Summer Poetry (2000)
The verses of summer
grow ever wild
like seeds of delight
in a restless child.
Soft is the plume
of a willow's rush
laden with leaves
as a hedgerow bush.
Many a rhyme was nurtured here
amid the bloom of a lover's tear.
|
|
The Secrets of Blaney's Mountain, a mystery adventure, was written in collaboration with
Carrie Chesney, a noted Canadian author, and is in search of a publisher. It is the story of
Professor Carl Blaney and a group of his University of Tennessee archaeology students,
specifically Alesandra Davis and Michael Stanley Gant.
Professor Blaney takes his students on a dig to a mountain that the kids have dubbed
Blaney's Mountain. While examining the inside of a cave, an earthquake causes the floor
to open and swallow Alesandra and Michael. This event acts as a catalyst for the many secrets
buried deep within Blaney's Mountain to come to light.
Wilbur (Bubba) Grubbs was older and grayer like some old movie character. He fit the mold of a typical mountain man. Brandon and Lewis were assigned to his team. He chattered incessantly to the boys about other rescues in which he participated. They, in turn, peppered him with questions about unexplored caves in the area. Bubba told of Indian myths in which ancient Cherokee spirits allegedly visited the mountain. "Even to this day," he went on, "folks hereabouts claim to hear the echo of tribal drums in the night and ghostly lights that come and go. Brighter than the sun, they say. Course you might not hold with ghosts and the like, but I believe in some of those old Indian stories. I'm part Cherokee myself, you know."
Alesandra had a dream that night. "There were eerie spirits all around me, wanting me to join in their ghostly dance. They led me to a secret cavern lit by two bright lights overhead that shone like beacons. I watched the lights disappear as if swallowed up in the darkness. Then the spirits retrieved them, and they grew dim and brightened again until they rose suddenly from the ground like balls of fire. They continued to rise until they left the cave and found their rightful place in the sky, where they became stars."
ON THE SHELF
Projects completed or in-progress and awaiting publication consideration:
Somewhere The Sun Is Shining (But Not Here) -
Our daily adventures provide many opportunities for a giggle, chortle, cackle, snigger, titter, guffaw or an explosive belly laugh. This book is approximately 49,000 words in length and filled with anecdotes that trigger everyone's funny bone. On its pages are vignettes of life in which readers are encouraged to smile, grin, giggle, or a burst of laughter to erupt if so inclined.
I Wanted To Be Tall But Came Up Short -
The title of this book stems from being the smallest guy in the crowd. Life seemingly goes out of its way to harass, hassle, pique, vex and otherwise annoy us smaller guys. Seldom to tall people mix with us and vice versa. Perhaps we seek mutual aid and comfort by subconsciously selecting our friends who are similarly challenged. Because we are ever aware of our shortcomings, all the other nuisances we encounter appear to be much more unbearable. I made a list of such pesky irritants, and I present them here for others of my own kind in mutual sympathy.
Soldiers One And All -
Jefferson Barracks was an army post carved from the Missouri wilderness to furnish a military entourage for wagon trains carrying settlers to the westward prairies. I grew up here as an army brat in the midst of uniforms, parades and military traditions. I played childhood games in the illustrious shadows of Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, William Tecumseh Sherman, George Armstrong Custer, and John J. Pershing.
Years later, it lay quietly reflecting memories of its history - intrusive creaking leather saddles, horses snorting on cold winter mornings, the rumbling of artillery caissons, blue-clad troopers and soldiers in khaki. I returned to this place of my youth seeking ghosts of many yesterdays. I found them everywhere.
|
