Mind Captures: A Man’S Search to Bring Meaning to His Life and the Lives of Others by Writing Ninety-Nine Poems, Short Stories, and Essays

By Michael King

In our professional lives, we are often told to read this book or attend this class in order to gain a better understanding of how to mitigate, solve, and overcome problems. How often are we ever told to read a short story or grab a book of poetry and reflect on how that might be an inspiration for change in the workplace?

Mind Captures presents an imaginative romp through business experiences and other endeavors, offering insight and impetus to look at leadership and problem solving as exercises in creativity. It explores those life lessons we discover along the way as we go about some primary task in the moment, casting these moments of clarity as the little gems of life that come to us and teach us how to be more thoughtful as we go about our day. We have options to consider as we navigate this world and choose ways to contribute our important and needed talents. These writings provide encouragement to engage with our imagination along the way.

This collection of poems, stories, and essays seeks to inspire creativity and passion during the regular course of our professional lives and daily existence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jul 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9781491797853

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 Michael King.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-9784-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-9786-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-9785-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016908428

iUniverse rev. date:  07/22/2016

CONTENTS

Preface

1. Metastasis

2. All the President’s Men

3. Pester and Resolve

4. Fours

5. Right to Strife

6. Ecstasy

7. Thirty-One

8. Tornado of Fire

9. Distant Remembrance for a New Future

10. Le Cou

11. Lamentation

12. Visitation

13. Tight-Mouthed Life

14. Every Time

15. Entwined in Rhythm

16. Melancholy

17. Frack

18. Li’l One

19. Awaken

20. Place of Rest

21. Battlefield of My Mind

22. Outcome

23. Stretch and Withstand

24. Small Miracles

25. Twenty Inspired Souls

26. Helpless Hand

27. Fountain of Proof

28. The Power of Words

29. Praiseworthy Praise Worthless

30. Six

31. Homer

32. Hard Air

33. All over the Map

34. Changed State

35. Time to Grow

36. Lotion for the Soul

37. Horizon

38. Change Point

39. Four by Twelve

40. Chris and Luke

41. Momentary Retirement

42. Ruminations of a Successful Woman

43. To the Moon

44. Nourishment in Three Parts

45. Chlorophyll Fading

46. A New Hope

47. The Clearing

48. Cartographer’s Heart

49. Tidal Joys

50. Clean Sweep

51. Specific Contractor

52. Return to Sender—Are You Kidding Me?

53. Sleepy-Time Bus

54. Jilted Winner

55. Dreamscape

56. Admiral and the Crew

57. Royal Oui

58. Halftime

59. And the Creator Answered …

60. In a Small Package Is Greatness

61. Fourteen Lines—Are You Tracking?

62. One Time … Once More

63. Escape

64. Lovesick

65. Attachment and Release

66. So Many Variables

67. Recover

68. Choke Hold

69. See Multiple Shades

70. Rut in My Gut

71. E-Mythology

72. Right Number

73. Oh My …

74. SMV Number 3

75. Do Not Disturb

76. Again

77. Detroit

78. Mocked

79. Six Things

80. Agent Orange

81. Art History

82. Four More Years?

83. Kisses

84. CALaMity

85. Les Yeux

86. Revolving Door

87. Love Control

88. Steel-Toed Boots Required

89. Illuminated Lover

90. Red Dress

91. You Have Been Served

92. Crevices

93. Alone and Loving It

94. Order of the Genie

95. Clear Thought in a Moment of Hope

96. The Protector

97. Carrying Costs

98. Sleeping Cranes

99. I Have Found My Way Home

What Is Your Poem And Story To Tell?

This effort is

dedicated to Karen K. and Dianna K. These two women have greatly influenced my life and impacted my growth trajectory. I am grateful to them both and love them for being the mirror and light in my existense.

I would also like to thank Paul B., Annie B. and Reed M. for inviting me into their lives, watering my dreams, and allowing me to grow into the person that became able to write this book.

PREFACE

Thank you for purchasing, reading, lending, and/or giving (to yourself or to others) this book. I wrote this collection of poems, stories, and essays to inspire creativity and passion in you, in whatever you are doing in your life at the moment or in the near future.

This book is about the little moments that spring up while you’re engaging in life—those moments that can happen at any time. I find they almost sneak up on me as I am going about my daily business. This book contains words and comments I have heard over time. Listening to them inspired me to write a phrase, a poem, or a short story, for myself and for you. Some pieces are short; some are longer. Some I wrote down immediately; others I extracted from the past. All these experiences are part of this book that has become a part of me. I hope it will in some way become a part of you too.

This book was initially intended to be about leadership, containing poetry and short stories, but I soon realized that it was about more than just leadership. It is about those life lessons discovered along the way as you go about some primary task in the moment. Standing in the line at a coffeehouse and hearing an amusing story that makes you smile and wonder what you would do in that situation. Getting off the phone with clients and knowing that they are ignoring your advice to their own detriment. You wish you could tell them in an unfiltered manner what is really going to happen, and yet you refrain from doing so. Your clients have made it crystal clear that you are the executor of their wishes, not their trusted advisor who is tied to their best interests. Another example might be watching your little ones do something that is sure to bring falls, screams, and tears. You’re unable to protect them from falling because, before you can get the first word out of your mouth, the deed has been done. And all you can do now is to be there to console and love them. In short, these moments are the little gems of life that come to you and teach you how to be more thoughtful as you go about your day. That is what I endeavored to capture in the poems, short stories, and essays in this book. Daydreaming, being inefficient, and taking time out to ponder what should be written, in an almost monk-like pursuit to write this book, fueled my desire to ultimately complete this collection.

This book is for me as much as it is for you. I desired to provide options for you to consider as you navigate this world and choose ways to contribute your important and needed talents. May this book grow with you as you grow, and may you always grow in elegance, wisdom, and strength. Maybe a phrase or poem within this book will be an encouragement to you, and if that is the case, then I am grateful for this opportunity to connect these words to you in a way