Tattered

This collection of poems was written over the past three years. They represent my late-life perspectives on our changing world and my person journey of introspection given the changes that have come to my life and country. As I prepared the manuscript I naturally re-read my words and edited some of the lines. While doing so, I learned that some of my poems had remained true to their original message; while others took on new meanings. Some seemed to be rewriting me on the inside in some way as I read them. The process has been both revealing and disquieting in some ways. Tattered has touched me, invited me to question and rethink my world, and to endeavor to work to make the world a better place for us all.In this moment something new has come. In the words of Wendell Berry: "... after Pearl Harbor, our voices sounded different to us, as voices do in a house after an outside door has blown open."It has been like that at our house since the sharp soundlessness changed on January 6th slicing us through and through. We now live in a war torn country of silent screams and unspoken dangers; perhaps it has always been so. Hate has smashed faith. Fear has trampled our trust that people are mostly good. Speech is avoided and is not free; only the mindless, the dying, and the dead speak out reminding us of what is important. Yes, our voices do sound different when we dare to utter the truth; whispers inside want to be heard. But do we dare to be honest, now that the other is us.I hope Tattered speaks to that part of you that may need some attention.