Prodigal Poet
When I was in high school, I fell madly in love with the woman I would someday call my wife. I was a scientist, a logician, a reader of great books. I had found a love of poetry but never for a moment thought that I would be one to try my hand at it. Well, it was my senior year, and there was a poetry contest for young poets. I set myself the task to write a poem for my beloved. I was fortunate enough to have my poem published and before I left to serve a mission I surprised the girl of my dreams with a published version of the poem. We had talked extensively on the phone, gone on several dates, and come to know each other. But this was the ultimate bearing of my soul. The poetry wasn’t even that good, but I found poetry focused the mind and helped to clarify complexity. There is something beautiful about letting silence speak.
Fast forward a couple of years, and I was engaged to that same beautiful woman who will forever be my muse. I studied Spanish and International Studies at the University of Wyoming. I fell in love with Lorca, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Garcilaso de la Vega, Joan Maragall, Miguel Hernández, et al. But as it came time to have children and provide for them, I fell quickly into my comfort zone and fled to technology. I had a deep knowledge of computers, systems, security, etc. that has provided well for my family. But as I look at what the future holds for my family, I have decided to slow down. To return to an unexpected love that the Lord has planted in my heart. I am approaching the Lord in humility. I do not deserve to be filled with poetry. With beauty that comes down from heaven in allegory and mystery. I will return to my Father’s house as a prodigal. One who wasted so much of my life hiding from a yearning that I once had, hiding in the corners of comfort. I will fail. My first drafts won’t be worthy to feed the swine. But I am going home.
What to expect
- Reflections on poems I’ve written and the inspiration behind them
- Notes on typography, stationery, and the typewriter
- Occasional theological meditations
- Anything else I think is important, beautiful, or good.
Stay a while and listen. Like Isaiah, I am a man of unclean lips, but pray that seraphic coals may cleanse my tongue and enlighten my understanding.