PARTLY BROKEN

  The late 1970s had some of the coldest winters ever recorded in the Midwestern part of the country where I grew up. We had days and weeks of wind-chilled temperatures, often below zero. Like my young friends, I adapted well to these conditions. We had free time to burn due to so many days of called-off school, time that we spent sled riding, building snow forts and generally sliding and skating across the frozen landscape. Meanwhile, I kept up with my old habit of hiking alone in the woods and pastures surrounding our suburban neighborhood. One time in particular, I had my sketchbook and journal with me, as usual, in order to record thoughts and images that might occur to me. I was about 16 or 17, still in high school, and several years before I choose to join a monastery to live a contemplative life. The hike took place in the middle of an epic winter snow storm. I started a poem then which I later entitled “Burning Sun”. Burning Sun is basically about a young person seekin...

  The following are revised descriptions of my first two books. It seems that I only understand what I was trying to do with the writing as time passes. ALWAYS PARTLY BROKEN Is he broken, or merely breaking into something new again? Many of us fall in love more than once in our brief lives. Sometimes a former love object, which we thought was safely put to rest, comes alive in us again. Soon, we're wrestling with different versions of ourselves. Raymond Seers, the former Brother Adam, has never been a consistently cautious person. He is a convert back to "normalcy" after his youthful years of reckless, but always earnest, experiments in spiritual-seeking. Now a settled householder and mid-life daydreamer, he cannot seem to forget that he once tried to be a real mystic in a world-famous, monastery. Ghosts of the past haunt his sleep, so much so that he eventually gives himself permission to re-examine the wonder and sense of failure leading to the hard break with his fo...

  Below is a sample of  the method I use throughout the book ,  PARTLY BROKEN POEMS The Beggarly Artist HOSEA 14:3,8 “ We will never again say ‘Our gods’ to what our hands have made.” “ I will answer and care for him… your fruitfulness comes from me.” MARK 12:34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “ You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Jesus was here another time and the beggarly artist dropped his broken tools and ran to meet the Lord. “Master”, he called out, “have mercy on me a poor and desperate sinner! This studio is only a prison without you and I, the trapped warden and inmate, fashion artifacts of no meaning for gods who do not care. Remember my first childish scribbles? It was your Spirit who wrapped my fingers around the crayon that started this artist's journey. But I forgot my fountain, my only source of life. Fear and rivalry tainted my craft and injured my brother’s he...

  About my book PARTLY BROKEN POEMS AND SCRIPTURE PRAYERS This is the link to my newest book:  PARTLY BROKEN POEMS AND SCRIPTURE PRAYERS . I would be thrilled if folks would check it out, at least in order to see the artwork on the cover since I put my heart and soul, (and my grandson Emmett Charles!) into it. Thanks! Ray Every written and published book, I’m discovering, is not just a product, but a journey of the soul. I guess it has always been a dream of mine to be a writer and illustrator of books. Perhaps my older siblings remember that I created my first book when I was a student of my beloved first grade teacher, Mrs. Albers, who I mentioned in my first book, a 95% historically accurate memoir of my life called ALWAYS PARTLY BROKEN. My book for Mrs Albers consisted of stapled-together sheets of smooth 5” x 8” paper that Mom supplied me with. I used markers and crayons to create a lot of cartoon-like pictures surrounded by thick, black, wobbly print. I don...