Inner Doors

By Robert Reed Paul Thomas

I am a visual storyteller by trade. I've created imagery in one form or another most of my life as a photographer, graphic designer, and motion graphics designer. I discovered the enjoyment of creating imagery through words quite by accident.

I was in my mid thirties, and while I enjoyed reading, I had never given any thought to writing until one day when I found myself sitting in front of a blank card. My niece Karen Elizabeth had invited me to her high school graduation and I wished to express my hopes for her future as well as my admiration for what she had already accomplished. Somehow, "congrats" didn't quite cover it. After a few stumbles and false starts, the poem 'Karen Elizabeth' was written. Luckily for everyone involved, the 'roses are red, violets are blue' version went by the wayside rather early on.

To my complete surprise, I then found myself with pen in hand every spare moment over the next few years. What I lacked in talent and skill, I made up for with determination. A few classes and a couple years of making myself get up at poetry slams, and I discovered that I had written what amounted to a resume of my being.

As this collection developed, I came to believe that I would someday meet the woman for whom I had imagined this resume was being written. To that end I had lovingly placed each piece into a red leather binder as it was finished. Years later I did meet her, and although fate did not choose a happily ever after for us, the writing remained. Such is life. So in your travels if you happen to meet a woman with a red leather binder of my poems and stories, please say hello for me and give her my love.

Robert Reed Paul Thomas

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert Reed Paul Thomas
• Release date: Jan 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311768926

Robert Reed Paul Thomas

The following is in reference to the novel, "Forest & Kingdom Balance"I am a visual storyteller by trade. I’ve created imagery in one form or another most of my life as a photographer, graphic designer, and motion graphics designer. I grew up enthralled by classic science fiction. H. Beam Piper, McCaffrey, Heinlein, Herbert, Dickson, and E. E. (Doc) Smith were a few of my favorites. As science fiction matured through the second half of the twentieth century, I found myself longing for an earlier style that seemed to have gone out of vogue. The solution was to write the story I wanted to read, which happened quite by accident.I started writing for recreation in 1993. One day in 1999 I sat down to write an e-mail to a friend and have a little fun. My thought was to give the ‘princess and the frog’ fairytale a playful twist. Okay, she was a cute friend and my intent was to flirt with her shamelessly. However that is beside the point. After all, many great endeavors have begun with nothing more than a little harmless flirting. Just ask Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, and Queen Isabella of Spain to say the least!I never did send my friend an e-mail that day because fourteen hours later I found myself still writing. For the next fifteen years I made a hobby out of contemplating what the world of ‘Forest & Kingdom’ would be. Over the years the story world became richer and deeper as my life experience grew.The overall story arc has two more parts. Hopefully they will come to fruition a bit quicker than the first. I have the story arc’s general direction, but I’m quite content not to know the details until they wondrously appear in front of me as I write. I believe that the first rule in life is this:Always leave a little room for magic.Robert Reed Paul Thomas

Book preview

Inner Doors

Poems & Stories

Copyright 2016 Robert Reed Paul Thomas

Smashwords Edition

License Notes

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Published by Robert Reed Paul Thomas at Smashwords

Cover Design by Author

Dedication

To my niece Karen Elizabeth

Contents

• Chapter 1: Words

Duality: The Poet & The Smith

Convergence

Forgotten

Ephemeral

Interlude: Shannon, Sylvia

• Chapter 2: Encounters

First

Encounter

Encounter II

[I, being born of woman and distressed]

The Bard Is Back!

Sunday Morning

Interlude: Karen Elizabeth

• Chapter 3: Memories

Sin Eater

The Palette

Riddle

Last

A Parent’s Gift

Interlude: The Classroom Of My Youth

• Chapter 4: Dreams

Beatnik’s Nap Rap

Sunday Morning and The Sea

The Cove

About the Author

Chapter One:

Words

Duality: The Poet & The Smith

I am the artist as technician, my technique is artistry. I analyze the aesthetic to create a masterpiece. Technology is art to me, art a tool to use. My poems are machines that serve intuition’s muse.

Wordsmith was the term I heard,

an image came to mind

of letters on a white hot hearth,

the anvil close behind.

I see a man who’s drenched in sweat,

a leather apron worn.

As old and weathered wood reflects

the light of words reborn.

From stone to bronze to iron age, we learn from what we do, and with our parent’s handiwork we alloy something new. Hebrew, Latin, Arabic, Shakespeare like Damask steel are steps upon the road I take and swords that I wield.

His rippled flesh is marred with soot

from labor’s great demand.