Intentions and actions

Of course I read your book

Sometimes a book leads to strange events. I'm not talking about regular library-type books. I'm talking about what one learns when one publishes a book. The results are interesting and informative.

Firstly, one learns a lot about good intentions vs. action. Almost everyone, when they learn you have published a book, immediately says they are going to read it. Definitely good intentions... but perhaps one in ten actually do. Months later when the subject happens to come up one hears... it's on my nightstand... it's on my book list... it's on order... my wife's reading it... the dog ate it, whatever. Good intentions indeed.

One also learns that most people don't understand that an author or publisher can go online 24/7 and see who bought the book. I guess what I want to say is it's okay if you don't read my book... just say sorry too busy... I don't read, or... are you kidding, you wrote a book?

I've also learned that people you'd never suspect turn out to be avid readers and instantly connect with what you've written. We are in the process of installing a very unique solar heating system for our swimming pool. Steve, the owner of the company that takes care of our pool, is an American success story. My guess is he's about 35 to 38 years old. He was raised in Palm Desert, went to college and got a degree in chemistry then joined the Army where he was a linguist for Colin Powell. When he left the Army he came back to the desert and with little money started a pool cleaning service called Hire Standards. I've often thought company names should reflect their vision... this one does. The service is excellent. Their knowledge about pool chemistry, design, heating and repair is unexcelled in this area. Needless to say his business grew very quickly. He soon started a Handy Man company, then a water treatment company. In just a few years he's gone from cleaning pools to owning and running three companies ideally suited to the needs of this community where 70% of the residents are part time. As Henry Kaiser said when asked the secret to success... "Find a need a fill it."

Jasper ... future reader!

Four days ago while talking about our pool project Steve and I started discussing his company. I told him how impressed I was with his service and people. He told me a bit about his background and asked me if I was retired. I told him I had just published a book and he seemed very interested so I gave him a copy from my stash. I must admit I figured it was probably a waste of a good book but I really liked the guy so why not. Two days later he called to tell me he had read the book. Surprised, I said "Great, how'd you like it?" "It was a great read," he said. I asked what he took away from it and he responded (this is true) "Well the core message seemed to be the importance of living in the present moment. In addition the message about how to handle grief was excellent and, of course, the power of visualization ran throughout the story." He got it, he really got it! Perhaps the first person to read it that actually got the underlying themes of the book, or in any event, actually expressed them. He went on to say, "The message was so powerful I want to buy 50 copies to give to my friends and staff. Would you sign them?"

Stories are more than a series of events. Regardless of how simple a story may seem, the author either on purpose or unwittingly, is conveying a message. Nothing gives a writer more satisfaction than a reader who actually gets the message(s) woven into the story. It is far more important than sales or profits. After the delightful reaction of the pool man I've started handing out books to all of the contractors who've been working on a couple of projects at our house. The painter took the book home and his teenage son got so involved in it his parents had to limit his reading time because he was ignoring his homework. The painter's assistant, who I suspect can barely read, keeps asking me questions about various parts of the book so I know he's reading it, if slowly.

Speaking of books... I'm about finished with a book of poems I will publish next year called Bullets for Boomers. Obviously most of the poems have to do with the fears and hopes I suspect most baby boomers, like me, are dealing with. Here's Bullet One.

 

Bullets for Boomers

(1) Bullet Proof

It can be as simple

As a reflection in a shop window.

Brief, a blink,

Or the unexpected vision in a shave fogged mirror

Quick like a bullet that

Robert Guy cousin and artist in
front of his home in Logan Utah

Strikes before the sound of

The explosion reaches the target.

It too opens a wound

The narrow fine pointed image

Pierces the eye and fragments

Before you can shield yourself

With the lies of your youth

It shatters your denial

Without a sound.

The image is the least of it.

The saggy blotchy vision.

What happened to that smooth

Pure shield you so

Flagrantly abused with

The certainty of foreverness

So adored by mothers and lovers

Kissed and caressed?

It was not the passionate breath of others that

Charred and desiccated the mask

You wore so confidently. The mask

That slipped in an instant that took years

Of uncertainty, stress and worry to create.

It is the flabby casing

Of the bullet in the mirror.

In an instant it’s all revealed

Like an onion peeled leaf upon leaf.

The spring in your step

Now a hollow stiff stride that shivers

On the edge of collapse.

The quick rejoinder plucked from a memory

That glowed with stand-by readiness
Now fingered and pried from ossified synapses

That refuse to fire when needed.

The mop of hair combed and coiffed

The signboard of your difference

Gone or near gone

A shadow of strings

Vainly trying to shield your pate

From the screaming mirror.

It’s all there in the tearing laceration

Suppurating passion oozing now

Through your once wet hardness.

Nipples like spear points

Signing books!

Shivering with desire, now flaccid

Memories. The metal jacket of time

Searing the sweetness of youthful

Ignorance with the unrelenting cynicism of experience,

Of fear and disappointment, of wasted talent and time.

The final moment within the glimpse

The ultimate sadness of a truth hidden from

The beginning of your awareness.

An odds-defying arrogance without which

You would have long ago laid down and died

In anticipation of the strike. You turn even now,

Trying to hide from the fact

That you are not,

Never were

Or never will be

Bulletproof.

***