Dancing with the Spirits of Shadowplay

By Bonnie Breuilly-Pike and T.L Fernow

No matter what the faith or season of the year, all human beings seek everyday epiphanies; occasions when we can experience the sacred and the beautiful in the absolute ordinary. In doing so, we come to an awakening that we cannot afford to throw away even one more "unimportant" day by not noticing the wonder of it all.
Sometimes, we just forget to take the time to honestly see our world; most times actually. Some of the simplest things that make us feel alive, and more importantly loved, are right at our fingertips or just outside our backdoor and we constantly seem to either ignore or miss them:
A good morning kiss.
The first real day of spring every year.
An unexpected call from your significant other to just say I love you.
The appreciative wag of your dogs tail when you give him his favorite treat.
The scent of a newly opened rose bud.
The hug your grandchild gives you when he runs across the yard when he first sees you.
However, Bonnie Pike seems to notice all of these things and more. She has the wonderful talent to put into words those feelings and emotions of life with all of its loves as well as its pains

This is Bonnie's third volume of poetry. Her prior volumes "Survive The Shadowstalker; A Poetic Journey Through Abuse",was released in 2002 and "Shadows Of Love, was released in 2011. In this compilation of poetry, Bonnie takes you through the natural order of life which she has gleaned through her love of her adopted home state of AZ.

Do you want to come and play, and dance, and dream? Then meet Bonnie at the Superstition Mountain, just off the Apache Trail, and she will show you the way. Come and dance with the spirits of shadowplay.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477280638

Bonnie Breuilly-Pike

Bonnie was born on June 8, 1956 to Janice Bemis Gernatt and George Tresler in the town of Westfield N.Y. She was placed in the foster care system of New York at the age of two and a half. Albion N.Y. became her home when she was adopted by Edward and Mary Breuilly two years later. She currently resides in what she states is her "spirit's home"; Mesa, Arizona Bonnie has been featured in the “Emerald Coast Review,” “The Poet’s Voice,” ”Amelia,” “The Back Door Poets Chapbook,” ”The Panhandler,” and “Home Life.” She was also an active member of the West Florida Literary Federation serving on the board of directors, participating in monthly poetry readings at the Backdoor Poets, and producing and directing the Reader’s Showcase for over one year. Bonnie published her first solo book of poetry in 2002 titled “Survive the Shadow Stalker; A Poetic Journey through Abuse.” Something her late husband made her promise she would do. She followed that book up with another brilliant collection of poems published in 2011 entitled “Shadows of Love”; a book of love poems. So are you as guilty as me? Do you ever wonder how we all got along in the ‘old days’ without all our crazy network connections? • Our internet • Twitter • Ipad • mobile phone • cable television Then maybe it’s time to remember how; or for the first time to learn how... It’s time to kick your shoes off, put some nice music on, brew a relaxing beverage, and sit down to enjoy the poetry inside this book. Bonnie’s’ spirit will come through to you in her poems. Her talents will help you to remember your own. Her vivid imagery will help you walk and dance along canyons, desert trails, and "haunted" mountains as well as beside animals, children, and families; far away from technology and secularism. Her words can lead you to your own epiphany in life. Can’t we all use a little renewal of our lives? Then open the pages of this book and join Bonnie in her dance: the dance of shadowplay.

Book preview

Dancing with

the Spirits of

Shadowplay

BY:

BONNIE BREUILLY-PIKE

US%26UKLogoB%26Wnew.ai

AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2012 by Bonnie Breuilly-Pike. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 10/16/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4772-8065-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-8064-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-8063-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012919503

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Cover Design and Photography/Art By

T.L. Fernow

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Dedication And Thanks:

About The Author

Prologue

SECTION I: SPIRITS OF LOVE

Mooncast

Indian Blanket

A Cathedral Canyon

Surrounded By The Shadows Of Love

Wonderfilled

December Love Grows Young Again

The Dragon And The Unicorn

Do Not Hesitate

His

The Artist’s Tool

Let Me Carry You Through The Storm

Sensual Comrades

The River’s Flow

Begging To Be Touched.

The Magic Of Shadowplay

Longing To Be…

Yes!

