In the spring of 2007, I wrote two poems which (unknown to me at the time) turned out to be the beginning of a multi-year effort to create an overarching five volume set of poetry.

These five volumes explore and commemorate a journey that begins with physical depravation in Africa and continues in an expanding sphere that passes through modern life in the Americas into a reawakened mysticism. In many ways, the journey is my own, but the stories are told from a wide variety of perspectives and circumstance. Here's a list of the titles in each volume:

39 boys on ground

These are simply numbered from 1 through 39. There's also a preface and two intermissions.

51 men on hills for ships

TREE HOUSES

• man on next hill 1
• man on next hill 2
• boy man on next hill 3
• man on next hill 4
• man on next hill 5
• man on valley floor climbing to next hill 6
• man on next hill 7
• just another hill for Papa 8
• man on next hill 9
• man on next hill 10
• man on next hill 11
• man on next hill 12
• 13 thousand silver pieces
• strength and weakness as gears
• 15 hills out of my realm

COASTAL CITIES

• somewhere in New Orleans
• goodbye Rudy for ships
• I miss the bridge
• and hit the fire hydrant
• on my way to the plaza
• vengeance is a dull knife
• I want a bomb
• I climb 23 hills for you
• I see them dimly through cracks
• pornographic math
• I walk away from the city

BRING BACK THE KNIFE

• 27 dead men
• 28 statutory limits
• 29 rounds
• 30 year sleep
• bring back the knife (winner of the 2009 Crab Creek Review poetry contest)
• she calls me to testify on her behalf
• only, instead of
• drizzles & planks
• early Spring lunch break
• flowers & ash
• 37 minutes to go

GOODBYE TO ROMANS & SHILLS

• man on next hill 38
• 39 times is not enough
• on the brink of conviction
• man on next hill 41
• one evening, in my kitchen
• man on next hill 43
• man on next hill 44
• I dream of horses
• Mrs. Reynolds gets the news
• lessons in putology
• 48 ships

MARGIN NOTES

• man on last hill 49
• man on last hill 50
• man on last hill 51

57 women of the Earth

SPEAKING TO SNAKES

• first, say good-bye
• impossible women
• transformation #1
• swallow her within me
• 5 years of river water
• 6 inch booster seat
• how to inhale on Highway 17
• woman of the Earth 8
• meet her on the 9th day
• 10 minute conception
• 11 days late
• carried away by noon
• earthquake Mother
• crack in the wall
• speaking to the stone path
• her face is underground
• that woman

SHOVELS & FORKS

• woman of the Earth 18
• woman of the Earth 19
• quit calling me
• leave a message, instead
• 2200 Block
• transformation #2
• 2400 Hours
• back on the stone path
• wellspring
• ::Discovery::
• An Even Ending

HER NAME IS CONVINCING

• during the uprising
• her love floats me
• the last time I turned 31
• long path
• bridges that tilt
• her name is convincing
• meeting

STONE VESSELS ARE SINKING

• 36 years in the slammer
• title 37
• says she
• #39 here, may I assist?
• twilight
• aftermath
• transformation #3
• the den of encounter
• to challenge the weightless light
• .45 caliber interruption
• turn a spotlight on the dark
• chapter 47
• collection plate
• she guards the horizon
• 50,000 Million Years After The Flood
• on my way to Area 51
• once I was 52, too

UPRISING

• to plead a fifth
• hang out w/ a strong rope
• until the last time we meet
• definition of ash
• above all

The 69 Names of God

(the hidden volume)

The 87 Faces of Creation

EVERYONE HAS AT LEAST THREE EYES

• The freedom of a new face
• To raise the second shrine
• The third worn out face of God
• The Rabbi of Towns
• FIVE faces of stone
• The duplicate trilogy of wounds
• The inner circle of STONE
• The PEOPLE is restless
• The Beautiful Essence
• The halting holy truth
• The 11th hour rebellion
• The tribute of the bull
• A more prominent blue
• A stiff piece of leather
• 15 REMAINING CITIES

REBELLION OF HOOF PRINTS

• The swollen desert of tears
• The silk divider of stone
• Typhoon of shorelines
• Hammers and other Catholic remedies
• The enduring age of INFANCY
• Rebellion of hoof prints
• The divided armies of RAPTURE
• Small outbreaks of turbulence
• The liquid wave of rock
• Do not arrange your own funeral
• Radiation of HOSTS
• THE UNANSWERED APPEAL
• Red rain from cups

THE SILENCE OF WEEPING ROGUES

• ECSTASY of red stadium
• The growing layers of granite
• Words are EVIL spirits
• The brother of WHEAT
• The tomb of Jezebel
• (an interlude of innocence)
• Impolite God
• The journey to Saint Francis
• FOUNDER
• The dead eagle of granite
• The vultures and the 39 ministers

DO NOT BE LIKE ME

• Isolation
• The Hands of Roman
• The One Act Play of Man
• Do not be LIKE ME
• Aztec bird bomb
• They cannot KILL him
• Lingering Questions from Cruz de Pueblo

THE KNOCKING HEART UPON THE DOOR

• The next vertical stage
• The Caesarian festival
• (a different kind of arena)
• The leg of LION
• Inside the being of a bird
• The BEAUTIFUL conquest
• The Old Country
• The final cadaver of God
• Our creation of faces
• The good and anxious lion
• Messages in the street
• The uprising of 58
• The knocking heart upon the door

FERAL CHILDREN OF ANGELS

• The infirm healer of wound
• Fifty men to run before him
• Hijos de los besos
• The angel runs wild on my face
• The angel enters the window
• The leg of dawn
• In the café of brown and white ships
• Child of the plateau
• Exodus child of aspirant woman
• Child of scarlet wine
• After 69 seasons of drought

THE NIGHT OF THE TRANSFORMATION

• The final faces
• The hungry hands
• The unforeseen trinity
• Where is the face of Gustavo?
• The night of the transformation
• The morning after the transformation
• Restoration
• The padre speaks
• Safety in numbers
• The eyes of San Cristóbal
• To see beyond the blind
• The last leg of man
• The applauded eye
• The 84th son of God
• The gathering hearts
• (86 childs)
• It rises again at the end

EPILOGUE

• This is my world