Sunflowers: A Collection of Poems I

By Douglas Rue

Sunflowers: A Collection of Poems is a tapestry of actual daily journal entries masked in metaphors and poetry as Douglas finds his own way to get over the hurt of a lost love. To a greater sense, it serves as his personal forum, his therapy, as he reopens old wounds and takes a second look at a past love affair only to discover post mortem what love really means to him. This book is filled with his inner most intimacy, his cryptic pain and his desperate need to hold on to what he earned and lost some time ago.

Somewhere along the way, he discovered how to unlock those neatly and hidden away passing thoughts and transform them into something tangible so when he takes a second look at his transcripts, he finds a person almost opposite to what he hopes to reflect in the mirror in front of him. Soon he begins to place a more granular look to the person in the mirror, realizing that love is less about fleeting passion and more about growing and evolving plural than singular. There are also subtle poems to how he finds himself in nature and where he fits into the grand scheme of things. Whether its a simple walk on a beach or fields of meadows he seems to carry his thoughts of love with him like lint to a pocket.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469156507

Douglas Rue

Douglas Rue is a native Floridian. He was educated at both St. Augustine's College and De Paul University. With his need and desire to advance his career, a good part of his early adulthood was spent relocating from the East to West Coast and ultimately finding his way back home to the Florida Gulf Coast. He has a background in Computer Engineering with degrees in Computer Science,Telecommunications and Business. Douglas has held many key technical positions in Enterprise Networking supporting multi-national organizations in their design and support of global networks from both a Telephony and Data Communications perspective. As an Adjunct Professor, he has also lectured Network Engineering courses at colleges both in Los Angeles and Atlanta. He taught his first college courses (Data Communications) in Southern California while still in his early twenties. Writing, as a hobby, seems to be just the right opportunity as he approaches his next chapters in life. As he puts it, "writing seems to heal wounds that for long I denied their existence." His first two books of poetry, "Sunflowers: A Collection of Poems " and "Between Sand and Sea" are his way of exercising emotions he thought he had neatly locked away. As a result of his writings, through his use of metaphors, he has discovered the importance of expressing his acceptance of love and his continued growth in learning how to give love in return unconditionally.

Book preview

Copyright © 2012 by Douglas Rue.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2012901246

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-4691-5649-1

      Softcover      978-1-4691-5648-4

      eBook         978-1-4691-5650-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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.

Rev. date: 06/17/2016

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Contents

At The Close of the Day

Life with You

The Perfect Age

Love Is

Lover

Winona

Small Town Girl

Ambiguous Love Poem

Just Miles West of Me

Certified Mail

Emerald Blue

Sound of Waves

Come Away With Me

Love’s Sunrise

Tomorrow at Sunrise

You Awaken Me

Spanish Restaurant

Run and Hide

Colorado

An Afternoon Swim

Water Colors

Autumn Leaves

Two Soft Pillows

A Picnic Basket

In My Grasp

Moon So Close To Me

A Blue Bicycle

She Is Subtle

His Surprise

If You Should Leave

Intoxicating

Lavender Sunsets

Sunflowers

Highway 55 South

Before I Love You

This Next Step

Your Formal Introduction

You Look So Lovely

I Do Miss You

Keep My Love

Until Next Weekend

Wednesday Morning

I Promise To Love You Again

Tired of Alone

My Secret Garden

Searching For You

Ice Cubes

Not As First Thought

Unusual Flower

Blue Mountains

Whisper

Song on the Radio

World without You

Dreams

Airport Terminal

Riding No Hands

Appreciation

Our Picnic

Chasing Rainbows

Before Autumn Arrives

Late Night Conversations

San Juan, PR

Like The Brown

Wind and Rain

Bridgeport

Desperate

Last Laugh

What Could Have Been

My Selfishness

It Is What It Is

With That Said

Discovering Red

Lost in Decatur

More Than The Pain

Life Is To Be Shared

Your Fruits

Another Smoke

Will You Come Over

In Love We Trust

Between Sun and Earth

Come, Sit Next To Me

Bartlett

A Robin Flew In

As My Mother

This Fall Afternoon

Father’s Day

Life Awaits My Return

Your Round Eyes

Thin White Lines

My Dear Friend

Speckled Sparrow

My Butterfly

Her Presence Still Remains

Happenstance

Without Cause

Poydras Street

a truth

If Necessary

Waterfalls

Greens To Brown

Emptiness

Until You Return

Before You Wake

Only You

Wine, Meat and Sauce

Like Two Birds

Because of You

Petite Woman

My Retreat

Six Inch Heels

Must Have Faith

To My Mother,

In dedication to all that you have done and have been to me. You have inspired, motivated and never allowed me to give up when character, integrity and resilience were required most. Thank you for being such a beautifully strong, humble and quiet woman. God has truly blessed me with you as my mother.

Douglas

At The Close of the Day

It’s almost over

the hottest part of the day

the sun is ever so relentless

I sit still,

tired

as the sweat travels past my brow

I feel the warm breeze against me

it cools me temporarily

the scent of salt in the gulf air

this is my favorite part of the day.

Evening,

when the day slowly slips away

the birds,

even the little ones against the tide

their tasks almost done

natural order comes

like clock work

on time

regardless

as the breeze flows in

cooling what is left

against the trees,

the tall pines bristle

the high weeds tilt,

bending

rhetorically displaying the hour

almost folded in time

at the close of the day.

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Life with You

My life with you is full,

complete, bright, full of daylight

like that of a summer’s day.

There are large wide white clouds moving fast,

streaming past against a cool blue sky;

there are beautiful golden birds singing loud,

full of praise, wide in number, covering most of the sky,

they wake me early, letting me know in song,

today, this day with you

marks another blessing

to behold

to acknowledge

to secure

There are yellow butterflies and honey bees

taking what is lovely

what is sweet

from bulbs of flower;

pollinating what is bare

and of life has most need.

Life with you,

feels like an early morning walk,

quiet against white sandy beaches.

Life with you

is complete,

quiet,

relaxed,

filled with love,

and now I can rest

knowing you will be here

when I return.

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The Perfect Age

I have discovered

or have just stepped into it like a new shoe into mud

the perfect age; the perfect age of a tolerable woman.

She,

requiring low maintenance and only love

is a couple steps past forty.

She is comfortable with