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I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can

by Charol Messenger

239 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #05-2148; ISBN 1-4120-7253-0; US$19.95, C$22.94, EUR16.39, £11.47

A startlingly honest portrait of a woman's sensuality, sexuality, and spirituality...and the seeming madness of a passionate life. Visual and emotional narratives on romantic love and the soul.

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About the Book

Reviews

About the Author

Excerpts

Catalogue Information

About the Book A startlingly honest portrait of a woman's sensuality, sexuality, and spirituality . . . and the seeming madness of a passionate life. Visual and emotional narratives on romantic love and the soul, a lifetime of falling in and out of love and the agonies of infatuations. For anyone who has searched for true love.

CONTENTS

Now:

Now

Before:

Collie of My Youth, My Doggone Dog

Epitaph of a Marriage:

My Husband Was Not the Lover I Left Behind:

Second Love, Honorable You, Aura of Love, Mirror in My Mind, You, Depression, Good Man

Romance Marriage:

My Once True Love, Escape, Husband End, Divorce, Aftershock, Umbilical Cord, Doubt

One Fantasy to Another:

Parting, Limbo, Light, Remember Me, A Curtain Rises, Winter Soul

Liberated Woman:

Single Again, Six Nights of Insomnia, Masquerade, Enchantment, Ravel's Bolero, Poet, White Night, King of Cups, Where Is the Sun?, November Morning, Mister Light Eyes, Vulnerable, I The Fool, Ancient Love, Man in Suspenders and Red Plaid, Don You Again?, Bear Hug, Rejection Risk, Dangerous Man, Fear, Dream Husband, Wakened, Sunshine on Snow, Smile Hello, Silver Star, My Sunday Afternoon & Evening at the End of Your Ski Trip, The Other Woman Is a Pair of Skis, Monarch, Convention City, Mr. Policeman, I Have Your Face to Remember, The Lioness Den, You Like My Cat Gypsy, Birthday No. 30, The Umpteenth Time, Without You, Hope, Waking

A Truer Self:

Mellowing Beneath a Yellow Huge Balloon, Conception, Convalescing, An Engagement of My Peers In Search of My Mission, Eversharp, Eyes, Before I Fly, Saturday Nights

Ray The Good: Kinderling, Releasing, Flicker, Character, Dedication, After

Nearer Peace: Flying, Whole, Stepmother, Grandmother, My Lantern, Serenity

Reflections:

Abyss, Shadows, Scrutiny, Pledges, Deepen, Dare, Fruit, Birth, Greeting

The Sacred Now:

The Sacred Now

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Reviews

"Sometimes raw, and always honest, Charol Messenger's poems illuminate the human condition. They remind me of what it's like to fall in love, and have your heart broken - again and again. I especially enjoyed following the growth of a young woman enveloped in the world of her senses through to her spiritual awakening. Charol's honesty and willingness to make herself vulnerable through her writing are unusual and moving."

- Susan Paturzo, software designer

"Riveting, touching, very emotional. It made me cry."

- Joanne Crabb, elder caretaker and office manager

"A brilliant collection of poems about fragile times in our lives. Relating to Charol's less-than-perfect loves, we can see mirror images of our lost chances. She bares her soul - literally - and keeps us transfixed as she abandons herself into the journey of her spiritual awakening. When restored and renewed, Charol exemplifies the wonder of who we are and who we would like to be. This book is one that I will read... and read again."

- Noel Brock, author of The Lady in Blue and director of ancillary sServices in a Georgia hospital.

"Charol Messenger's writing reminds me of Hemmingway, with mood pieces in images and feelings like emotional snapshots."

- Keith Klein, architect, former mayor of South Lake Tahoe

"Pure aesthetic delight. Some seem to be genius. I tried to imagine myself writing any of these . . . and I could not do it. ALL are truly inspired. A museum of fine art where the whole collection tells a very personal story. Looking at each poem is like standing in front of a great work of art, staring, thinking, trying to fathom it...then finally seeing it, and walking away much more enlightened and pleased."

- Barbara Munson, journalist, book editor and ghostwriter, author of Gilly: The Humble Crusader

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About the Author

When black patent-leather shoes and petticoats were in, Charol was a tomboy and undaunted adventurer. In West Texas, her fifth-grade teacher at a small country schoolhouse told Charol she could write. Me? It took only a little bit of encouragement to bolster this redhead's confidence. She wrote her first novel that year. She was eager... and she had a dream.

The first of Charol's thirty published narrative verses came during high school; two won awards in national anthologies. During junior college, boys occupied all of her attention so she didn't resume creative writing until after her divorce many years later. Looking for love in disco clubs, after years of impetuous one-night stands, infatuations and countless heartbreaks, she turned once again to writing and poured her desire into creative passion. The still small inner voice of her soul arose with great clarity and light filled all of her dark inner corners. Committed to the graceful light within, Charol discovered compassion, which freed the burden on her heart and taught her forgiveness.

Charol's first book, The New Humanity, won a 2002 CIPA Book Award. She has published 125 articles, book reviews, short stories, and book excerpts... and has several books in development. As a clairvoyant and higher-self teacher, Charol has counseled over 11,000 individuals. Her newsletter, Global Citizen, reached an international audience in the 1980s. In 2004, she founded Books for Iraq, a nonprofit charity that sends donated books to Iraqi children and adults to inspire hope and provide tools for self-determination. Charol graduated from the University of Colorado with a B.A. in English and literature, philosophy and world religions. Today, she is a freelance book editor and ghostwriter living in Denver.

I'm Dancing As Fast As I Can is one woman's journey from perpetual bottomless despair and yearning for love to discovering and embracing the lightness of being.

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Excerpts

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Catalogue Information

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