My book of poetry, On Wings of Gentle Power, is now out and available on Amazon.com. It is a collection of poems, with terrific black and white photography by Dr. Al Past, of the Distant Cousin novels fame.
Special thanks to Al, and to my publisher/editor, Mike Katz of Strider Nolan Media. He and his wife did an incredible job with the artwork and layouts.
I hope you will check it out.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Short Story Contest for Kids!
My IAG friend, Bobby Ozuna, is promoting a new contest. Here is his recent post to the IAG Group...
Hey gang, I could use some help promoting a new short-story contest for kids by the foundation READ3Zero. I co-founded this organization with author Melissa M. Williams of LongTale Publishing and we are presently taking short-story submissions by children in and between grades third through eighth. We are going to publish the best short-stories in an anthology entitled: "I Write: Short Stories By Kids, For Kids" in 2010. We could use your help in promoting this contest which will help spotlight the creative efforts of children. I am going to feature the winners of the contest on my show, The Indie Author Show next year. I created a short infomercial for READ3Zero and the I Write contest which you can view here:
http://bit.ly/5kkELQ
This is a great way to show your support for literacy and encouraging and possibly nurturing the next great American author....supporting the independent arts...~Bobby Ozuna
www.OzunaPub.com
Hey gang, I could use some help promoting a new short-story contest for kids by the foundation READ3Zero. I co-founded this organization with author Melissa M. Williams of LongTale Publishing and we are presently taking short-story submissions by children in and between grades third through eighth. We are going to publish the best short-stories in an anthology entitled: "I Write: Short Stories By Kids, For Kids" in 2010. We could use your help in promoting this contest which will help spotlight the creative efforts of children. I am going to feature the winners of the contest on my show, The Indie Author Show next year. I created a short infomercial for READ3Zero and the I Write contest which you can view here:
http://bit.ly/5kkELQ
This is a great way to show your support for literacy and encouraging and possibly nurturing the next great American author....supporting the independent arts...~Bobby Ozuna
www.OzunaPub.com
Sunday, December 13, 2009
If I Could Sing
Copyright 2009 by Barry Yelton
If I could sing a thousand years
in space of just a minute
I wouldn’t hesitate the least
but certain sure begin it.
To sing the hurt of all the young
with solemn stanzas borning
the tragedy of small hearts torn
the battered painful morning.
The tiny frame with stricken eyes
that plead for understanding
The fist and steel strike hard in place
of simple reprimanding.
How can the human heart possess
such evil and such coldness
to harm a child such brutal sway
such elemental boldness!
Beyond the ken of decent thought
this perfidy residing
rolls down the hall of all the years
with human soul abiding.
The pain of separation sore
Divorce and death and sadness
wreak havoc on the little ones
and trample all their gladness.
If I could sing a thousand years
from this very minute on
I would surely sing for children
happiness from dawn to dawn.
Sing sunny days with garland clouds
laughing hours and fishing streams
of Mother’s love and Daddy’s lap
cheerful morn’ and rainbow dreams.
Sing the love of their Creator
sing to heart of young and old
Sing the song that’s never ending
greatest Love that ‘er was told.
If I could sing a thousand years
in space of just a minute
I wouldn’t hesitate the least
but certain sure begin it.
To sing the hurt of all the young
with solemn stanzas borning
the tragedy of small hearts torn
the battered painful morning.
The tiny frame with stricken eyes
that plead for understanding
The fist and steel strike hard in place
of simple reprimanding.
How can the human heart possess
such evil and such coldness
to harm a child such brutal sway
such elemental boldness!
Beyond the ken of decent thought
this perfidy residing
rolls down the hall of all the years
with human soul abiding.
The pain of separation sore
Divorce and death and sadness
wreak havoc on the little ones
and trample all their gladness.
If I could sing a thousand years
from this very minute on
I would surely sing for children
happiness from dawn to dawn.
Sing sunny days with garland clouds
laughing hours and fishing streams
of Mother’s love and Daddy’s lap
cheerful morn’ and rainbow dreams.
