Animated Stills

About the Book

This book is an Inspiration of Life from photographs. As a photographer, I roam around and take pictures of many things. Some of those pictures contain images where I see something in them. As a Poet, this sparks my imagination, my Muse, to poetically interpret that “something” into action. So a poem is born. I write about it, and ask the readers if they see it too That is the basis of this book of Animated Stills. The “stills” part comes from the photograph. The “animated” portion is where poet brings the perceived image to life for the reader. Animated stills are poems where inanimate objects take on human, animal, or spirit forms, traits, or articles. They are derived from Photographs I have taken, that have moved me to write a poem associated with it. I believe that photography and poetry go together well. One form paints a visual picture while the other creates a poetic image. Together, the synergy becomes very powerful. At least, that is what I hope I have achieved here. Here is an excerpt from Poem 26. Firebird, from which the cover photo is taken.

About the Author

The author was born on 9/11/1948 and raised in Minnesota. He resides with his wife of 40+ years in its Capital of St. Paul, Minnesota.. He has been writing poetry since he was a freshman in high school, when he had to write one as a class assignment. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, with a BS in Business. He has been a top ranked poet on the FanStory site since 2011, with over 2000 Poems posted there. In 2015, he judged the poetry for the VOICE of KANSAS, Poetry Contest. He has over 900 photographs published on the Capture Minnesota website, an affiliate of Twin Cities Public Television. He has an acclaimed photograph in the 2012 One Life, Photo Journal. His Poem, “Enlightenment from the Merry-Go-Round”, is published in Preston McWorter’s book, Seeds of Enlightened Society. He is now retired. An avid Minnesota booster, he also lived in Colorado Springs from 1985 until 1991, and in St. James, LI, New York from 1991 until 1996. He has published 3 other books of poems in a series –Picture Poems, Volumes 1, 2, and 3. as well as a 4th book, Take Flight, The Sonnets.