Poetry gives you a concise and heightened sense of reality according to author, poet and "romantic rationalist" Tom Despard. Here each poem "wrestles" with a single Bible verse to unearth its nugget of truth and flush out deeper layers of meaning -- provoking fresh spiritual introspection and responses. Winter Wind awakens the imagination in fifty-two weekly Scripture passages set against teaching and touching poetry and timely "Sharpening the Soul" challenging questions that will encourage you in your journey through the year. This collection is interactive and thought and emotion provoking. From its concluding poem "Runner's Race" How will an elegy verse my life? An overcomer of struggles and strife? A knower and lover of the Lord? A Word-doer wielding Spirit's sword? Run the race coursing Heaven's track, Run the race as if done, looking back. Tom Despard is an author and poet residing with his wife Gayle in Lancaster, PA and Cumming, GA.

Touch identifies fifty positive emotions and their potential power, especially when connected with the positive thinking of a corresponding knowmotion. For example, do we touch and teach, promote with passion and reason, and act daringly and decisively? While many believe that our feelings and thoughts do battle, Tom Despard s innovative approach shows how they can form an effective alliance. I think and feel, therefore I am. Also included is a free Touch Quotient (TQ) questionnaire.

Red Barns and Green Fields Poems of Rural America Most of America's land area is rural and most of it is rich - rich in natural beauty and rich in the character of country folk. The deeper we dig into the soil of rural America, the deeper we dig into its soul that longs for the fresh and the free. The deeper we dig into its people, the deeper desire we have to be self-reliant, patient, and trustworthy. This collection of 64 poems celebrates and expresses gratitude for rural places, rural life, and rural people. Selections: From "Date Stone" I wonder how they hammered and plowed and cooked, And how they played and loved and looked. I wonder too how they sang in church in monotones And how they cut and carved their date stones. From "Mail Pouch" My mind had a chew of scented country bravado As I imagined a farmer enjoying his Mail Pouch tobacco, High on his faded green tractor in pale blue denim overalls, Spitting at the dark red dirt, and waiting for dinner calls. He opines, "My Mail Pouch is always close to my vest. I treat myself to nothing but the best." From "Beach Walk" There were several docile painted ponies staring at me from the grassy dunes. The sandpipers' claws skipped across the sand like tiny sowing machines stitching a beige coat. The swirling scavenging gulls thought I might have some bits of food for them. The shells and driftwood were still sound asleep. From "Real Faces" Faces that that are no fools. Faces that say what they mean. Faces to look up to. Faces you can count on. Tom Despard has authored four poetry collections about faith, beauty, and life. He resides in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware with his wife Gayle.

Finding Your Clown Poems to Lookup and Love By is a collection of poems that will peel the onion of your jocular side and unlock some of the happy clown within you that may still be hiding. There is joy in the Lord - seek and you will find it. Find it and you will live it. You don't have to be the plowman looking back nor the worrier looking ahead. Selections: Finding Your Clown (last six lines) It's there -- emotion's court jester dancing down deep. Come out, latent clown -- my happiness to keep You're so perceptive, so persuasive, a saint within. You may, you can, you must rejuvenate me again. Ah..there it is. I feel my clown. I'm laughing now. The sorrow has passed. O clown, take a bow courtship (first four lines) i met you and wanted to meet you again i met you many times and then i longed for you to be in my court on my ship and in my port City Park Freeze frame a photo of a spring afternoon in a city park Where young, middle and old are each on their own lark. Sweet children, hopeful parents, and gentle sages, The generations come together like a book of life's pages. Tom Despard is a Christian author and poet and this book is his third collection of published poems following Winter Wind and Turning the Stones. He is a real estate entrepreneur and actively involved in faith-based organizations and his community. He and his wife Gayle reside in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and part-time in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, when not adventuring throughout the world.