Around the World on a Metaphor

The poems in Around the World on a Metaphor are inspired by travel and by coming home. Three parts of this collection are from previous chapbooks, locally produced and distributed. Most of the poems have not been seen outside the State of Washington. They represent twenty years of writing and teaching and traveling, sometimes all three together done together. Part I is based on teaching in China for three months in 2002 as the exchange professor from Peninsula College in Port Angeles, Washington. Part II is from a vacation in 2008 that included Amsterdam, Cairo and two cruises on the Nile. The poems in Part III were inspired in 1999 by one of my colleagues, Alice Derry, specifically her book of poetry about her relatives in East Germany, Strangers to Their Courage, whose influence then resulted in a trip to Germany, land of my ancestors. Part IV is all new poems, based on my recent diagnosis with cancer. Had it not been for the immediacy of my current situation, this book might never have come into existence. The overriding metaphor here is that life is a journey from East to West, from Sunrise to Sunset. Given the nature of Part IV, it is a work in progress and will remain that way up to the very end, but this book calls out to be published, so it does end on a final note that was written very early in the process. See you on the other side ...