Sing the love of their Creator
sing to heart of young and old
Sing the song that’s never ending
greatest Love that ‘er was told.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Light in the Far Distance
Copyright 2009
The Problem
the road stretches beyond my sight
out where lovely day replaces gloomy night
replaces day
replaces night
and yet that glimmer still lights up
the trusting soul
and hope won’t die
the road still rocky
still hard
both that within and that without
two roads to travel
the dual test that puts the soul
on trial
a daily court of accusation
with no defense
save one alone
and looking one to the other
the finger pointing barristers
their bony digits directed at me
and i retreat within and seek
the solace only one provides
the one maligned and scorned
in this post modern nightmare
The Second Problem
and from the columned halls
the white coated gurus utter their
foolish proclamations of the death of god
and the randomness of existence
and how it all came to be
by chance or accident or just because
is their doltish refrain
a homily of oafs
with egos outsized to ridiculous proportion
as if anything really happens by chance
randomness they proclaim
randomness
parroting while always massaging their collective
liege called science
the coterie ensconced in their quiet echo chambers
issue edict upon edict to the
benighted masses who work and who worship
facts! they cry
empirical evidence! they trumpet
their vision limited to the extent of their beaks
as they tinker with the building blocks
of the universe
like children at play
pitifully unaware
dangerously unaware
of the watchful parent
from afar
and yet always, yet always
the question still lingers
still imposes its weighty presence
in the consciousness of men
in the light of the sun, the drift of the rain
in the glow of moonlight, the purr of a cat
in the laughter of a child, the music of the spheres
in the fantastic spin of the atom, and subatomic particles
(of what do they consist, pray tell?)
in hope, in faith, in love
the question uttered by the ancients
still uttered and will be by the truly sentient
and that question is
Why?
The Resolution
a question for which science
has no answer
and will never
for it falls beyond the corporeal thrall
here
bound by finite minds
seeking infinite knowledge
as they tinker and expound with grave proclamation
as if claiming to their own
the essence of the material
their knowledge impressive!
their understanding rather paltry
the ultimate knowledge is
only to be obtained
in the realm of the spirit
though we seem to be peering through darkness
at the light beyond
steady and majestic there in the distance
brilliant
welcoming
eternal
it beckons to him who
would have eyes to see
and ears to hear
perhaps someday
at a microscope somewhere
the light will be found
that finally and irrevocably
on that day of endings
and of beginnings
at long last illuminates
the circumscribed mind of science
The Problem
the road stretches beyond my sight
out where lovely day replaces gloomy night
replaces day
replaces night
and yet that glimmer still lights up
the trusting soul
and hope won’t die
the road still rocky
still hard
both that within and that without
two roads to travel
the dual test that puts the soul
on trial
a daily court of accusation
with no defense
save one alone
and looking one to the other
the finger pointing barristers
their bony digits directed at me
and i retreat within and seek
the solace only one provides
the one maligned and scorned
in this post modern nightmare
The Second Problem
and from the columned halls
the white coated gurus utter their
foolish proclamations of the death of god
and the randomness of existence
and how it all came to be
by chance or accident or just because
is their doltish refrain
a homily of oafs
with egos outsized to ridiculous proportion
as if anything really happens by chance
randomness they proclaim
randomness
parroting while always massaging their collective
liege called science
the coterie ensconced in their quiet echo chambers
issue edict upon edict to the
benighted masses who work and who worship
facts! they cry
empirical evidence! they trumpet
their vision limited to the extent of their beaks
as they tinker with the building blocks
of the universe
like children at play
pitifully unaware
dangerously unaware
of the watchful parent
from afar
and yet always, yet always
the question still lingers
still imposes its weighty presence
in the consciousness of men
in the light of the sun, the drift of the rain
in the glow of moonlight, the purr of a cat
in the laughter of a child, the music of the spheres
in the fantastic spin of the atom, and subatomic particles
(of what do they consist, pray tell?)
in hope, in faith, in love
the question uttered by the ancients
still uttered and will be by the truly sentient
and that question is
Why?
The Resolution
a question for which science
has no answer
and will never
for it falls beyond the corporeal thrall
here
bound by finite minds
seeking infinite knowledge
as they tinker and expound with grave proclamation
as if claiming to their own
the essence of the material
their knowledge impressive!
their understanding rather paltry
the ultimate knowledge is
only to be obtained
in the realm of the spirit
though we seem to be peering through darkness
at the light beyond
steady and majestic there in the distance
brilliant
welcoming
eternal
it beckons to him who
would have eyes to see
and ears to hear
perhaps someday
at a microscope somewhere
the light will be found
that finally and irrevocably
on that day of endings
and of beginnings
at long last illuminates
the circumscribed mind of science
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
"On Wings of Gentle Power" is almost ready!
My publisher, Strider Nolan Media, informs me that my new poetry book, "On Wings of Gentle Power," will be ready within a couple of weeks. It is a compilation of poems written over several years, along with stunning black and white photographs by Al Past, author of the acclaimed "Distant Cousin" series of novels.
The release date will be announced here, hopefully within two weeks.
