Contents

 
  • Title Page
  • Introduction
  • Time in a Mirror - A collection of largely nostalgic poems, encompassing childhood, "coming of age," and witnessing the physical deterioration of my old hometown and surrounding areas.  A few pieces are general ruminations; most are tightly linked to personal experiences.
  • Pictures for a Moment - Four poems from the many pieces of "social protest free verse" I composed.  These, in my estimation, have a bit of lasting power.  For the rest, a fair number saw publication but most faded rapidly in value as time passed and the world changed.
  • Images of an Expanding Universe - This collection includes very few pieces which have previously made their way into print, but this selection includes "the real stuff," the poems that matter. To examine one's life is good; to examine one's society is both pragmatically and ethically desirable; but to probe one's place in the Universe is meaningful.  Of the eighteen poems in this collection, I claim about half a dozen are, in the higher sense, "meaningful." They matter.
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    Time in a Mirror --- Mostly Nostalgic Poems

  • Abandoning History  --- From days writing local history; a theme piece for the collection
  • DreamTime Car Lot --- Entering the mosaic of memory and imagination
  • Spring 1952 --- Beginnings: my beginnings
  • Choosing Memories  --- Memories from childhood
  • Saturday Errands  --- More such memories
  • 1930 (My Dad's First Job)  --- A story
  • Crickets  --- Reflections on childhood
  • Anmoore, W. Va.  --- A tiny, nearby factory town
  • Epiphany --- 1967  --- A moment of adolescent "vision"
  • The Window  --- From college years
  • Dolly Sods -- Rite of Passage  --- More college years
  • The Warehouse  --- And more college years
  • To John Barleycorn, My Old Friend  --- College years
  • Blackwater Falls --- College years
  • The Sinks --- College years
  • Within the Mouth (The Sinks of Gandy) --- College years
  • Durbin --- College years
  • The Farm --- College years
  • The Bridge --- College years
  • North Mountain --- College years or shortly after
  • Sandy's Bed --- College years
  • The Lake --- College years and after
  • Old Friends  --- After and aftermath
  • Fall 1977 --- After and aftermath
  • Missing Links --- After and aftermath
  • Crane Oiler --- After and aftermath
  • Snowlight (Memory) --- Another theme piece
  • Retrospective Squared  --- Memories reconsidered
  • Wilson's Splendid Bread  --- Clarksburg and surroundings
  • Doc Wilkinson --- Clarksburg and surroundings
  • Bricktown --- Clarksburg and surroundings
  • The Goff Mansion --- Clarksburg and surroundings
  • Transition (Fourth Street) --- Clarksburg and surroundings
  • June 5, 1984 --- Clarksburg and surroundings
  • Civilization --- Clarksburg and surroundings
  • Red Fire  --- A slightly different piece
  • Shay # ___   --- Cass Scenic Railroad
  • Coal Tipples, 1962 --- Clarksburg and surroundings
  • West Virginia Gold --- Clarksburg and surroundings
  • Christmas in Clarksburg --- Clarksburg and surroundings
  • Walking the West Fork --- Clarksburg and surroundings
  • Predestination (Road Map) --- Making sense of the mosaic?
  • Dream Shrinking --- Making sense of the mosaic?
  • Walls and Fences --- Making sense of the mosaic?
  • Painting the Archetype  --- Love, lust, and et cetera
  • Cloudwish  --- Love, lust, and et cetera
  • Love Poem  --- Love, lust, and et cetera
  • A Hint  --- Love, lust, and et cetera
  • A Little Mud --- Making sense of the mosaic?
  • Comet Watching --- Making sense of the mosaic?
  • Dogs and Solipsism --- Fun stuff
  • Not Quite Two  --- A neat little guy I observed from my window
  • Perspective --- Morgantown or Fairmont
  • The Terminal --- Clarksburg and surroundings
  • The Basket Weaver --- Making sense of the mosaic?
  • The Junkyard --- Clarksburg and surroundings
  • The Picnic  --- For the skittish among us
  • Winter Complaint --- Fun stuff
  • Light-Seeker --- Making sense of the mosaic? Perhaps!
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    Pictures for a Moment --- Reflections of Social Conscience

  • Lammas, 1983 --- Composed in a moment of unemployment, drought, and summer angst
  • Resignation --- Remember those days when nuclear war appeared all too likely
  • Kiera's Mother --- And those days we dreamed of dismantling the war machine entirely
  • Princess of the Laundromat --- An all too accurate picture
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    Images of an Expanding Universe --- Mystic Verse

  • Ariadne --- A dedication piece to the Lady as she has revealed herself to me.
  • Seeking Silence --- A reflective piece, the beginning of the inquiry
  • Refugee from Carnap's Backpackers --- As the search for consciousness begins on mundane levels
  • Intuition --- The mundane search continues
  • Maturity --- Still mundane, and aware of what stands to be lost
  • Back to the Garden --- Trying, too hard, to make contact
  • Electron --- The discovery of motion and impulse; a taste of what is beneath the surface
  • Meteorite --- The reflection which must follow discovery
  • Libraries --- An invitation to look "through the glass"
  • Shadow Dancer --- An exploration of the cost of life
  • Cutting a Channel in the Sea --- A mundane exploration of purpose
  • The Seamstress Sews a Golem --- A fantasy exploration of purpose
  • Shorelines --- More fantasy, bleak and uncertain
  • The Plain --- As bleakness turns to humor; "destiny was not at home"
  • The Lethe --- Reaching for comprehension; requesting balance
  • Beltaine Eve Sky --- A celebration of all ahead
  • Midsummer Eve --- A celebration mingling past, present, and future
  • A First Star --- Representing the Birth which we fail to see amid images of death.
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