INTRODUCTION
The third of the RAW 2525 books, so that makes it 75 not out and a century in Sight, but a lot of reflection, inspiration, hope and love still to do. What to say, and how not to repeat what has been written in the introductions to books 1 and 2?
In doing a final edit of the poems and personal takes I was a little perplexed by the fact that my poems are not jolly little tales but by and large have some sort of psychological undercurrent to them, almost prying into the workings of our mind and seeking the reason for our actions.
Now, I am a relatively happy sort of soul, but it seems in my intimate and alone moments I delve into the workings of our characters and question the reason for our actions. To what avail? Why bother one might indeed ask? In a way it is our dreams of a night which would tell all more about our own psyche – our failures, our concerns, our weird way of associating this with that.
Song-writing and poetry suffer from the same malaise. Many more are the songs and poems which speak of crisis, of despair and even worse, rather than the gaiety of free spirit and unfettered exhilaration. Must be some sort of cathartic process. Why would I otherwise feel good and have some sense of pride and satisfaction on completing a poem telling of woe, of unfulfillment, of a million doubts, of failures had? I can only err on the side of a sort of self-discovery process, a disclosure of who I am, of who we are, and how we embark on a journey of self-discovery (a meaningful acknowledgement of who we are and what we are about) and this as a process moulding our future actions and aspirations. It is in this line that we see the beauty of poetry – it is a compact, subtle, and persuasive vehicle which can produce reflection, realisation, an association with self or other, and determine a future reaction or course of action.
As I write, I ponder on what I would wish to achieve as I approach my century of poems and undoubtedly experience some hesitation in the nervous nineties. Words which come readily to mind are ‘a sense of wonder’, ‘an inner beauty’, even ‘a provocative stance’. So, you see, writing the introduction to book 3 has set me on course for book 4!
Hoping that you the reader can find in this present collection the live material to enable you to smile knowingly, to realise more about yourself and others, and presumptuous as it might seem, set yourself on the reflection, inspiration, hope and love journey.
-Haig Barclay