Concentric Devotion
Artwork and Bardic Poetry Book by Joseph S. Plum
Welcome:
Greetings and welcome to American Bardic Poet.
“the original progression of vanishing density”
The poet’s second book of poetry is titled, Concentric Devotion and features a black and white photograph of his parents, my grandparents, on the cover.
At the time - when Dad and I were putting together this book - 2014 - I was not yet a mother. And my parents and siblings were both healthy and doing well. Now, my mother is in a rehab center after a stroke with a catastrophic brain bleed that left her with brain damage and paralyzed on one side. The poet, my father, has an ongoing heart issue. My children have been through so many doctor appointments, surgeries, procedures, and diagnostic tests…I can’t count the number of times. My dear brothers and sister-in-law have had their serious medical challenges. And so have I. So have I. May God bless us.
Re-reading Concentric Devotion now - after a rather tumultuous decade - I realize it is a literary prayer to my grandparents. It’s a meditation on losing one’s parents and how that is an inevitable and irreversible severing. I can’t imagine. I don’t want to.
Good journey,
(The poet’s daughter.)
cradle
when did the spheres
and the wisdom of spheres
break into parallel lines
then dots and dashes?
too much success
is not an advantage
too much praise
a hostile conspiracy.
soft the grass
beneath the snow
silent winds
from heaven blow.
two old souls
suddenly alone
between them
grave mound
no stone.
Read about the poet and the bees here.
Read my post regarding the punctuation and editing of the poems here.
Read the poem, “The Sun Has Traveled Well” here.
🙏🏼 Thank you for gathering here. May it be a blessing. 🙏🏼
About the Poet
Joseph S. Plum is a poet in the bardic tradition. He lives off-grid in rural Iowa and composes his unique chant-like oral poetry for fascinated audiences around the world. Joe has over 16 hours of oral poetry memorized in his head. He pulls from this collection of rhyming lines to compose poems according to the energy of the audience listening. Joe does all of this without writing the poems down on paper or holding any notes.
Joe’s daughter, Emily Lupita, typed up his poems over the years and launched Dreaming Deer Press to publish his work. He now has nine poetry books for sale on Amazon that can be purchased on his about page or by clicking here or searching “Joseph S. Plum” books.
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