New Book!

Hot off the press!  Poetic Zen first published in 2004, now revised with all new color images and a bonus poem!  Available in both print and digital formats on MagCloud.

Poetic Zen

By J Gray in Poetry & Images

24 pages, published 12/9/2016

Poetic Zen was first printed in 2004. Now revised in 2016 with all new color images and a bonus poem!

Poetry for the Soul

What is it about poetry that intrigues us?  Reading it, writing it, collecting it.  Fills our soul.

Poetry has been around as long as there has been speech.  There are famous poets whose words have touched us deeply, whose lines we memorize and often use for metaphors in life.

I was thinking about poetry after a conversation with a dear friend, and wondering how it might fit in with the New Pioneer blog.  Perhaps it is the slower pace of my lifestyle, the rhythmic flow of my relationship with nature.

I wonder if the lives of the masses have gotten too busy for poetry, if civilization has become too hardened by stresses and struggles to be able to appreciate the gentleness of poetry.

I have written verse and essays all my life, since I was six years old and reading Winnie the Pooh.  I especially love journaling and working things out on paper.

My first published piece was in a teachers magazine when I was around eleven, I think.  My English teacher was very supportive of my writing.

All through my teenage years I wrote poetry, mostly sorrowful and love-struck verse.  I wrote some poems for my newborn son in my late twenties.

But all in all I don't think I really took it seriously, it was always just a hobby and a much needed outlet to express myself.

Now in my midlife, I find myself returning to it.  Reading it, writing it, seeing it in my landscape.

Through a bizarre set of circumstances recently, (there are no accidents!), I was lead to read some of Mary Oliver's work, and I am surprised I never read her work before.  Divine!  It's all about nature.

I never thought about including my endless relationships with wildlife in my poetry - what a gift!

So I'm thinking from time to time I will include a poem or two here on New Pioneer and perhaps an accompanying photo -if the wildlife will stop long enough for a pose or two.

Meanwhile I will close this post with one I just wrote last week.  Untitled as yet.

The birds

welcome me

into their

sacred space

If I will

but be

like them

Gentle and peaceful

at one with all

Unsuspecting

and grateful

Friends

with the earth

and sky

Rejoicing

in the mystery

of that

which they call

home

Self Publishing

With the affordable availability to create publications online, I have been inspired to create my second book of poems.  I'm using MagCloud and am amazed at how easy it is to use!

Just like my Backyard Bird Sighting template I created in Publisher, I converted it to a PDF and then uploaded it to their site.  I can review it before saving and ordering.

OK, enough about them.  This second collection of poems were written over the last six years, except two of them are from the first book (Poetic Zen);  Return to the Sea, which I think I wrote over twenty years ago, and Outta This World which I wrote in the early 2000's.  It took best of show in literary works at the local fair.

I have also included some of my favorite photographs.

It's a small book, 8.5 x 5.5, great for the coffee table, perfect bound, with full color images, 28 pages.

I have been wanting to put out a second collection for years, since my first book came out in 2004, but time and events and life seem to get in the way.

Eventually things worked out and I see the perfection in it all.  I needed this time to not only write more, but to find a theme.  Well, middle age has brought some interesting insights, so I thought I would call it The Afternoon of Life, which I actually got from watching Wayne Dyer's movie The Shift.  He talks about some of the spiritual changes we go through at this time.

If you're not a fan of poetry then this might not interest you - but for those of us who often stare at trees, mystified by their beauty and try to put that into words - this is for you.

Very affordable as a hard copy at $9.95 at MagCloud (plus shipping), but also available as a digital download for only $6.

I give you The Afternoon of Life, Verse and Visuals by J Gray.

The Afternoon of Life

The Afternoon of Life is a collection of poems and images by J Gray.

I invite you to comment about poetry and how it has affected your life, or who your favorite authors are.  If you too are a poet, check out MagCloud and get your work out there!