Friendship, Love, and Happiness

“It turns out that people who are more socially connected to family, to friends, to community, are happier, they’re physically healthier, and they live longer than people who are less well connected.”

Prof. Robert J Waldinger – Harvard University

Friendship, Love, and Happiness

is a celebration of what makes us most happy…

close, quality relationships.

Jazz Amour sends you on a journey

to reflect on the great moments and the difficult times

in finding and keeping relationships; and then puts you in charge of navigating your own goals, relationships

and ultimately your happiness.

This book is a must read,

and one that you’ll want to read again,

and again.

Free Admission to My Mind

This poetry collection, like a cerebral train, travels through the varied landscapes of my thoughts, opinions, and life experiences. Words collide with syllables, erupting into vivid imagery that reaches the far recesses of the imagination. These poems are my literary children: sometimes impulsive, but always carrying a message. I hope this collection touches you like the warmth of the sun’s rays on a somber October afternoon.

Forbidden Love Songs

How can love songs be “forbidden”?

They can be when the love is between two men in the late ’90s and one person is already in a relationship with someone else.

This collection of poems is about falling in love when you’re 3,000 miles apart. The poems were written over the course of a few months at the beginning of a passionate yet challenging love affair. Many of the poems were actually written in airports after a tearful good-bye and not knowing when I would see him again. Some of the poems were written after my partner's tragic loss of his parents in a homicide/suicide. 22 years later, we’re still together today and I love him now more than ever!

Flora and Fauna

Flora and Fauna is a book of poetry that enlightens the magic of nature in our world. It explores its plants and animals and the mystery of the author's inner journey. She writes in ‘free verse’ to give a flowing quality to the lines.

Would you like to take a journey through such locales as the Olympic Rain Forest and Pinetop in Arizona and Estes Park and Loveland in Colorado? Having spent time in these places, the author was inspired to put pen to paper, so to speak, and re-create images of elk, deer, hawks, bushes, rabbits, pine trees, geese, birds and dogs. In short, she reveals the beauty within and around us. If you are ready for a ‘potpourri’ of the author's experiences in nature, pick up this book and feast on its poems.

Farther on Down the Road

Farther on Down the Road is a volume of assorted poetic forms and themes and purposes with a Southern flair.

The book celebrates life in its depth, breadth, and beauty, and contains verses from different perspectives from the commonplace to the fanciful to the fantastic.

The works evoke a range of emotions from joy to sorrow; from awe to bliss; from concern to glee.

Falling Through the Cracks

Depression, illness, pain, and loss can become private homes of isolation. It’s tempting to convince ourselves these homes of suffering are proof we suffer alone. Humanity falls through the cracks each time we are failed by a medical system, ignored by policy, and abandoned by those supposed to protect—to love us. May the reader find some commonality within these pages. It can be difficult to find home—know you’re not alone. May the reader experience ataraxia.

Faith, Hope, and Love Inspiration

In Faith, Hope, and Love Inspiration, readers are invited on a journey through life’s highs and lows. From happiness to sadness, hope, faith, and love are the guiding lights that offer inspiration to cling to beyond all the madness. The author takes readers by the hand and leads them to the rocky ground, where hope seems lost, and all is quiet. But amidst the silence, there is still beauty to behold. Take a deep breath and look up to see the dancing clouds above the trees. Let the words take you on a journey of the mind, picturing images of loved ones and angels spreading their wings.

As the clouds move along, the sky fills with blue, and a new sense of hope emerges. Look up and imagine what you may see. The tears that may fall from your eyes will be tears of joy because you are no longer dreaming. You are living a life full of faith, hope, and love.

The pages of this book are filled with inspiration to uplift and guide you through life’s journey. Open your heart to the words within and let them inspire you to see the beauty in every moment. With each turn of the page, you’ll find a new sense of hope and faith that will light the way. Faith, Hope, and Love Inspiration is a must-read for anyone seeking inspiration and guidance on their journey through life.

Evening Light Over Kouraki

This is a story about the search for identity.

Michael Dowd, an out-of-work theater misfit, feels like a failure, and he traces this feeling back to being adopted. Driven to uncover his roots, Michael approaches the adoption agency, only to be denied the answers he seeks. Yet one clue surfaces: his birth name, Kokolakis, hints at Greek origins. With that small lead, he travels to Greece in search of his family.

In the secluded village of Kouraki, he encounters a colorful cast of characters: Elias, the local fool who becomes his unlikely companion; Wolff, a German expat and eccentric inventor; Sotiri, a warm-hearted olive-picker; Penelope, a sharp-minded intellectual from Athens; and Mihaeli, the village mayor, who warns him of the dangers his search could awaken. Each encounter draws Michael deeper into a mystery that tests his resolve and uncovers long-buried secrets.

Endlessly, I'll Love You

In a world where hearts have grown wary and love seems a distant tale, can the unexpected stir the depths of the untouched soul? Through the tender cadence of poetry and the rich weave of prose, we delve into the inner dialogues of two solitary hearts, Noah and Hazel. Each encased in a shell of past scars and present fears, yet fate’s whimsical dance entwines their paths in a fleeting, serendipitous encounter. But will this mere whisper of destiny spark a journey of discovery, or will their worlds remain untouched, their meeting a mere ephemeral whisper in time? This narrative explores the delicate step from solitude to the uncharted realm of another’s heart.

Drumbeats

DRUMBEATS encompasses a diverse collection of poems inspired in large measure by Native American beliefs and traditions. Poems in the collection are framed in language that evokes vivid images and deep emotions — language with natural rhythm, internal rhyme, alliterative phrase, and unmistakable resonance.

Perhaps the most pervasive theme emerges from repeated references to burial mounds: archaeological monuments that relate to spirituality, reverence for the past, and the human need to engage in reflection and self-examination.

Native American burial grounds are earthen temples.  To stand quietly and alone before an ancient mound is to resurrect the past, glimpse the limits of human understanding, and conjure the far-off sound of drumbeats.

Dreaming Missouri

Each step we take, brings us closer to a moment in our life that may change it forever. Dreaming Missouri explores the nooks and crannies of a life; each moment filled with indelible, occasionally startling, events. Sometimes they happen to us. Sometimes they happen to others. But life impacts life, and Dreaming Missouri uses the lens of poetry to examine the ways in which our lives interconnect, the way that a place you’ve never been or someone you’ve never met, collides with you and changes who you are, forever.

From love to loss, from love that struggles to survive, to children who leave the nest emptied and lonely, to those whose names we read about in newspapers or hear about on the 6 o’clock news, this raw and throbbing collection of poems will draw you in and remind you that we are all vulnerable and susceptible to the hazards of living.

Diversity

Poetry is not only a verse on a sheet of blank paper. It is colored with a tear, with a smile of good memories. It is a decision about whether a poet wants to leave his good heart to everyone as an accomplishment of his destiny and his life. Poetry is not imagination, it is a real event. True poets write real poetry.