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Impromptu Musings: Revised Edition
by Helen Slade
199 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-1685; ISBN 1-4120-1307-0; US$20.00, C$22.95, EUR16.50, £11.50
A newly revised edition of Helen Slade's original work, containing 88 new poems and 10 of the author's paintings.
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About the Book About the Author Table of Contents and Excerpts Catalogue Info
About the Book
Poems condense thoughts and experiences. Art does the same with visual media. Impromptu Musings contains brief excursions into the cosmos, nature, life, people, places, seasons, plants and spirituality. Each section is illustrated by a painting done by the author.
About the Author
I consider myself fortunate as someone who can use poetry and painting as an enjoyable way of self expression and as an interesting process in exploring the human condition.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COSMOS
- UNIVERSE
- FIRE
- COSMIC REVELATIONS
- ORBIT
- TEKTITE
- DISASTER
- ORION
- SOLSTICE
- ECLIPSE 1999
- THE DYNAMICS DANCE
NATURE
- NATURE
- SPIRAL
- QUARTZ
- SUNSET
- BIFURCATION
- THE CROW
- GLOBAL WARNING
- LAKE REFLECTION
- WATCHING CLOUDS
- GARDEN HAIKU
- MILLENNIAL HAIKU
- LIFE
- THE TURMOIL TOUCH
- MEMORY
LIFE
- LIFE
- BE
- THE ACT OF CREATION
- KNOWING
- IDEA
- NO SECOND CHANCE
- JOY
- MEMORIES
- UNIVERSAL FOR EVERYONE
- THINK NEGATIVELY
- ABROGATION
- CONCERT
- INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
- CARD TABLE
- BLUE
- DEATH
- THE VIEW
- CONTEMPLATING CREATIVITY
- LIFE'S PARADOX
- INTERLUDE
- LIFE'S LAMENT
PEOPLE
- DESTRUCTION
- DAIMON
- BOYS - VIAGRA
- SEX DRIVE
- LOVE IS
- THE CONSTANT MIND
- LOST MEMORY
- INSOMNIA
- AVOID THE SACRED
- DESPAIR
- MEN/WOMEN
- BREAKDOWN
- AGONY AND ECSTASY
- RETROCOGNITION
- TEA ROOM
- SOCIALIGHT
- DRAG QUEEN
- NICOTINE
- DUPLESSIS' ORPHANS
- DEAD MR. REDMOND
- DISCORD
- MUSICIAN
- MIKE
- FOR CATULLUS
- HOMAGE TO CATULLUS' POEM FIVE
- JUVENAL, SATIRE NUMBER SIX.
- PHANTOM
- POSSESSED
- ALEXANDER
- PEOPLE - MAKE ME
- JOHNNY NICK
- SKIER
- ARTISTIC
- GOSSIP
- OH COME NOW!
- DON'T WANT
- WE ARE MOVED
PLACES
- SHAMROCK HOMAGE
- I REMEMBER THE FENS
- SWEET MEMORIES
- PENDER HARBOUR - PAST TENSE
- DESERT WINDS
- PERSIAN GARDEN
- RUBÁIYÁT
- RUBÁIYÁT
- THE GORGE TIDE
- CROWDED - CARS - ENGLAND
- DEATH OF A CONE
- TRAFFIC
- ASSYRIAN BAS-RELIEF (BRITISH MUSEUM)
- LAKE DISTRICT - OCTOBER (KIRKSTONE PASS)
- ST. GILES CATHEDRAL EDINBURGH
- RITZ TEA
- ABOVE THE CLOUDS
- GREENLAND UNCOVERED (OCTOBER)
- ISLE
- ROMAN VILLA
- SYDNEY SIGHTS
- CHURCHYARD
- ICE GARDEN
SEASONS
- SPRING
- SUMMER
- AUTUMN - FALL
- A WALK IN THE SNOW
- JANUARY
- MARCH SNOW
- AUTUMN WALK
- SEASONAL CHANGES
PLANTS
- BLUEBELL
- CONVOLVULUS
- ARUM MACULATUM
- SAFFRON
- YELLOW MAPLE
- FUNGUS FORAYS
- SEASONAL FLOWERS
SPIRITUALITY
- LABYRINTHINE
- SEEK TRUTH
- THE SEARCH
- HINDUISM
- BUDDHA
- SUFISM
- NON-DUALITY
- CREATIVITY
- BELIEF
- DUALITY
- DEATH MOMENT
PAINTINGS BY HELEN SLADE
POEMS
SOLSTICE
Slash the circle to the midpoint.
