Spilling the Ink of My Soul

S. Duffin Joanne

Description

Joanne and Marcus's poetry is an adventure into the heart of self-expression. Their poetry was written to assuage their deepest sorrows and disappointments, countenance their joys, comfort friends, celebrate special occasions, and help dissect and understand the intricacies and workings of the breathing world and the vast and marvelous universe beyond. Their poetry is sensitive and thought-provoking, timely and timeless, personal and yet universal. Read diverse, yet compelling, subject matters such as Africa, love, family, philosophy, patriotism, nature, as well as self-discovery, and death within these pages. Together, let's journey into the core of America's new literary voices as they share their heart and mind with us in this new work, Spilling the Ink of My Soul.

Sujets

• Poetry

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 30 novembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781641829618
• Langue: English

Extrait

Spilling the Ink of My Soul
A Mother and Son’s Journey
Joanne S. Duffin and Marcus L. Duffin
Austin Macauley Publishers
2020-11-30
Spilling the Ink of My Soul About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © Special thanks to: Family Your Beginning For Maddox Child of Light Fingerprints Fireflies For Al and Colleen Africa Ghana! Dear Ghana! The Children’s Smiles I’ve Passed Through Your Door For Veronica I Will Sing a Song of Ghana Mandela Philosophical The Creative Fire Discovery For Steven Stars God, Have You Forgotten Me? Going Deep One More Time Words Friendship Patriotic The Patriot Raise the White Flag Love Our New Normal For Steven The Way Things Stay For Steven You Are My Spring Touch Me Now Lovemaking The Dance of the Naked What If? I Am Your Home You Are My Ocean The Long Goodbye For Joni Joy The Choice Self-Discovery I Am Enough! For Maya Quasar: My Star What Is My Destiny? Lifeline My Grown-Up Life Like a Band-Aid I Have Given All My Energy Away Depression Nature Tulips The Dawning The Juniper Settling In Death Feel the Warmth Seasons Together Nothing Is Ever Lost Evergreen Faith Shine On! Marcus’ Poetry Spilling the Ink of My Soul Fury, Terror, and Beauty On the Fear of Change Choice Defines Destruction Do Not Rely on Outside Belief Drugs Motto of Science Music Path of Self-Realization Stop the Running What Drives Us
About the Author
Joanne S. Duffin has been a writer nearly all her life, from her early days at Riverside Polytechnic High School in California, under the excellent tutelage of Mr. William Bell in Honours English, to the present. However, it wasn’t until ten years ago that she accepted a challenge from her husband to try her hand at poetry. Since then, she has written poetry for herself and others. She has been married for 43 years and is the proud mother of four grown children and eight grandchildren. A Renaissance woman, Joanne is also an award-winning photographer, a published author, a songwriter, an entrepreneur, an enthusiastic gardener, and loves interior design.
Marcus L. Duffin began writing poetry in 2007, shortly after venturing off on his own to find his path, personally and professionally, while starting graduate school. It was during this period of transition and growth that he felt inspired to put his thoughts and emotions onto paper to describe the changes happening in his life. As of today, he has been with his wife for 9 years and they have an 18-month-old son. He is an owner of three companies and has one pending and two issued patents. For fun, he enjoys inventing, anything outdoors, and going on motorcycle tours.
Dedication
Joanne would like to dedicate this book to the ultimate poet, her father, Vinson Douglas Stephenson, who gifted her with his poetry throughout her life.
Marcus would like to dedicate this book to two people who provided him with guidance and inspiration during his life and the construction of his poetry. Mahatma Gandhi taught that anyone can become the change they wish to see in this world and this perspective truly helped him overcome times of adversity. He would also like to thank the original author of the Serenity Prayer , who taught him to be patient and accept the changes happening in his life.
Copyright Information ©
Joanne S. Duffin and Marcus L. Duffin (2020)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.
Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
Ordering Information
Quantity sales: Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data
Duffin, Joanne S. and Duffin, Marcus L.
Spilling the Ink of My Soul
ISBN 9781643786445 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781643782089 (Hardback)
ISBN 9781641829618 (ePub e-book)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020912225
www.austinmacauley.com/us
First Published (2020)
Austin Macauley Publishers LLC
40 Wall Street, 28th Floor
New York, NY 10005
USA
[e-mail]
[phone]
Special thanks to:
Mr. William Bell
(Honours English teacher, Riverside Polytechnic
High School, Riverside, California, 1972–1973)
Carol Lynn Pearson
(Author, poet, and playwright)
Dr. Steven R. Duffin
(Husband)
Alfred Lord Tennyson
(Poet, specifically his poem “Ulysses”)
Family
Your Beginning

