Wild Soil

By Frank R. Chappell

Part prayer book, part anthropological treatise, the poetry of Wild Soil describes and analyzes the often contradictory motivations for human emotions and behavior. In these verses, comprised of several years worth of selected material from various stages of his life, author Frank R. Chappell explores the follies of melancholic youthfulness, exuberant love, energetic faith, complete nihilism, profane tirades, and sacred contemplation. This collection presents a narrative of the individual’s navigation through reality as a fretful sojourn of introspection that yields beautiful fruit. It celebrates the unseen victory in everyday failures, the human imperative to create meaning in all things, and the ability to stumble upon the permeating feeling of interconnectedness in our struggle for purpose. Taking an anthropological approach, this collection of poetry offers a raw and unusual consideration of humanity’s paradoxes and contradictions

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Nov 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483461151

Book preview

WILD

SOIL

FRANK R. CHAPPELL

Copyright © 2016 .

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

All photography is the property of the author. All engravings are the property of Woitek Skop, and have been published with the express permission of the artist. For more information on the artist, please write to the following or visit him on Facebook:

23 Rue de la Garenne

17420 St. Palais sur Mer

France

Interior Graphics/Art Credit: Frank R. Chappell and Woitek Skop

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016918668

ISBN: 978-1-4834-6116-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-6115-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016918668

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.

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.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 11/10/2016

CONTENTS

Foreword

Preface

An Adolescent Revolt

Youth

A Natural Cure

Digestion

The Suppression of Instincts

Concerns on the Last Day of April

NYOT

Third

To my Father, on a Father’s Day in Madison

Missed the Train

A Portrait of Freedom

A Portrait of a Trailer Park Mother

A Portrait of Loneliness

A Portrait of a True Man

A Portrait of My Ancestors

Nephew’s Third Birthday

Common Thoughts Conveying Culture Naturally

Processing & Lamenting

The Crucifixion

Nameless Prayers

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

The Product of Ritual

Homes of the Gods

Morning Meditation

Monks and Monkeys

Death of a Believer

An Argument of Faith at Station V.

HET

The Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the World to Come

Religio

I Sing the Lament of the Golden Calf Builders

We Are Almost Finished Here

Images of Death

A Monastic Deliberation

Saint Melancholy

In the Hollows of the Earth

No More Worries

Sunlight From a Slit in the Blinds

Final Judgment

Devotions

To Anna

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

XI

XII

XIII

XIV

XV

XVI

The Invigoration

It begins as Affect

Natural Religion

All At Once

The Ones Who Fear God

A Thoughtful Trance

A Blank Mind is Worthless

Thoughts on Solitude

Worldbody

A Beatitude

Cynics

Perfection in Imperfection

Meditations

Autumn

He Worshipped Trees

Peaceful Love

Reality is Socially-Sanctioned Fantasy

A Sharp Pill

Where the Devil Hides

Rock Bottom

The Uncertain Beast

Pyrrhic Victories

The End Result of a failed Marriage that began with such burning Love

Ancient Struggle

Roaring Chickens

Country Settlements

Social Logic

Blood of the World

No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one’s existence—that which makes its truth, its meaning—its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream—alone.

-Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

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