Poetry on My Mind

By Tom Tenbrunsel

Poetry on my Mind is a lifetime of wisdom and adventure wrapped into one pocket size poem book. Whether the subject is love, realization or faith you will find yourself turning the pages, mesmerized by Tom's ability to capture a moment in life and make it dance with rhythm across the paper. Every part, meticulously calculated down to a 'non-traditionally' spelled word will have you joyfully piecing together this twist on life, through the lens of a global minded author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781663200426

Tom Tenbrunsel

A little bit about the author, from a daughter’s perspective: My dad has been a gardener all my life and I’m just now realizing it. Why only now? Because he’s been so casual about it. I have always known ‘tomato growing’ was in our family as both of my grandfathers were excellent casual gardeners. I remember sliced and salted, fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes as a side at every summer supper. In Michigan, everybody around thought our backyard was a wiffle-ball field when actually, it was a fruit tree orchard. I’d sit under an apple tree with my dad and he would thinly slice a golden delicious to share. I couldn’t put it into words at the time, but now thinking back, it was a ‘wait, we were just playing two-hand-touch-nerf football and now I’m eating an apple out of nowhere and where did that pocket knife come from?’ moment. My dad, the calculated casual gardener, artfully transitioned us from one activity to the next learning moment in an instance. Even to this day, as you enter his front walkway in Weaverville, he will subtly reach down and grab a bright green leaf, crinkle it between his fingers, and, wow, a cool crisp whiff of mint stops you in your tracks. The next thing you know, you are crinkling mint up too. Often I’m just stopping by to say hello and chat he has magically filled my tote with turnip greens, spinach and collards. Okay, I think, where did these greens even come from? I mention all this to simply emphasis that he has a way of doing amazing things quietly over time, just like he has written this book. So if you see his flower beds packed with daffodils, azaleas, iris’s and daisies, know that hidden within are radishes, carrots, herbs, berries and sweet potatoes. A secret garden! It’s been there all along, all these years, and my dad, The Casual Gardener, has been there too.

Book preview

"In poetry I have found that meaning is

in the soul of the beholder."

-twt

"I love your poems. You are fearless and honest

and your sense of humor and your love of life

shines through in them, all to the good."

- John Michael Flynn, author of How The Quiet Breathes

Tom, YOUR GENIUS IS YOUR ERROR.

- Josh Roark, Editor, Frontier Press

Thank you. That is beautiful.

- John Hubbard

"Tom, that’s quite lovely. Your poetry

has the spareness of haiku."

- Ester Nevarez

"Your Poetry captures the vulnerability

and essence of your spirit."

- Shirley Tenbrunsel

One of my best graduated students ever!!!

- William R. Forstchen, author of the New York

Times Best Seller, One Second After

Other books by the author: Casual Gardening,

The Fundraising Resource Manual

POETRY

ON MY

MIND

Tom Tenbrunsel

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POETRY ON MY MIND

Copyright © 2020 Tom Tenbrunsel.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

iUniverse

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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 Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Cover Design by Erin Secretarski

ISBN: 978-1-6632-0041-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-0042-6 (e)

iUniverse rev. date: 05/06/2020

I am amazed at what I don’t know

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge my daughter Erin for her help and encouragement and patience with me in putting this book together. She has several other full time jobs, including, wife, mother of three, Asheville Reality, and competitive cyclist. I am so lucky she has my back. And I thank my beautiful wife and soul mate for tolerating writer’s backside. Thanks to Abby Ruppert, Lori Smith, Erin Secretarski whose photos inspired my imagination to poetry. Special Kudos to Troy Carr for cycling into my soul.

FOREWORD

To the reader:

My poems are presented here in no particular order. I began writing poetry as a child, though printed documentation began around college. Retired now, I write more prolifically. My freestyle is short and intense. I cannot just sit down and write poetry. It comes to me, sometimes in the middle of the night and I write. Words and shapes flow from somewhere and I am intently immersed until the work is finished, the story told, the lesson learned. Every shape, word and comma are placed with intention to make my point. Photos are a part of my poetry, and I’ve been offering Author’s Notes of late. I invite you to enter my world of imagination, thought, soul