Unbecoming Roads

By Doug Hodges

Wordsthe tuneless (or not so tuneless) song of a moment, the instantaneous image and emotion that slides into your soul at any given point in timehas been poet Doug Hodgess path throughout his whole life. He has always had the desire to listen, observe, think, question, formulate, and finally share the conclusions his mind, heart, and soul had reached.

Unbecoming Roads, Hodgess fourth collection of poems, consists largely of newer poems featuring a number of illustrations, both literary and visual, from the web of his life. It also includes excerpts from the poetry chain he created with poet Joan Juskie and collaborative works with poet D. Everett Newell. Through these verses, Hodges seeks to share what he sees and experiences, using the words that dance on his heart to reach others.

I do not

I do not want to protest?
merely I want to flow.
the difficulty lies in
politely listening
to words that grate,
moving over rocky situations
not of ones choice,
trying to find harmony
in disturbing currents.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504903813

Doug Hodges

I have been writing since I was old enough to hold a pencil, with my first poem written in the fifth grade. This led to a career in Colorado newspapers, which lasted more than twenty years, though in a variety of capacities. I once wrote an historical column, titled The Trail’s End. This tied my love of words in with my love of history, a deep-seated yearning flowing throughout my life. A need to blend the humanity and emotion of raw life with the cold stone of fact, the idealism of win and loss with the blood and bone reality of violence being a lose-lose proposition, trying to find that spiritual truth among the physical fact. In 2014, a good friend invited me to share a trip to Gettysburg, which reawakened a long-dormant civil war seed. From this journey came our collaborated book, Bob’s Gettysburg Saga & Poetry. Upon its successful publication, we decided that Bob should visit other historical sites and chose the Alamo for his next venture. Unfortunately, my friend was not able to participate in this endeavor. So I continued, trusting that the spirit of Bob’s creator would find its way between the lines. Following Bob’s section are a couple of obituaries I penned some time ago. Completing the volume are a couple of Western tales. I hope the reader may enjoy this collection of historical reminiscence as much as I enjoyed writing it. Now, on the backside of sixty, I reside in the Rio Grande Valley with my wife, who is also my personal editorial department (all errors are still mine, she will be quick to note), three dogs, and a parrot. My wife taught high school English and communication (speech) for over thirty years. When not writing or visiting family, we like to sit around and discuss words and language.

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© 2015 More from Doug Hodges. 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    07/25/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-0382-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-0381-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015904736

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.

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

it moved

Voices, 2009

Saint Patrick’s Day, 2010

Ash Wednesday, 2011

Pearl Harbor Day, 2011

Saturday, December 17

I do not

the New Year, Marijuana & Colorado

Linda’s poem … unwritten

Saint Patrick’s Day, 2014

April 30, 2014

book

Baptism

Man of Many Hats

Haikus

perspective

Homage to God

Birthday Poem

Remembrance Day

Purge

Dunkin Donuts, circa late 1960’s

The Cough

Reflections

word illuminating the truth of life

Dreams

Dream In Purple

it was a dream

New worlds awakened

Dirty Tin Cup

1

2

3

Caves

The Huestecan Caves of Mexico I

The Huestecan Caves of Mexico II

altruisms

The Huestecan Caves of Mexico III

Prose

Coyote and the Den

The Raven and Coyote Ride Again

Coyote’s Return to Heaven

Interlude

The Poetry Chain

1 Spring

respite

2 as I walk

called to listen

3 The Sylvia Beach Hotel

from the Dr. Seuss room,

4 decide my destiny

Watching Hank In The Back Yard

5 all that matters

inches away

6 Outside

my comfortably secluded room

7 I walk into my life

Shaman Told Again

8 Just being glad

Sixty

9 We know not why

maybe I’ll be surprised

10 right again

As simple as a dream

Afterword

Doug Hodges

About the Author

Dedication

as always, this latest collection

of work is dedicated to

Linda

Linda Rubio - wife, editor, trusty companion,

the love and bulwark of my existence.

through God and Linda

I truly find all things possible

Traverler.jpg

I must mention two others,

without whom this collection could not exist:

fellow poet, Joan Juskie,

long time friend

and co-conspirator

of the fabled poetry chain

and

D. Everett Newell

fellow wordsmith and collaborator,

valuable friend

All works bearing their names

are printed or reprinted with their permission.

All the rest, photographs, art & word,

for better or worse, are my own

- Doug Hodges

it moved

it moved.

as fast as the eye,

a mere flash in the darkened sky

making no noise in its flight.

a zephyr softly winging its way

across the gentle waves.

waves that gently rock,

stir, and wink with the

reflection of the moon,

a silver crescent,

patiently weaving its way

through a broken field of cloud.

it was gone.

as fast, as mysterious,

as it had come.

as there was no trace,

as there may have been no acknowledgment,

it might have well never had been there.

yet, I saw it

and perhaps

others saw it.

it was there

and though whatever it was,

whoever it was,

was just passing through,

it touched someone along its way.

12/12/98

Voices, 2009

Voices call out,

If we will but hear.

Not only the voices of other humans,

The voices of animals, birds and fish, as well.

The trees and grass speak to us,

The soil, the very rock,

Tell us their tales

And all that is life …

Everything lives,

Whether we perceive it

Or not.

All life cries out to us

And would share its history

9/10/09

Saint Patrick’s Day, 2010

I did not wear the green today,

Nor did I drink a green beer.

I briefly watched crazy New York on the news

And remembered the bizarre celebrations of