Journey of the Soul

About the Book

Journey of the Soul is a collection of poems written to celebrate an awareness of things spiritual, a wonder at the natural world and an observation of the common place. The book is laid out in six parts, covering such themes as Christianity, love, relationships, Northern Ireland , and Pakistan reflections. The poetry is unashamedly written from a Christian perspective and reflects the full kaleidoscope of the poet's experience. This is the eighth collection of poems by Brian Callan and the poems within this collection, with the exception of those reflections on Pakistan, have all been written within the last five years. The Northern Ireland poems reflect the thoughts of someone growing up on the border of Northern Ireland, with close friends on both sides of the thirty years of conflict. The Pakistan poems reflect the experience of the poet in the early eighties as he traveled there for ten weeks. Other poems explore the poet's relationship with God, with his family and touch on the experience of such diverse topics as watching a leaf dance in the wind to losing a child. The poet's deepest hope is that the collection will contain at least one or two poems that each of us will want to remember.

About the Author

Brian Callan was born in 1959 and grew up in Dundalk, Ireland. He attended Dundalk Vocational School where he was introduced to the world of poetry by Michael Corrigan and the world of chemistry by Michael Stewart. He graduated with a B.Sc and Ph.D in chemistry from University College Dublin and subsequently worked as an environmental scientist for the Irish Government. Brian currently works as Quality Director in the Cork plant of the medical device manufacturer, Boston Scientific Corporation. He has authored or co-authored seven previous poetry books and over thirty scientific articles or papers. He was awarded the inaugural Institute of Chemistry of Ireland award for achievement in environmental chemistry in 1993. Brian is married to Jan and they have had three children, Robert, Michelle and Nicola. Sadly, Robert died at just five days and Nicola after just eight months. Brian is a local preacher and Sunday School teacher with the Methodist Church in Cork. Brian has been writing poetry for almost forty years and his last book Suitcase of the Soul contained a collection of fifty poems which were awarded first prize in the ICTHUS New Millennium Poetry Competition in 1999.