Under Moonlight Skies

Hurry Home

Beyond

Polar Opposites

Let Wishing Make It So

On The Edge Of The Fall

Castles In The Sky

A Soft Desert Breeze

Shadows Of Pure Gold

Sedona Ruins

Beauty/Peace/Love

The Canyon’s Fire

Nature’s Shadow.

I Breathe

Masters Of The Sky

Some Place Private

One Sacred Hour

Moon Shadows

SECTION II: SPIRITS WHO DANCED WITH SHADOWPLAY (FRIENDS)

Ocean Views And Desert Trails

New York City Bedouin

Calm Within The Storm

Rock Collector

Star Companion

Lily

Nomad Son

The Rope

Lessons Of The Dragonfly

Soulmate

We Are (Still) Friends

Walking With Merriweather

Mother Nature

Her Spirit Remains…

Headstone Rubbings

Love In Flight

The Arsonist

The Back Door Poets

Only Yesterday

Ruby

The Candle Of Life

SECTION: III SPIRITS OF SORROW

Cobwebs

Women Of S.I.A.

Shadow Stalker

Loving An Addict

Haunting Memory

Fear

Crystal Cavern Dreams

The Actress

The Rose

When God Finally Says…

The Quest

Can’t

The Balloon

The Struggle

Shattered Resolve

Shadow Life

SECTION IV: SPIRITS OF JOY AND HOPE (FAMILY)

Hourglass Heirloom

Family Beginnings

My Daughter’s Shawl

Dance Jessica Marie

Falling Stars

Where Happiness Once Was

Be Strong My Golden Child

Mother’s Day Thank You

Princess Morning Star

Heads Or Tails?

A Crystal Rose

My December Child

Shy

Perfectly Clear

Kaleidoscope Wildflowers

Star Gazing With Mom-Mom

A Mother’s Heartbreak

My Daughter

Thankful

No Stranger

Grandson

The Music Of His Soul

Exploding Joys

A Budding Flower

Curious Little Lady

Dandelion Fluff

Change

Butterfly Morning

Zachary

SECTION V: SPIRITS OF LOSS

Shadow garden

To Hear The Poet’s Words

A Quiet Stillness

Remember

Superstition

Bone Collector

Today I Sent You Home

Her Windows View

The Struggle

Her Spirit Howls…

Nothing.

Let Me Atone

Hard Life

Air, Earth, Water, And Fire

Gemini And Libra

Under Orion’s Sky… You Live

Against Her Will

Earthen Memories

Frozen In Winter’s Frosty Pane

Silenced By You

Empty Nest

Entropy Laughing

Like The Bright Morning

You Scattered

Peace

Finally I Understand

Shadow Spirits Cry

America’s Silence Unbroken

Forsaken

SECTION VI: SPIRITS OF CANCER

The Country Called Cancer

Dashed Dreams

My Darkest Hour

Rebuilt

The Breakdown

I Am Damned

My Arizona Rim

Rougher Times

Time To Let Go

Greatest Journey

My Garden

Wasteland Of Dreams

Death Is A Guardian

Cherry Blossom Vine

My Crystal Spring

Magic Lives

Scattered Spirit

My Assailant(S)

Hope

SECTION VII: SPIRITS OF GOOD-BYE …

Never To Say Goodbye

Really?

Eternal Light

Why The Wolf Disappears

Eternity Dust

Beauty

What Am I

The Holder Of My Soul

The Butterfly

Catch The Morning Star!

Dark Or Light

Arizona Fog

For Whatever Tomorrow Brings

Just Another Story… Of A Life

This Poet, Not Yet Dead

Sweet Destiny

Bereft

Final Journey

Dancing With The Spirit Of Shadowplay

Epilogue

Lost Conversation

About James John Pike Iii

About The Guest Author: Gary Lemcke

DEDICATION AND THANKS:

To my first love Douglas James Pike

Where it ALL began.

To my children: Douglas Edward Pike,

James John Pike III, and Mary Pike Thompson

My life’s only legacy;

Where love, hope, and memories began

And will forever remain.

To Jessica Marie Pike/Thompson;

Where my spirit abides and will forever dance.

To my other grandchildren, equally as special and dear;

James Christopher Pike, Zavier Pike and Shynalla Ryan Pike

Where I will forever play and laugh and dream.

To Tom

Where my spirit

Found acceptance, peace, and shelter for an all too brief span of time.

And to friends too numerous to mention . . .

