Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Howard Brown is an author, speaker, podcaster, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, interfaith peacemaker, two-time stage IV cancer survivor and healthcare advocate. For more than three decades, Howard's business innovations, leadership principles, mentoring and his resilience in beating cancer against long odds have made him a sought-after speaker and consultant for businesses, nonprofits, congregations and community groups. In his business career, Howard was a pioneer in helping to launch a series of technology startups before he co-founded two social networks that were the first to connect religious communities around the world. He served his alma mater -- Babson College, ranked by US News as the nation's top college for entrepreneurship -- as a trustee and president of Babson's worldwide alumni network. His hard-earned wisdom about resilience after beating cancer twice has led him to become a nationally known patient advocate and "cancer whisperer" to many families. Visit Howard at ShiningBrightly.com to learn more about his ongoing work and contact him. Through that website, you also will find resources to help you shine brightly in your own corner of the world. Howard, his wife Lisa and daughter Emily currently reside in Michigan.

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The Gossamer Nature of Random Things

A First Collection of PoemsBy Howard Brown

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Howard Brown
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-5217-9

Contents

Rainy Day on the Mountain...........................1Alicia's Backyard...................................2Wolf River..........................................3Winter Sunday.......................................5Driving Up the Mountain.............................6Walking to the Post Office..........................7View from the Foot of the Grove.....................8Rogue River.........................................10On the Porch........................................11Early Morning, Lookout Mountain.....................13Pebble Creek........................................14Dog Days............................................15Christmas Day.......................................17Kaleidoscope........................................18Better Days.........................................21The Scars She Bore..................................22Standing in Line....................................23The Enigma of Friendship............................24On Being a Gulley...................................25Her Number..........................................27Her Heart Could Not Be Still........................29Beware..............................................30Twilight............................................35Gibbous Moon........................................36Just Before Daybreak................................37Crescent Moon.......................................38Autumn Moon.........................................39The Moon and I......................................40Wind Dream..........................................45

Chapter One

    Rainy Day on the
    Mountain


    Once again, the mountain is shrouded in fog.
    Rain has fallen for days, an incessant downpour
    which shows no sign of passing.

    To the west,
    a murder of crows waddle noisily
    across the verdant expanse of the Commons.

    Beneath the table,
    the dog is curled at my feet,
    drowsing contentedly in the midday gloom.

    Across the room,
    atop the worn back of an easy chair,
    the cat has found his place of silent repose.

    The red light on my cell phone winks—

    A message
    from beyond this place
    of rain and fog,
    of talking crows,
    aging dogs,
    and Delphic cats.

    9/21/2009


    Alicia's Backyard

    Sitting placidly in my daughter's backyard,
    a place of refuge,
    where one can escape the wind
    and bask in the failing warmth
    of the October sun.

    I close my eyes
    and listen to the afternoon cries
    of the children at play:
    laughter one moment,
    agony the next.

    Simple things, to be sure,
    but life is fleeting—
    take your pleasure
    where you find it.

    10/4/2010


    Wolf River

    Listen to the silence,
    the palpable absence of sound
    which pervades the low ground along the river.

    And in that moment of solitude, dream—

    Of the whisper of bird wing on air,
    the almost imperceptible scrape of scale and claw on sand
    as the runners quit their places beneath the bridge
    and, one by one, slip away into the forest.

    Watch them move with a singleness of purpose
    through a labyrinth, whose winding passages
    are defined by sycamore, cypress, willow and gum.

    Toward what do they move?

    Perhaps to that secret place deep within the wood
    where muscadines hang fragrant upon the vine,
    and the sun filters down through the trees to spill golden
    upon honeysuckle, jewel weed, sumac and fern.

    Then, in a quickening moment, they have come and gone,
    their passage marked only by a breach in the spider's web
    and the frantic motes which dance in the luminous air.

    In the distance, I hear them calling:
    On, on, they cry, on, on.

    And, as their voices fade and merge with the locusts' whir,
    I realize that my question has been answered;
    I need ask no more.

    9/9/1988


    Winter Sunday

    Beyond the crystalline panes of the cathedral windows,
    the leafless elms trace a tangled pattern
    across a dark and lowering sky.

    Wrapped in purple vestments, the priest stands before the altar
    and recites a spiritual nostrum.

    My attention drifts,
    as he makes the sign of the cross,
    a holy talisman to protect us from evil.

    Then, as if waking from a dream,
    I hear those about me softly chanting:

    et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo.

    And, as their voices float down the length of this holy place,
    I murmur, sotto voce:

    Save us not from the snares of Satan, Lord,
    save us from ourselves.

    2/14/2010


    Driving Up the Mountain

    Driving up the mountain,
    the sun dappling the blacktop
    where it breeches the forest canopy.

    The air cool and brisk,
    your mind
    clear as a sounding bell.

    Above it all,
    a bone-white moon
    perched high
    in the midday sky.

    10/10/2011


    Walking to the Post Office

    Walking up the street
...