For Maddox
You began as a thought
A wish, a prayer.
Warm and round
Pure and everlasting, you came
From the shallows of our hopes
To the depths of our longings.
How could we have known
Your entrance into the light
Would herald a new day
A new life
A vision of eternity
For three separate souls
Now made one:
A unit, a family.
We hold you tenderly
Feel your warmth
Skin to skin
Upon our breasts
The dream remaining
Paramount and sacred
In our grateful hearts.
Oh, that we, as your parents
Your guardians
Will bless and guide you!
Oh, that your eyes will open
Potential realized
Love, known!
Feel, oh son
The dawn of your awakening!
Look to the future:
Your vision clear of impediment
Your past, a distant echo
Of your former life.
From God
You have been sent
Wrapped in forgetfulness
The Book of Life opened
Ready for experience
The elixir of life
To be revealed to you!
Yes, this is your beginning!
Child of Light
As morning breaks
You are born
Out of the womb’s darkness
Into life’s light.
From the mountain tops
Has come the news of your birth
Heralding to all
Your joyous entrance into the world.
For such a day as this
You have come forth
Your purpose clear
Your talents known.
You are swaddled in blankets
By the clear light of love
As familiar voices
Whisper their ancient songs.
Hear now your mother’s longing
That echoes in your slumber.
Hear now the low timbre
Of your father’s wishes
And the tender cadence
Of your brother’s prayer.
You are now blessed
With a family’s kiss
Upon your cheeks of gold
And nurtured
On your mother’s breast
With the milk of wisdom and knowledge.
Listen well, young son
To those who will serve you
In this world.
Listen well to the words
That will guide you home.
Now, fret not
Your temporary blindness
All will be revealed.
Forgetfulness will give way
And clarity of vision
Will be yours
As if a diamond of truth.
So, welcome child of light!
Welcome to your earthly home!
Fingerprints
The mirror
Faithfully reflects my image
Day after day
Since you’ve been gone.
To a stranger
One might think
I live alone
For there is little evidence
Beyond your clothes
Neatly hanging in the closet
That another lives here.
Last week
I cleaned the mirror
Where once your fingerprints lingered
But they have been wiped away
As though you never existed at all.
Now, as days turn into weeks
And you are still gone
I am missing those fingerprints
The tiny, oily stains
That are distinctly yours
Bearing a code unique to you!
Your mother once told me
She kept fingerprints of our children
Long after our visits…
Kept them up
Those smeared, swirled reminders
Of love and familial experience
To keep the memories alive longer…
I am yearning for you
Looking now purposefully
For other oily stains of you
Fingerprints of love
To bring you home to my heart.
These fingerprints
Will remain untouched
Physical reminders of you
No cloth will wipe away!
I will be here when you return!
It is then our arms
Will lock in sweet embrace
And our fingerprints
With their ancient dialect
Will be intertwined, once again!
Fireflies

For Al and Colleen
Bedtime comes
Soft and gentle.
The noise of today
Coalesces into a whisper
As summer’s night
Eases into a cool decrescendo.
Outside a young father
The oldest in a family
Of thirteen children
Smells the thick Southern air
Bedecked with climbing roses
Wisteria, and peonies
And waits until the light of day dims
For his prize to appear.
In her crib lies his daughter, two
Afraid of the dark.
He cannot always be with her
When the sun’s rays fade
And darkness falls.
As a young boy
And the eldest
He discovered
To the delight of his younger siblings
A way to capture light
And keep it
Sustain it through the night
Like magic fairy dust
Sprinkled about…
On this night
The sunset is brilliant
And the last vestiges of color are
Nearly gone.
In the air, they appear before him
The tiny fireflies
Their bodies pulsating with light.
One by one he gathers them
Cupped in his hand
And tenderly places them
In a simple Ball jar.
As night’s blackness
Caresses the valleys and hillsides
Of Mother Earth
The jar of fireflies
Lights his path home.
There his daughter stirs in her crib
Whimpering still as darkness