Language of Light

My poetry, music and art have always been a place for me of supernatural communion between the divine and earthly realms.The liberation of the ordinary is finding the eternal in the moment now-there is a sacred space of connection which transcends time itself and is born through spontaneity and my work has been to attempt to bring forth this language of light.
Thank you for sharing my "Heartsongs”. 

Stopping By A Woods On A Snowy Evening by Robert Frost & Illustrated by Susan Jeffers

This is my Father’s favorite poem, and he read it out loud to my Sister and I many times on cold Virginia Winter nights. It is a visionary and beautiful work, full of transcendental images and mystery that Frost’s conveys quite beautifully and simply. This poem and the wonderful illustrations of this book (along with "The Pasture” by Frost) were the first multimedia experiences I had with poetry as well (long before William Blake and Jim Morrison in College). The artwork is an amazing compliment to the poetry and makes story time a joy. Frost’s "The Pasture” was also a  poem performed by Cadets in the Virginia Tech Glee club that I discovered in my Father’s old record collection with him singing on it and these works opened the door of possibility for me in terms of what poetry could be. When I found this book again I sent it to my Dad, it was a gift he gave me and my Sister long ago that changed my life forever.

https://www.livejournal.com/away?to=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FStopping-Woods-Snowy-Evening-Robert%2Fdp%2F0525467343

The River of Swans/ Vandalia

I recall finding a book about the history of Washington DC (where I was born) in the library of a College that  I was teaching in the Summer of 1995. The Potomac River was once called The River of Swans by the Nacotchtank people,  I had a vision of the Swans and drew them right away as a sketch. Monet’s painting was a great inspiration for the art that would soon be as well, a print of his Water Lillies hung in our Teachers shared office.
Later I would write a continuation of the River of Swans poetry titled Vandalia, a book of memories. The River of Swans (the Potomac) would flow out of Vandalia, an early name chosen for West Virginia.

8/23/2023

The River of Swans and Vandalia are linked together in the same way that Advent (Alpha) is with Advent (Omega), yet these two collections of poems were not written in direct succession, but 18 years apart.

11/23/2023

https://www.artwanted.com/imageview.cfm?id=100088

https://www.artwanted.com/imageview.cfm?id=1710139

The First Books of Poetry

The first books of poetry I bought back in 1988 or so were The Lords & The New Creatures by Jim Morrison (Simon & Schuster 1970) and Arthur Rimbaud's Complete Works Translated by Paul Schmidt (Harper & Row 1976) and they were both life altering for me. Both Authors were Transcendental visionaries that had written an astonishing array of poetry in a short period of time before dissapearing completely at a young age. Jim Morrison was so influenced by Arthur Rimbaud that he corresponded directly with Professor Wallace Fowley, who had written a new translation of Rimbaud’s poetry in the late 60’s. Both of these books opened up a new way of experiencing the ordinary world to me and challenged the way I thought poetry should be presented, and both would end up being some of my greatest influences as a Poet and still inform my work to this day. I still have both books here with me, they continue to convey the deep human longing and divine mystery (which is at the heart of the center of any real poetry), and to inspire and to transform again and again what I believe poetry can be.

The Lords and the New Creatures @
www.amazon.com/dp/0671210440/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_PYYZMC6DWJBE1S038FX4
Arthur Rimbaud: Complete Works @
​www.amazon.com/dp/0060955503/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_D691MPNW2HP1EQ8W3S2V 
​Rimbaud and Jim Morrison: The Rebel as Poet @
www.amazon.com/dp/0822314452/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_AT7J2YBTBF1C1HFHWZ8G

The Beginning of The End

I know you
wed the
Poet Soul, O
Marina/
Truer
eyes like
forever
Can you
still see
into me
back there?

Treasures of
deep promises/
of your
poems & remembrances,
silver bracelets
beside each
delicate hand/

O Your poems
& love
still speak of
forever
& now/
One living
"heartsong"
w/in the
eternal
now.

For Marina Tsvetaeva
9/5/2023

Wilderness/The American Night

 The miracle of both Wilderness and The American Night by Jim Morrison arrived just around the time I began to write poetry. I have always said that Jim Morrison’s poetry is far more significant than most people realize.  The poems in both books are extraordinary and have been life changing for me.

8/30/2023

Lyric Poetry

 Early on in 1989-92 (with Crayon and Dirty Pictures) I began to attempt to incorporate elements of my poetry into the lyric content of the music with our bands. By the time we started to work on The Spiritworld in 1993 and later Spectral Arts and Project Morning Star.  I began to use all of the poetry as the lyric content, making the transistion from attempting to write traditional lyrics for any given song.  Poetry has always been foundational to what I do, I am a self taught painter and an “outsider artist" and the art that took shape in the early years for me was often oriented to a specific poem and meant to illustrate some elements of it.

6/17/2023