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The Journey to the West

Though we journey to the West We pray to the East More or less that's the way Each day begins and ends It’s a tale everyone ...

Friday, September 22, 2017

With Autumn's Arrival a New Sheaf of Poems

With the first day of autumn I have finally gotten around to making the final changes to the manuscript of my new book a Sutra for the Creek.  It's a collection of poems that describes the ebbs and flows of life along Weesuck Creek over the course of a year.  Here's one of the poems from the collection appropriately enough entitled ...



Autumn’s Arrival


Come autumn
Every last crow
Seems to know
At least one of
The four Noble Truths
Each caw being a call
Of attachment  
To the pungent scent
Of the past prime earth
And crickets too
In their threnody
Evidence plenty of will
To hold September's
Fading warmth
For all that it’s worth

But a mind settled
Well on the mat
Heeds neither
Chirp nor caw as it
Welcomes autumn's arrival
Serenely consigned  

To the harvest of bounties
That accompanies
 Summer’s demise





Many thanks to Peter Rippon for providing twenty or more beautiful drawings, including the one above, that help bring the book to life.  And many thanks to Jane Schiowitz for her great contributions in layout and design.

Next week I plan to send the manuscript off the printer and will order a first box of books.  As for marketing, distribution and sales, I've adopted an entirely new strategy, shaped by the painful experience of past experiments in self-publishing.  I have decided to forego any effort to promote or sell the book, at least for the time being.  This first printing is more or less a private affair between me and the Creek.  The rest of you will just have to wait for the tide to change course, as surely it will.    

1 comment:

  1. beautiful poem and drawings. Looking forward to reading it in its entirety.

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