The release date will be announced here, hopefully within two weeks.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Review of Floyd Orr's "Timeline of America"
Posted to Amazon.com
Timeline of America is an engaging journey through America's history, as the subtitle states, in "sound bytes." In reading it I became aware of how much recent history, from the fifties, sixties, and seventies, I had forgotten. I recalled songs, movies, and books that at the time seemed timeless, but nonetheless were lost to memory.
Mr. Orr does a valuable service with this book in bringing back those memories that will be especially evocative to baby-boomers and of interest to younger generations who have perhaps heard some of the names, records, movies, etc. enumerated herein. Except for one or two minor lapses, such as putting one city in the wrong state, the book appears to be very accurate and quite comprehensive.
This is not a book to sit down and absorb, because it is mostly a categorization of facts, not a treatise on American culture. It is, instead, a book to ponder over, reminisce over, and re-visit from time to time to catch a glimpse of a bygone America and its triumphs and failures. It is a book to keep and one that will give pleasure and inform for a lifetime. I recommend the book to anyone interested in popular history, especially of the late twentieth century.
You can get the book here:
http://www.amazon.com/Timeline-America-Sound-Consumer-Culture/dp/0595400043/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257028820&sr=1-1
Timeline of America is an engaging journey through America's history, as the subtitle states, in "sound bytes." In reading it I became aware of how much recent history, from the fifties, sixties, and seventies, I had forgotten. I recalled songs, movies, and books that at the time seemed timeless, but nonetheless were lost to memory.
Mr. Orr does a valuable service with this book in bringing back those memories that will be especially evocative to baby-boomers and of interest to younger generations who have perhaps heard some of the names, records, movies, etc. enumerated herein. Except for one or two minor lapses, such as putting one city in the wrong state, the book appears to be very accurate and quite comprehensive.
This is not a book to sit down and absorb, because it is mostly a categorization of facts, not a treatise on American culture. It is, instead, a book to ponder over, reminisce over, and re-visit from time to time to catch a glimpse of a bygone America and its triumphs and failures. It is a book to keep and one that will give pleasure and inform for a lifetime. I recommend the book to anyone interested in popular history, especially of the late twentieth century.
You can get the book here:
http://www.amazon.com/Timeline-America-Sound-Consumer-Culture/dp/0595400043/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257028820&sr=1-1
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Review of E.L. Doctorow's "Homer and Langley"
Posted to Amazon.com...
This novel, based on the true story of the Collyer brothers, found dead in their Harlem brownstone amid tons of debris in 1947, is an exceptional achievement by one of the finest writers of our age. This story of two brothers from a prominent New York family, each dealing with his own profound impairment, is a not so subtle metaphor for human existence and its ultimate conclusions.
Doctorow changes the time frame of their lives, and fills in the sketchy story with his own elaborations. After the two experience profound tragedy early in life, the narrative takes them through most of the century with its wars, fads, and foibles. They meet and interact with a parade of characters, while leading an increasingly cloistered life in the inherited Fifth Avenue manse. The slow deterioration of the house roughly coincides with that of the brothers' physical and mental states. Each is increasingly closed in, both physically and psychologically.
The book is immensely engrossing and subtly moving. For lovers of good literature this is that rare breed of novel that is both literate and captivating. While moving the reader through the highs and lows of the brothers' lives, it takes one on an intellectual journey that is both edifying as well as frightening. The final paragraph is one of the most chilling I have ever read.
This relatively short novel is indeed well worth one's time.
This novel, based on the true story of the Collyer brothers, found dead in their Harlem brownstone amid tons of debris in 1947, is an exceptional achievement by one of the finest writers of our age. This story of two brothers from a prominent New York family, each dealing with his own profound impairment, is a not so subtle metaphor for human existence and its ultimate conclusions.
Doctorow changes the time frame of their lives, and fills in the sketchy story with his own elaborations. After the two experience profound tragedy early in life, the narrative takes them through most of the century with its wars, fads, and foibles. They meet and interact with a parade of characters, while leading an increasingly cloistered life in the inherited Fifth Avenue manse. The slow deterioration of the house roughly coincides with that of the brothers' physical and mental states. Each is increasingly closed in, both physically and psychologically.
The book is immensely engrossing and subtly moving. For lovers of good literature this is that rare breed of novel that is both literate and captivating. While moving the reader through the highs and lows of the brothers' lives, it takes one on an intellectual journey that is both edifying as well as frightening. The final paragraph is one of the most chilling I have ever read.
This relatively short novel is indeed well worth one's time.
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