Thank you all for joining me in this dance called life;

My dance of Shadowplay

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

By Gary Lemcke

Yes, I’m guilty. I think we all are. Maybe it’s the society we live in these days. Aren’t we always in a hurry?

We are running late after another stressed out day at work; got to get to day care to pick up the kids, get home and throw together a meal, make the kids do their homework and run out to the store to grab the latest computer gadget that we just can’t live without and curse why we had to stand in line for four hours to get it.

We don’t take the time to renew our spirit.

Sometimes, we just forget; most times actually. Some of the simplest things that make us feel alive, and more importantly loved, are right at our fingertips or just outside our backdoor and we constantly seem to either ignore or miss them:

• A good morning kiss.

• The first real day of spring every year.

• An unexpected call from your significant other to just say I love you.

• The appreciative wag of your dogs’ tail when you give him his favorite treat.

• The scent of a newly opened rose bud.

• The hug your grandchild gives you when he runs across the yard when he first sees you.

However, Bonnie Pike seems to notice all of these things and more. She has the wonderful talent to put into words those feelings and emotions of life with all of its’ loves as well as its’ pains. She has been composing poetry her entire adult life.

Bonnie was born on June 8, 1956 to Janice Bemis Gernatt and George Tresler in the town of Westfield N.Y. She was placed in the foster care system of New York at the age of two and a half. Albion N.Y. became her home when she was adopted by Edward and Mary Breuilly two years later.

Bonnie was first published while she was still in high school. A Teenagers’ Thoughts on Life as a chapbook came out in 1972 after a teacher submitted her manuscript to a contest.

In 1974, she married her high school sweetheart, Douglas James Pike. Doug was a career Navy man and served our country honorably from 1972 through 1992. Bonnie and Doug had three children together; Douglas, James, and Mary.

Doug became terminally ill in 1997 and passed into God’s hands in 1998 but not before he got to hold his first grandchild, Jessica. Three more grandchildren were born to Doug and Bonnie after Doug’s passing; James Christopher, Zavier, and Shy, but Bonnie believes that he held each one of them long before she ever did. The love she feels for him can still be found between the pages of this book.

Bonnie survived the horrors of child abuse, battled severe health issues and, because of those painful experiences, set out to help those that have felt such trauma in their own lives. The love she feels for children has extended past her own children and those of her grandchildren. When she lived in Pensacola Florida, the Disabled American Vets (Al Grey Chapter) sponsored a Cub Scout pack, #645, for emotionally and mentally challenged boys that Bonnie established. She also worked with the Campfire Kids and 4-H programs. Today, where she was once the mother of any given neighborhood, she is now the grandmother of the neighborhood in which she currently resides. A title she cherishes.

Her heart reached out even further to volunteer in various support groups that helped victims of Incest and later still of AIDS victims and their families. Many times Bonnie has been heard to say that while helping those men face the challenges of death, they taught her even more about living.

All the while, she continued to write and share her gifts. Bonnie has been featured in the Emerald Coast Review, The Poet’s Voice, Amelia, The Back Door Poets Chapbook, The Panhandler, and Home Life. She was also an active member of the West Florida Literary Federation serving on the board of directors, participating in monthly poetry readings at the Backdoor Poets, and producing and directing the Reader’s Showcase for over one year.

Bonnie published her first solo book of poetry in 2002 titled Survive the Shadow Stalker; A Poetic Journey through Abuse. Something her late husband made her promise she would do.

She followed that book up with another brilliant collection of poems published in 2011 entitled Shadows of Love; a book of love poems.

Sadly, love in the most intimate forms can be lost forever. Still, for many of us, it can be renewed when we have already given up hope of ever finding it again. Bonnie did indeed find that love once again with Tom. At times that love has cost her the love of others… but she clings to hope and never stops loving each of them. She never stops hoping, loving or reaching out.

So are you as guilty as me? Do you ever wonder how we all got along in the ‘old days’ without all our crazy network connections?

• Our internet

• Twitter

• Ipad

• mobile phone

• cable television

Then maybe it’s time to remember how; or for the first time to learn how.

It’s time to kick your shoes off, put some nice music on, brew a relaxing beverage, and sit down to enjoy the poetry inside this book. Bonnie’s’ spirit will come through to you in her poems. Her talents will help you to remember your own. Her vivid imagery will help you walk