The Beauty of Words

Life experience has a unique way of inspiring words and thoughts. It allows us to revisit moments, trends, and milestones that shape who we are. The sights we’ve seen, the people we’ve met – these complete our inner selves. A lifetime of such memories can spill out into beautiful words.

From a special friendship to the birth of a child, or a love you never expected, these are the things that stir the heart and deserve to be written about. I hope to evoke genuine emotions in those who read my work. Writing wasn’t something I planned; it unfolded in a way that even I found surprising, revealing truths I didn’t know I had to share.

Within these pages are smiles and tears, crafted to make you think, reminisce on days gone by, or dream of what’s yet to come.

I do not seek to make history or gain fame. My words are simple, yet thoughtful, with meaning to uncover. So, enjoy the rhymes, reflect on the truths, and immerse yourself in the heartfelt works within.

For All Our Relations

The book is in two parts, the first, The Nilgiri Elegies, document my experiences as a veterinarian at the animal refuge in the Nilgiris, S. India, India Project for Animals & Nature, founded and directed by my wife Deanna L. Krantz. We provided free care for the domestic animals kept by villagers and poor tribal communities, vital to their economy and health; and faced corruption and death threats in saving the last of the elephants and other wildlife.

The second part are poems written over several years from the deep heart’s core of empathy and reverence for all life in a world in need of compassion and spiritual inspiration for all creatures great and small.

2024 In Poetry

This collection of poetry is anything but tedious. Accessible and lively, each poem invites readers with a friendly, approachable style, offering a reading experience that feels both effortless and deeply engaging. Without appearing complex or intimidating, these poems reveal layers of meaning beyond the words on the page, making it easy for readers to connect and find significance in each piece.

Featuring over 30 poems, this book offers an extra dimension that enhances its appeal, ensuring a rewarding experience for any poetry lover. Each verse is crafted with sharp poetic insight, bringing abstract ideas to life in just a few words. It’s a collection that promises no disappointments: only impressions that linger and truths that emerge as you read.

On the Wings of an Angel

These poems capture my 35-year love affair with my wife, Anna Mae, who recently passed away from stage three ovarian cancer. She loved me unconditionally, and in return, I endeavored to give her countless reasons to feel cherished. Anna Mae was my everything, and her loss has left me devastated. Witnessing her battle with the illness and undergoing chemotherapy inspired me to write and express my emotions. In these poems, I weave our life story, celebrating the decades we shared.

We first came together when I was just sixteen and spent twenty years together before tying the knot in 2007. I suppose I wanted to be absolutely certain she was the one for me - though, in hindsight, there was never any doubt. In 2000, we expanded our family by adopting five nieces and nephews, three girls and two boys, embarking on an extraordinary journey together. I always strived to bring happiness to my wife, embodying the essence of the quote, ‘It doesn’t take much to make a woman happy, but it takes even less to piss her off.’

In January 2023, Anna Mae succumbed to her battle with cancer. To my loving wife, now in heaven, these poems are for you. Thank you for joining me on this incredible ride.

An Old Lady’s Haiku with Cat

At this point in my life, I’m committed to my work, driven by a deep desire to communicate and explore the many mysteries around us. In a time when it’s more urgent than ever to care for nature and one another, I create not just to please, but to provoke – to gently pause others in their tracks, inviting them to experience the profound, the playful, and perhaps to leave a little bit changed.

My art and haiku often draw on mythology, religion, nature, and personal memories. In this way, I see myself as a storyteller, hoping to intrigue anyone who takes a moment to stop and look.

Hedonistic Propensities

From his darkest and most painful days to his bright and sunny days, this collection of poems embodies Issiac and the way he sees the world: painful and beautiful at the same time. 

Hedonistic Propensities takes a deeper look at what makes his soul shine. You can feel that he is most at home when he is writing.

This is Issiac’s first collection of poems, including the poems on his Instagram. He has been working on his craft.

Reversible World

Reversible World addresses threats to our planet and its ecosystem. It is a courageous, Whitmanesque, passionate book that urgently concerns itself with time, hope, climate change, science, mythology, and history. Its dazzling use of metaphor surpasses that of other contemporary poets. It has an aura of being concerned with something bigger than we can grasp. The love poems are its shining stars, but in a sense, they are all love poems.

Redneck Rhymes and Other Poetic Thoughts

The material which served as the basis for the rhymes in this book came from real-life experiences and observations in an environment which well-represents the stereotype of those we often refer to as rednecks. Their behaviors, interests, beliefs, and accomplishments are not always seen by the general population as typical, but for them, their beliefs and actions are quite reasonable and completely understood and respected by their peers, as it is their way of life.

Walk With Me

Walk With Me is an invitation to peek into other worlds, other experiences, to peek into the hopes and desires of those around you and possibly yourself. Sometimes it is about an actual walk and what is observed during that walk. Other times is it simply an invitation to step into the shoes of someone else. To see the world through the eyes of another. An invitation to survey your own beliefs and then ask if there is another way to see the same thing or see the world. At times it is analytical, at other times it is emotional. Sometimes it tells a simple story and invites you into the story to perhaps say that you have experienced something similar. Walk With Me can be serious, it can be romantic, it can be curious, it can be heartfelt, and it can even be humorous. Usually, Walk With Me poems are easy to understand, at other times there might be multiple meanings to the poem. It is ultimately up to each reader to decide their value, their entertainment, their thoughtfulness, and their meaning.

Tossed into the Deep End

After reading Rona’s stories about life on the road, you will come away from this book a changed person. Her stories will stretch your mind and heart, and make you realize what can happen when you leave no stone unturned on the road of life.

The Aquarium

The Aquarium is a collection of poetry documenting the lives of an aristocratic British couple in the middle of the 20th Century. Told in two parts, we first meet Charles; aged, crippled and left alone in his crumbling stately home – reflecting on his life and his marriage to beautiful Alice, who we meet in part two. The Aquarium moves through the decades, across this life and the next. Interweaving themes of grief, loss, after-life, mental illness, duty, and the true nature of love.

Spilling the Ink of My Soul

Joanne and Marcus’s poetry is an adventure into the heart of self-expression. Their poetry was written to assuage their deepest sorrows and disappointments, countenance their joys, comfort friends, celebrate special occasions, and help dissect and understand the intricacies and workings of the breathing world and the vast and marvelous universe beyond. Their poetry is sensitive and thought-provoking, timely and timeless, personal and yet universal. Read diverse, yet compelling, subject matters such as Africa, love, family, philosophy, patriotism, nature, as well as self-discovery, and death within these pages. Together, let’s journey into the core of America’s new literary voices as they share their heart and mind with us in this new work, Spilling the Ink of My Soul.