The Edge of the Creative Mind Journeying to the Center of Imagination

By Ralston A Rhoden Jr.

The book is a collection of my award-winning personal poems that take you deep into the inner thoughts of man. It contains poems about the horror that strikes fear in you, curiosity of strange happenings that occur in life, the many sides of love, metaphorical studies of life, and even the viewpoints of the inner mind, urban as well as contemporary.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781546207832

Ralston A Rhoden Jr.

The author of this book is a multiple award winning published poet (www.peotry.com) where you can read some in this book. He is also an engineer who does science and math as well. As a child his passion was always writing from being aspired by authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Maya Angelou, Keats and some classics of the past. The variety is how I look upon my work even inspired by urban hip hop. I currently live in Pennsylvania with my family.

Book preview

A word about racism

It is the seeds of hate that no creature in the world can understand

For our differences make us unique from all those in the world

For don’t we bear children like all creatures but as humans show compassion and love for them?

For we as humans, don’t we express emotions as depression, despair, happiness, caring and love?

Doesn’t similar blood flow through our veins that can be shared throughout the world?

Isn’t our makeup virtually the same throughout our bodies which is again passed to our children?

Can’t we combine ourselves through a moment of love each sharing our seed?

As humans haven’t we proved our intellectual prowl ness is determined from inspiration over genetics which has been proven?

Don’t we all live through experiences as a young child to an older being and pass those memories to our young ones?

Don’t we mix our cultural roots to form new cultures that break barriers that again form a newer culture for our existence?

Haven’t all current cultures gone through these changes as the mixtures of being free shown its might?

Hasn’t the power of combined intellect of many a race over the centuries been the foundations of our so called modern world?

I ask you, no I beg you reconsider the power of the word love and understand its meaning as a women of a another race cradles her child for this is the future and we must all understand that we were all in our mother’s arms once for we our the present so we must sow the seeds for a harvest that all can strive and all can eat.

That is the purpose of love for the future of everyone.

Anticipation of Prayer

I pray every day to God for the safety of my infant child often asking God for protection

I lean against the door as the wind gently rocks the cradle from the open window,

Oh how I pray for him with all my heart for he is so fragile and beautiful at the same time

As we are in the eyes of God the good lord watches over us from above

He gently blows the wind that cools the infants in comfort and brings the moonlight in

I watch as the curtains sway from his mighty breath and the crickets chirp a timely tune

They make him sleep more soundly as Gods works comfort him into a peaceful silent slumber

How God provides for his children as the stars twinkle in almost musical patterns in silence

I ask God why you made all these beautiful things at my child’s disposal for this epic night

He replies softly in the back of my mind Because you asked me to do it as your mother did

Do you not remember when you were a child I breathed upon you? This moment is for you

I reply I do not remember God smiles As I said this moment is for YOU my child to remember

I am God’s child for eternity as the wind brushes my face and the light hits my body

I sign as I understand that moments with my child is more mine than my child’s

For I understand God enough to pray in order to receive his love and protection

Time stands still for we are all God’s children in his eyes for he watches me as well

My child will understand in time when he says his first prayer

black

what is black to me

it is the comfort of darkness that gives birth to our dreams as we sleep

for all things are black in the universe as we look upon the night sky to see….

for light cannot exist without darkness and black is absolute

a diamond was once dark coal so black is beauty to me

it is the beginning of things as well as the end

like a darken grave to a baby’s eyes first open to see

it is the unknown as we constantly explore

black is strong like the panther as it stalks its prey on bended knee

black is words of grace as inked upon many books

black is energy,black is intelligence, black is free

black is grace, black is love, it has many forms

so what is black to me?

black is the contours and lines of every earthly face

black is the shadows that follow you to the end of existence

black is from the motherland, the beginning of many a race

so what is black to me?

what isn’t black to me?

Can’t we just grow old together

Can’t we just grow old together?

The thought of man at the height of emotion in the soul

The first girl you believe in your heart that you truly love

The feeling of warmth when your thoughts stray from their customary function

The thoughts no longer can focus on meaning of purpose anymore

The brain selfishly longs for euphoria from the norms of a mundane life

Everything slowly becomes mundane from tasks that were once vital to actually be

To be a person or human being that no longer cares if they breathe oxygen anymore

That extreme of caring less of living with blood, food, oxygen without her

She becomes a drug of choice that makes you lazily daydream about fields of grass

Stretching your hands and running through these fields in hope of reaching your destination

Your destination…a dream of talking to that person for the first time…..then the future

You travel endlessly through these warm, soft fields until you get to your next goal

It’s like going from base to base on a field where the path is a river of experiences

The final base is so far but so close in your mind as if it is optical illusion….

You take on all your courage and compassion to get to her in a sea of people that are unfocused pixels

You look her in the face where you have seen every freckle, every strand of hair, and every microscopic

wrinkle and you speak with a voice that you have never heard before

She says no

The sun begins to set and the darkness of twilight shows a cloud that covers all light even the moon

That moon that was once a glimmer of hope becomes covered by the cloud of doubt

That doubt that you worried about but slowly became an afterthought that pushed your confidence

Beyond the norm of a contingency or the actual belief that you struck out before you reached the plate

You feel hurt for not even being able to go up to bat…..it’s a feeling of failure that you are not even playing

The cloud hovers over your face buried in shame at yourself….for even trying to be a man….why

You think of every way you could have done it but you remember that you never went to the plate

The realization that the fundamental reason that you failed is you and nothing else

The cloud rains a thunderstorm in the darkness as you bow your head to yield to the storm

Your soul no longer feels any form as sensation but becomes numb to the cold of the rain

You walk through the puddles of despair knowing that she doesn’t understand how she hurt you

The pain is like sledgehammer that shatters the bones that are the foundation of all hope

The wind howls through the night, whispering how you are a failure as a man as you walk home

You grow up slightly scarred by the events of the past but go through loves and relationships nonetheless

You join the army with a chip on your shoulder as if you are not invincible

As if past events has shown your vulnerability as a emotional person who can’t be hurt by fear

But by emotional rejection as a person who can’t find the fault why they say no

You are not afraid of bullets but pleasing your commanding officer to the point of being a favorite

You perform in ways that you could not believe about yourself to just not find discouragement

You work your way up the ladder of command and wonder if the girl was a domino effect…..

Was she a positive thing or negative thing in this case or did she create an one trick pony

A creature