YOOPER LIGHTS is a children’s book about searching for the magical, glow in the dark yooperlite stones found along the shores of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Yooper stones are made up of mostly syenite rock, which is similar to granite, which means the rock looks like any other typical gray rock, but there’s a magical twist. Yooper stones are rich with fluorescent sodalite, which glows a vibrant orange or yellow under Ultraviolet Light.
I was born writing poetry. Nothing has changed. I’ll die with a pen and pencil in hand.
My roots are deeply embedded in the my Native American Spirit where a poem is food for life itself. The rain, the river, the wind and a whole host of phenomena are all poets in the interwoven scheme of creation. They are all much better than I, yet I still try to put a cloud or a whippoorwill into words.
I know it is not a popular or exciting endeavor for most people, poetry is about as esoteric as escargot.
When I was young I discovered the words of Pablo Neruda. Of course, for us English speaking readers, the words are twice removed by the nuances of language, but still speak with the and tongues of our nature.
Those Days
The mists of the North and South left me a little westerly and so those days passed. Everything was at sea.
I certainly earned the title of a wandering gentleman; I wore every kind of hat, I knew racy women; I ate sand, I ate sardines, and I married from time to time.
But without claiming to be emperor or sailor, I must confess I remember the most friendly hurricanes, and confess that I die of envy remembering what I’ve lost, how rich I was and wasn’t, the hunger that kept me going, and those intruding shoes which never knocked at the door.
The great thing about joy is the split self it has. One doesn’t live in today alone– the present is a handbag with a contraband watch in it. Our heart is all future, our pleasure is over.
And so I shifted from course to course, in heat, in cold, in a hurry, and all I didn’t see I still keep remembering– all the shadows I swam in, every sea that took me in; I beat on all the stones, I lay down among thorns, and I had the natural honor of those not born to it.
I don’t know why I’m telling these things, these places, these moments, the smoke of those bonfires. Nobody really needs to tremble at alien earthquakes and truly nobody cares about anyone else’s youth. So I am not asking for pardon. I’m in my usual place. I have a tree with so many leaves that although I don’t claim immortality, I can laugh at you and the autumn.
I see hope out there on the horizon where our shady past has folded its tent and surrenders to the future.
Like pure reason, this gesture has a specific gravity, something solid and tangible as a smile. It is here in this sacred concept that so many things flourish and truly belong and others that just plain shouldn’t be— like sirens shrieking and red lights flashing, rioters flinging curses and firebombs from the deepest dark of our human rights.
Author Richard Rensberry presents Off the Beaten Path’s– The Batshit List. Easy to get on, hard to get off. https://namerichardrensberry.substack.com/ free and easy to subscribe.
Integrity is hard won in a world stripped of its moral compass. Temptations to violate natural laws and common sense are always just a step or two outside the door. One compromised step and one’s integrity is eroded for that next immoral step, and then another. Sadly, I have witnessed it so many times that it is now getting harder and harder to find hard working souls that haven’t been compromised for the sake of profit.
As an example, there’s this character called Lemon. Lemon once had a pound of integrity but squandered it all peddling lies and insults for a publicized stint on social media, with a sordid following of criminals, perverts and “social activists”. He recently stepped a little further out the door and instigated a riot inside a church in Minnesota. Now, he should be headed where he belongs, prison. However, I am afraid there isn’t a single judge, prosecutor nor even defense lawyer that is capable of heeding the call: “May we not compromise for the sake of profit”.
