Soul Seeds & Other Early Poems

This book is a collection of my early poetry from when I first started writing in 1967 to a few from the late 90s.

The poem sample is from 1994, my last Birthday poem...

Soul Seeds

I imagine my soul to be, in part,
The essential idea
Of one of those ancient sailing ships;
Its body, shaped from materials at hand
To withstand the ambiguous welter
Of wind and water,
Balances against the potential threat
The strength of canvas, rope, wood, and human wit.

In the cargo hold are seeds,
Seeds of our deepest human dreams.

Soul seeds.

I imagine all that's not my soul
To be a fluid expanse
Of unceasing destruction and creation,
An incalculable Mystery
In which ship and water
Are bound together.

Somewhere in this sea of wonder
I imagine a far-off island,
A fertile place
Where the seeds I carry,
Some long dormant,
Will flourish and become embodied.

Knowing it exists
Is more important
Than getting there
Although getting there
Is important.
Knowing it exists
Gives me the courage to face anything.

I call this distant island
Ameri