Prodigal's journal

This manuscript spans eight years of writing and a lifetime of experiences. The divisions are based upon thematic content within the poems, and the cohesive thread which binds the sections together is the distinctly southern voice in which the manuscript is written.

Empathy for someone else's pain, by speaking with their voice through the use of the persona technique, stretches the poet's imagination beyond normal limits. In "Someone Else's Voice," I use negative capability to take on the persona of the narrator, creating voices not easily accessible to me. Dream therapy, a technique sometimes practiced to help people see themselves more clearly, was the catharsis for the poems in "The Dream Poems" section. The rich details in each poem build on the subconscious qualities to lend realistic authenticity. Love poetry should have an underlying passion which speaks to the reader in subtleties. In "Token Love Offerings," lyric poems attempt to establish this quiet passion. "Spiritual Renderings" is a section encompassing poems in a variety of formats, all dealing with reflections on my faith in God. Turning inward is inevitable in poetry, and the "Looking In" section focuses on self-awareness; there is also a Spanish translation of one poem. "The Smiley Series" is a collection of dirges and elegies written about a close friend who died. "Glimpses of Others" offers poems which evoke pathos--word portraits of people and personified animals and nature. "New Poems" is a collection of four poems written over the last two months; the title poem for the manuscript appears in this section.