Every poem ever written shows us the eyes of the poet. Looking without. As love mirrors the heart, poetry mirrors personality. Many poets write about things outside of themselves. This mirrors their personal character and the way they look at the world. Looking within. Other poets take the outside world into themselves and use the intimate emotions to reveal their own hearts. Just looking. Then there are poets like me, who do a little of both...or a lot of neither. If you're looking for flowery observations on nature, rhyming pieces with any type of standard or pattern, seemingly meaningless verses that you have to know the ""code"" to understand, you won't find it here. The 39 poems included a combination of honesty, raw emotion, vivid imagery, gritty reality, story metaphors, introspection, depression, and even ""song-like"" verses. Great poetry is something I can relate to, that moves me, that takes the human condition and makes it both frail and somehow beautiful in its starkness.

As a teenager, Justine MorrisOs escape from the pressures of caring for her dying father was stolen moments with Joshua Samuels. But their tender, desperate liaison found them facing teen pregnancy. Afraid of their Christian familiesO responses to the situation, they married quickly and built a life for their child. But now that their daughter is ready to fly the nest, Justine can no longer ignore the truth: She and Joshua havenOt had a real marriage for a long time. Maybe they never had one at all. Joshua is only too aware that his wife is an independent woman who never really needed him. After nearly two decades of marriage, heOs quit trying to get more than a piece of her at a time. Without their daughter holding them together, he knows the chasm between them will grow to epic proportions. Their empty nest looming, they face the hard questions. Had they married in loveEor out of a hasty sense of responsibility? Is it worth the effortEor better to simply let go?

Amethyst, WI is a small, peaceful town on a pristine lake with an active tourist season in summer. When the air turns chill, the area is transformed into a ghost town with only a handful of lifers who stay. Populated with colorful characters, Amethyst is bursting with mystery, romance, and jealousy. Come and visit a place where anything is possible all-year-round. As a teenager, Roman OBudO Marasek was shy, a farmerOs kid who grew up to be a farmer himself. The first girl he loved was Briar Sankey. Years later, he married, had a daughter, and his wife died unexpectedly. Raising Harper hasnOt been easy alone. Briar had spent her life confident she had all the time in the world to make a life for herself. At forty-seven, she no longer has the same choices. When Bud asks her for help with Harper, she canOt refuse. Suddenly sheOs seeing Bud in a whole new lightEand falling in love with the sweet, shy man whoOs been there all along.

Amethyst, WI is a small, peaceful town on a pristine lake with an active tourist season in summer. When the air turns chill, the area is transformed into a ghost town with only a handful of lifers who stay. Populated with colorful characters, Amethyst is bursting with mystery, romance, and jealousy. Come and visit a place where anything is possible all-year-round. Every rose has its thorn... Reece Childs finally has his rose--Lona Rose, that is, and life seems perfect. Reece can't imagine a thorn from his past could destroy his present and future happiness. He'd had no clue that Angelina, his "port" in the city he made his most frequent run to when he was a truck driver, was pregnant. Now she's in Amethyst, demanding that he be a father and provider to their son. Even to keep Lona happy, Reece can't turn away from his own son...

Women who have faced pain, loss and heartache. They know the score and never back down. Women who aren't afraid to love with all their passion and all their strength, who risk everything for their own little piece of heaven... Men who live their lives on the blade's edge. Knights in black armor. The only thing more dangerous than crossing these men is loving them... What do you get with a former wild man who's committed his path to the Lord and a woman who has absolutely nothing to lose? It's either a match made in heaven...or a sure-fire heartache. Gregg Stevens has spent a lifetime making bad decisions, never knowing true love. Stormie Knight, a new Christian, beguiles him with her eccentricities and with her well-kept secrets. But extracting them could shatter both of their hearts, along with the newborn faith of a wayward angel not yet ready to spread her wings.

At the age of fifteen, Chad Feldmann and Winnie McBride made an impulsive choice that led to pregnancy. Now, years later, they're married. But all is not well in paradise. As much as Winnie loves her daughter, she can't forget the life she'd expected to be living. Until they got married, it'd seemed to her they were both struggling and making sacrifices to move forward. After the wedding, she can't see that Chad is doing his part anymore. The more he makes his own dreams come true, the more her resentment grows. Chad blames himself for the reckless choice made when he and Winnie were kids. All he wants now is to build a life with Winnie, but he knows she isn't happy, knows she's pulling further from him, and he can't figure out how to stop the inevitable. They've done everything backwards-the baby carriage, then marriage-and somehow he has to remind her that, regardless of all the wrongs committed, one thing has been true for him for as long as he can remember: First came love.

Women who have faced pain, loss and heartache. They know the score and never back down. Women who aren't afraid to love with all their passion and all their strength, who risk everything for their own little piece of heaven... Men who live their lives on the blade's edge. Knights in black armor. The only thing more dangerous than crossing these men is loving them... Jessie Nelson has been telling herself she doesn't deserve or believe in second chances, especially when it comes to love...until her white rainbow appears in a corporate pirate who conquers her, heart and soul.