted my life to my three children. I suffered some serious health issues due to stress, but after years of being alone the Universe blessed me with the reawakening of romantic love. I was thunderstruck from afar. With much soul-searching and long discussions with my marvelous kids, I left America and moved to China to be with the woman I love. I lived twenty percent of my life there before returning to the US. My time living in foreign culture inspired my writing and changed me forever.

I dedicate this book, as I have dedicated my life to my three children: Alexander, Catherine and Elizabeth; and to my Hongbo – my dearest Laopo. Your loving support will always be the pillars that hold up the starry skies over my head.

I Entered the World Dreaming

I entered the world dreaming

Cast adrift upon the ocean contained within my mother’s womb

I entered the world dreaming

No longer tethered within the cosmos of creation

Clamoring for the lost paradise

Unrealized aspirations

Drip torment upon me like calcium-rich ooze

Forming a stalagmite deep

Within the caverns of my aging mind

An idea forms in mid-air

Drops into the soul’s deep spirit well

Listen attentively

As the idea,

Warmed by my essence,

Cools in the dim hollow space created by the plummeting

Awakened actuality

The emptiness had been absolute,

The dark obscurity

Reflects the anticipated impact

Idea upon inertia

Pulverized clarity

The soft, fertile phantasms of youthful minds

Give each a seed

Relish in their accomplishments

The realized moments of reverie

Secured by rough golden lifelines of expectation

Treasured memory guideposts

Planted deep within the permafrost of the past

Guide us back

Towards home