Illuminate the spiral. Reveal the design.
Shine through the roof box
angled to the passage.
Strike the rock pillar.
The sun runs from the celestial equator.
The sun stands still. Stop the ecliptic.
The line of declination points to the galaxy core.
The rays illustrate the southern axis
angling towards galaxy central.
The plane of our solar system flies -
not by chance -
to the region surrounding the galaxy core.
The Ancients knew.
For three days the rays track the triple spiral
but strike the stone basin,
sending the ancestor spirits back on the sunbeam
to the centre of our galaxy.
A soul track which cuts through time.The Mayan calendar predicts that
twelve years past the millennium
on the twenty-second day
of the twelfth month,
at the solstice -
the end arrives.
SUNSET
An opalescent glow emerged from
dark cloud shrouds.
Filmy strata of numerous shades
reflected in a subservient sea.
A pink orange tinged cloud etched sky
forcing the scene to glow
and reflect the death's throe of a
filtered sun's integrated rosy depths,
in a stage set designed by Nature.LIFE
Destiny is what will happen to you.
Concept is what you conceive.
Fate is the chance waiting.
Choice is what you decide.
The only freedom you have is choice
in a pattern of predestination
where will is tangled with events.
Time allows you to prevail
and change the parameters.
You are bound by abilities
freed by opportunities
see the possibilities
activate it;
choose well.BE
Be receptive to vulnerability
open up to stimuli
embrace the unknown
be hospitable to strange
welcome the eccentric
different is acceptable.
Challenge the previous
stir the tranquil
transcend the mundane
agitate the moribund
defy the boring
provoke the comfortable
express an opinion
fear only insipid mediocrity.CONTEMPLATING CREATIVITY
This ability
to translate
the human condition
to feel the spiritual
to express the eternal
to navigate the heart
to interpret the soul
to display the emotion
to unfold the untold
to pierce the passion
to reveal the pleasures
to expose the treasures
to clear the cluttered
to celebrate the natural world
to play with the universal DNA.
AVOID THE SACRED
Load yourself down
with the material burden.
Distract yourself
with the day's demands.
Become busy and involved.
Scramble for your living.
Reach for the next task.
Work yourself to a frazzle.
Torture your timetable.
Suffer burnout.
Make the office your sanctuary,
productivity your goal.
Press a phone to your ear.
Consult your computer.
Arrange another meeting.
Make more plans.
But whatever you do -
do not stop!
Avoid the sacred.RITZ TEA
Chintzy
pinky
rosy
glassy
classy
cheruby
stuffy
flaky
leafy
cream-cakey
sandwichy
harp-musicy
snobby
camera-snappy
touristy
Palm Court ritzy ditzy tea!SEASONAL CHANGES
There is a moment when you can smell
that the Winter sleep is over
and the fresh awakening rain is Spring's harbinger.
The plant push inevitably
brings the green touch
to the top of the soil profile
and shoves the earth quilt aside
for the first snowdrop.
There is a time in Spring
when the light fragrances of hyacinth and narcissus
have tempted Persephone back
to a delighted Demeter.
In Summer the air is heavier with honeysuckle hues.
When glare colours and treacle aromas
seduce bees to penetrate
floral colour coded spectrum petals
and find the nectar-pollen reward.
When people and insects swarm the summer sward.
You can feel the cool touch of an air sigh
on that last summer's day
when August scents fade to September mildews
and Hades beckons a traded maiden back.
Fall is a nutty tumble
into raked leaf piles
and barley bundles
that tell of a harvest finale.
Provocative Indian Summers
which entice the sunning snake
and delay bonfires and drawn smoke curtains.
There is a felt day in Autumn
when mists subside and colours retreat
and leaves and fruits obey the command
to storage mode -
and ploughed fields wait to awaken grain.
When a frozen finger hardens the rain
and points the chilly way to six-sided snowflakes
and brittle lakes.
