Collecting Dust: Sonnets (Thus Far)

By Ronald E. Wheeler and Jon A. Weatherly

Collecting Dust: Sonnets (Thus Far) engages both common and particular experiences of faith, celebration, affection, and loss. The lyrics in these poems sing of meditations on divine mystery, efforts for ritual festivity, pledges in close relationships, and glimpses into critical decline.

"We lean together, joyful as we weep." This closing line to "YOKEFELLOW" depicts mutual support between two friends; it also describes the experience between author and audience standing side by side at an observer's window to the world, looking on as people move through their varied circumstances. Four Bins organize this collection of encounters: "Clothes Hamper for Time after Time" considers belief; "Storage Tubs for Christ's Mass" recounts holiday; "Table Crumbs for Friends and Lovers" touches on intimacy; and "Plot Numbers for Madison Cemeteries" explores demise.

The crafted meter and varied rhyme schemes in these sonnets support the devised imagery, metaphor, allusion, and symbolism to create perspective, irony, paradox, and tone. Readers looking through these poetic windows may well see their own reflections staring back into their souls.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: May 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781725299054

Ronald E. Wheeler

Ronald E. Wheeler instructs students in composition and literature at Johnson University, Knoxville, Tennessee (fall 1977 to present). He teaches an adult fellowship of readers at Woodlawn Christian Church. He and his wife, Martha, have two adult children and eight grandchildren. He has one book of published poetry: Collecting Dust: Sonnets Thus Far. The Other Shoulder stems from his study and instruction of The Screwtape Letters over four-and-a-half decades – twice the time between Screwtape’s inception (1940) and the death of its author, C. S. Lewis (1963). Ron’s crisp, invigorated prose and poetic voice blend classic form with conversational tone. His compressed style invites readers to return to his work where they may linger, ponder, and receive both encouragement and challenge from observations and reflections on human behavior and spiritual development.

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