Books
Sun and Shadow is a collection of short poems touching on everything from love, loss and forgiveness, to the endless confusion of ordinary life. While the book may seem autobiographical, most to the poems are from a third person viewpoint. Written in an observational style, Sun and Shadow may seem less a book of poetry than relatable thoughts we all share over coffee. Every reader will find at least one poem that seems to have been written for them.
I wish you had known me before.
Long ago, the younger me,
before my fall and the fall before that.
I wish you had known the person I was,
so you could understand how far I'm traveled
to be the person I am.
A Thousand Paper Thoughts: poems from an ordinary mind, covers all manner of emotions, laying bare the joys and sorrows of human existence in a style that is simple in its voice, yet striking in its condor. Written in an intimate tone, many of the works read as if shared over a cup of coffee. Throughout this largely autobiographical collection is mined a gamut of experiences, from the loss of love to the words of advice given to my younger self.
During those rare moments
when I'm feeling very confident
and awfully hopeful,
I imagine that maybe, just maybe,
I'm not your stepping stone
to someone else.
That perhaps those before me
were your stepping stones to me.
The latest by
Jim Steele
Jim Steele's seventh book is an expansive collection of micro-poems. There is no subject off-limits in these brief, thought-provoking poems, touching on everything from love and death to how social expectations have touched the poetry community.
A great addition to your poetry library.
Awakening At Twilight is poetry written from the vantage point of a long life. It reflects how even years of experience don't always answer the questions that we all have about love, loss, aging, and life in general. I've learned that these twilight years have opened my eyes to aspects of everything in life that I never considered in my youth. The truth is - I see life and everything it encompasses much differently that I did even a couple of years ago. As as I change, what I write about changes too.
It rained during your funeral.
The clouds and sky, grieving alongside me,
soaked my face as I looked toward heaven.
So, I closed my eyes and told myself
that the clouds and I were only raining.
But even when the clouds cleared, I rained still.
Simple Truths is a collection of poetry rooted in faith and inspiration. While some poems offer praise, others have an edge and are a testament to our society's regard to faith and those that express it. Many of the poems are brief and thought provoking. All are born of an unwavering, ever-growing faith and the lifelong learning that comes with it.
In our last moments, it will all crystalize
according to plan. Only then will we realize that
our whole life has been but a single small
piece of an infinite puzzle.But we need not
feel unimportant. For, as with all puzzles, His too
is incomplete until every piece has found its place.
In his reflective fifth book of poetry, Facets, Jim Steele lays out the whole trajectory of a man's perspective on love, loss, aging, and how his own small world grapples with the larger, changing world. His vulnerable, common man viewpoint draws in the reader in a way that makes his very personal experiences relatable and thought provoking - he writes what many of us think and feel.
Lightning travel down from its cloud home in search of something more. Something it could not know,
a thing beyond its own world. Its jagged light reached
down, humbling itself to the confines of gravity and dirt.
But it was unwelcome-- it touch was harmful and feared.
Only then did it understand that its existence was never
about touching earth. It was about lighting up heaven
on the way down.
In his sixth collection of poetry, Jim Steele takes the subjects of love, heartbreak, grief, and everyday joy and reveals his most human side. He writes from viewpoints ranging from inside the womb, to that of a dying tree. Deeply reflective and with perfect cadence, Everything Left Alone Remain Beautiful flows with unapologetic honesty. You'll find yourself in these pages.
... and every night that he dreamed of her, he would light another candle. By the time he died, the glow was so bright, that the life orbiting Orion finally noticed Earth and thought it was a star.