Grasshopper Dreams

By K. Lucius Boyd

Grasshopper Dreams is a collection of poetry for our times--times of change, uncertainty, and social confusion. It explores what confronts and eludes us. It takes on the unchanging uniqueness of the Deep South, family dramas, social tides, and our wandering spirituality. It is composed of equal parts contentment, humor, and confounding confusion. Grasshopper Dreams is inspired by historical artifacts, societal struggles, spirituality, genealogy, and relationships. It is the result of an imagination guided by real events and people--the beauty and the blemishes. Grasshopper Dreams will appeal to poetry enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887315799

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

I. SOUTHERN LIFE

Repressed Memories of Barnwell

Grandpa's Ears

Don't Ask What Happened to Grandpa

Grasshopper Dreams

Southern Heart

Weathering the War between the North and the South

If I Had My Druthers

World Out of Focus

A History of Combat in a Florida Ditch

Severe Weather Warning

II. WILD LIFE

Peace from Bohemian Embargoes

He Was Reckless

A Boy of Low Social Standing

Gated Insecurities

Breathing Is a Lifestyle

Big World, Small World

Perfidious Day

Deciphering Elusive Dreams

Questions for the Arbiters of Ugliness

Psalm of a Rounder

Hardwired Pedigree

Intolerant Tolerance

Mindful Musings

Fuzzy Halo

Ringing in an Alternate Future

Gift of an Expectant Life

Breeze of Freedom

Presence of a Rescue Dog

III. SPIRIT LIFE

Readiness for Soul Preparation

Disrupted Journey

Copyright Preservation

Original Pessimism

Sheltering Harbor

Missions Trip, American Style

Prowling with the Wild One

21 Beatitudes for the 21st Century

A Proverb for Companionship

Floodwall

Imperfect Moratorium

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Grasshopper Dreams

K. Lucius Boyd

Copyright © 2023 K. Lucius Boyd

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, audio recording, or information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the author.

First Edition

K. Lucius Boyd

LCCN: 2022921715

Grasshopper Dreams: Poems / K. Lucius Boyd – 1958 – author

Subject: Poetry

Fulton Books

Meadville, PA

Published by Fulton Books 2023

ISBN 979-8-88731-578-2 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88731-579-9 (digital)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America

I. SOUTHERN LIFE

Repressed Memories of Barnwell

A descendant of an English immigrant built a plantation in Barnwell, South Carolina, this much is known

Otherwise, these so-called facts are entirely from marginal oral traditions of folk with deteriorating brain cells

James Roberts Sr. emigrated from England to Scotland, Virginia in the 1600s, which must have sounded comfortingly like home

He and his folk immigrated to the Colonies before the revolutionary war.

The Jamestown settlement was less than five miles as a bird flies, Williamsburg another seven, but distance is as relative as time, just not insurmountable

There's a tempting measure of pride in that heritage, which explains a lot about the stubbornness of Southern men

In a later generation, for perspective, Great Great Grandpa Benjamin was buried on the recreational Isle of Wight in England

They were first, in their minds, and should have an unbridled say in the destiny of their land.

James G. Roberts Jr., fifth Great Grandfather, was first to Barnwell and presumably built their plantation with his son, Steven

That big house, one can imagine, stood tall and white, the grounds ornamented by magnolias with white satin blooms the size of a pillbox hat

A long path approached the house, worn bare and grim by trotting horses and carriages, with thick oak trees trimming the borders

Giving life to these visions are fragile handwritten pages listing their land and chattel, first names only, forever preserved in bookkeeping memoirs.

James Roberts of Barnwell was likely not light of touch, not known for an overage of patience, gentlemanly generosity, or childlike charity

James Roberts was not the one to pick the clawlike cotton and would have been a genetically hard man with hands like a suede peach

James grew his crops on the