Draft Prologue for Dancing Words: A Few Poems
Below, I share the draft prologue of my upcoming book of poetry. What do you think? Would you want to read it? Any suggestions?
PROLOGUE
I wrote these eighty-five poems during fifty-five years from twenty-one to seventy-five years of age, 1965 to 2020. Major themes include: Wisdom, the Ultimate, Love of Family, Death and Grief, Falling in Love, the Beauty of the Hudson River, and Contemplation of Planet Earth. Other themes include: War and Peace, Mystery, Dialogue, Life, Love, Pilgrimages, the Cosmos, Dance, and Social Artistry. They were written to be read aloud. I love the sound of the words, the alliterations, the word plays, the repetitions, the surprises, the drama of it all.
The earliest is an anti-war poem written in 1965 when I was at Oklahoma State University and published in OSU’s “Soliloquy”. The next poem was written in 1974 commemorating the adoption of my son in South Korea. I wrote sixteen poems in Caracas in 1987-88. This was a dynamic time of the ending of our family Order, the beginning of the Institute’s Whole System Transition, the exploration of the New Paradigm, and encountering the creative work of Jean Houston. Then, I wrote one poem in 1990; twenty in 2003 - 2005 after my wife’s passing; and nineteen in 2006 – 2020, from the time I fell in love again to the present. The dates of composing most of my poems are uncertain.
Why have I written poetry on and off during my adult life when my professional work has focused on enabling sustainable and just development and leadership in communities, organizations, individuals, and countries? Poetry for me is a language of truth telling, of interrupting the rational, analytical mind, of creating a vision that includes galaxies and flowers, of expanding one’s sense of time and space, of standing before the comprehensive, intentional, archaic, and futuric, of observing, reflecting, interpreting, and being decisive, of honoring and loving, of surprise and playfulness, and of experiencing radical aliveness in each fleeting moment.
My undergraduate degree is in English literature; and, I have always had a love for words, language, poetry, and nonfiction. Some of my favorite American and English poets include Emily Dickinson, e. e. cummings, T. S. Elliot, Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, and D. H. Lawrence; and favorite non-English poets include Nikos Kazantzakis, and Rumi. I have published two previous books, written chapters in another six, and been general editor and/or contributor for five others. I have also written numerous speeches, policy papers, course syllabi, essays, regular journal entries, blog posts, and social media posts.
Welcome to Dancing Words: A Few Poems. I hope you enjoy them and find your mind and heart touched and moved.