beyond yearnings

Yet More Reflections…… Jerry Bouma

ISBN: 978-1-7772699-1-3

Copyright @2021

Jerry Bouma

Beyond Yearnings: Yet More Reflections……

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or any means including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical means with the prior written consent of the author.

Cloud Publishing

Vancouver

Cover Photograph

This is a photograph of the ‘Big Stone’ in a 25-acre field on the farm we grew up on just outside of Leith, Ontario. It sat undisturbed in the middle of the field. Where it came from and how it got there, nobody knew. There were none like it and no field anywhere in the entire area had such a big stone. It sat undisturbed, regardless of weather, mood, or any other condition.

It was clearly in a state of “beyond yearning.”

Table of Contents

Foreword..........1

Part 1: Time and other Thoughts..........2

Part 2: Time of Year Series..........12

Part 3: Rhymes to the Sun and Seasons..........18

Part 4: Other Reflections..........24

About the Author..........38

Foreword

I was recently asked a simple question by my cousin who is also my oldest and dearest friend1: “why do you write?” It only took me a few seconds to formulate a response in my mind. A few days later I wrote this:

Why do I write? Let’s start by being inspired by my precocious cousin who started it all!! Then it followed by developing an appreciation for the rhyme, rhythm and cadence of good poetry. Then it was a realization that the imagery and “the economy” of words and a realization that great poetry is able to convey a mood or description better than any other artform. Who would not be moved by such provocative descriptions as: “Headpiece filled with straw”2 or the grating impression made by “Rat’s feet through broken glass”3? or “The only other sound’s, the sweep…. of easy wind and downy flake.”4 Or the stark imagery of the “red wheelbarrow and the white chickens5”. Or the desperate existential last cry of “do not go gentle into that good night.”6

Other lines capture a feeling and a personal resonance that propel you to a place of memory or imagination like “Swinger of Birches”7 being the “boy too far from town to play baseball…”

So why do I write? Because I can. Because I see and feel things that I can describe. And because I am able to describe such scenes or feelings, others can see and feel the same things. This effect was confirmed on my first reading – in October 2019 when 100 locals in the village of Leith came to hear me read the poems in “Beyond the Woodshed”. Most of these were written about my growing up years – I told the stories behind the poems, the places, the people, the struggles that are common to us all. And afterwards, many came forward to say “I know that place” or “So that is who you were talking about” or now I understand what you meant by “Pilers of Wood” or the challenge of “Counting Cattle”.

And so I write…..

1 Stuart Bergstra is that cousin who is also my oldest and dearest friend. Stuart was an amazing student. In high school, he was not only the top mathematics student, he was also the top English student. One of his writings entitled “Thanksgiving”, a piece that he wrote at the age of 18 is presented in this collection of poetry.

2 TS Eliot, “The Hollow Men”

3 Ibib

4 Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”

5 William Carlos Williams, “The Red Wheelbarrow”

6 Dylan Thomas “Do not go gentle into that good night”

7 Robert Frost, “Swinger of Birches”