Poet & Author

Where does courage for your calling come from? It comes from a place deeper than words. For deeper than words is the Word. Deeper than the abstract is the incarnate. And if language is to be good, it must be in covenant with the truth. And if the truth is to be good, it must offer us the choice to give ourselves freely to it. In a word, it must be beautiful.

And—as Solzhenitsyn said—if the proud arm of unbelief removes the trees called the True and the Good from the garden, chopping them to stumps, then the tree called Beauty, pushing up from the homely root of self-giving love, will stretch out her bows and do the work of all three.

Recent Poems

The Other Side of Myself

A poem on being a third-culture person, also known as third-culture individual (TCI) or third-culture kid (TCK). These are souls whose growing-up years included an element significantly different than the culture of their parents or home nationality. I would like to thank my Iraqi acquaintances who grew up in the Netherlands for inspiring me to write this.

The Artist

A poem about a painter contemplating his palette of colors and the canvas before him. In honor of artist Larry Dyke, 1936-2023.

Jim Alford on His 90th

A poem in honor of my father-in-law Jim Alford on his 90th birthday, October 2, 2023. Born in Waco, Jim lived and worked in Brownsville, Texas, near South Padre Island, for 83 years. He now resides in Weslaco with Glenda his wife of 63 years.

Books

“What a delight to read new literature in the tradition of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.” ~ Brian O.