Sally L Fulton Boeken

Arthur Dale is a grownup, a high school English teacher. He tries to meet his students halfway, let them run with their ideas, and then also offer them other ways to look at stories or poems. He sees his students holding back, trying to be cool as they pass through the days in his classroom, but he knows that out in the world they are lively, spirited, and they look around to find others to run with, to engage in their schemes, to push against the limits. Arthur worries -- does he muster his courage and join them in their rebellions, or keep his cool and stay in school? This is an important moment for him. Does he take a chance and run with the pack? Or stay back on the sidelines. Can he do both? What would happen then?

Sally L. Fulton invites you to enter intimately into her life as she shares the depth of her grief in the death of her husband, her mother, and her unborn daughter, and comes to terms with regret, finding peace through the writing of these poems. Her poetry of gratitude shows the reader, through clear and lyrical imagery how she discovers meaning and beauty in each moment. Her poetry of dissent reflects the suffering caused by self-interest and calls upon the reader to choose compassion while standing against ignorance and oppression and for social justice. Through the clear imagery of her poems, she illustrates the mystery of nature and reminds the reader of its fragility. The expressions of grief, dissent, gratitude, and illumination in this book leads us to a deeper understanding of the Buddhist principle of interbeing, that we are all a part of something greater that unifies us, and that our common lives are part of that unity as well as the unique mystery of the limitless expressions of life.