Rainey Blogs on Some Days

When I sit by a stream, I start to remember who I am. The sunlight shines a spotlight on the water in certain places and you can see the rocks clearly on the bottom of the brook. The liquid facade hides what is below in most places, except where the brightness brings clarity. And the same brightness seems to shine in my soul when I am at Flat Rock and I somehow remember who I am. My life feels like it is a mess today. If I think this thought through rationally, I would conclude this is not true. But I emphasize that it  feels  this way because the feelings are so powerful and desperate that I cannot shake them off at home or church or work. But they are only feelings . No events or circumstances in my life demand such desperation, but inside me is turbulence and chaos. I am on the verge of tears but they never come. I long for the gentleness of the brook's waters that glide by to somehow jump the bank and enter my tempest-tossed soul. A woman who was walking across...

Original Draft of "Barbecue Grill," from Touching Other Worlds, pg. 1   Original Draft of "Barbecue Grill," from Touching Other Worlds, pg. 2

Now that my book has been out for over a year now, I've gotten lots of good feedback by email and in person at book and poetry readings. Here's what people are saying about Touching Other Worlds : “ Not horrible . . .” “ Brave . . .” “ Better than I thought it might be.” “ He'll be a good writer some day!” “ Finally some manly poetry for a change.” “ Not half bad, especially for a descendant of Midwestern farmers.” “ Very rare collection, indeed . . .” “ Liked it better than I thought I would.” “ Moved me to tears . . .” “ This poetry is definitely other-worldly . . .” “ Rainey's poetry is unbelievable . . . unimaginable” “ Reminded me of buses and diesel fumes . . .” “ Woven in transluscence throughout . . .” “ Lifted me out of the doldrums” “ Waiting for the German translation.”

My first book, Touching Other Worlds , a collection of poetry, is vailable for free downloads on Amazon on Sunday, 10/21/12 and Monday, 10/22/12. I got mixed up on the start date. You can go to http://goo.gl/1MkrG to get one starting tomorrow. There is no catch. This is a free promotion. If you like it and want to review it, feel free to do that on the Amazon site. If you "like" the book, go to the title of the book link above and like it on Facebook. Here's what people saying about my book: "It's not horrible." "Not as bad as I thought it might be!" "Better than a lot of stuff I've read."

This is the story of a friend who became an Episcopalian priest due to a medical condition he did not know he had. I have written it as he told it to me while we were sitting at the Jackson Hole Diner in Englewood, New Jersey. I never thought my Greek studies in seminary would prepare me to understand the illness that my doctor recently diagnosed--agoraphobia. The Greek word agora means “marketplace.” The Greek word phobos means “fear.” Put them together and you end up with "fear of the marketplace," or crowds. It wasn't a problem early in my ministry because I pastored small churches of 20 or 30 people. I dealt with the Saturday anxiety leading up to a Sunday as best I could, figuring it was just normal, especially because I never had my sermons done by Saturday and the thought of stepping into the pulpit unprepared made me nervous. But then I started finishing my sermons earlier in the week and I realized my anxiety was still there, so it must be something else. ...

My first book,  Touching Other Worlds: A Collection of Poems , has now been published. This collection of poems was primarily inspired by my visits to Flat Rock Brook Nature Center in Englewood, New Jersey and a two-month special assignment for UPS commuting to New York City. (You can get a lot of writing done while riding a bus to and from New York City.) It is available online through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.  Click here to print version of Touching Other Worlds on Amazon Click here to Amazon Kindle version of Touching Other Worlds on Amazon Click here to see Touching Other Worlds at Barnes and Noble Click here to LIKE Touching Other Worlds on Facebook