Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $9.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Living on the Edge: 50 Years of Poetry
    Living on the Edge: 50 Years of Poetry
    Living on the Edge: 50 Years of Poetry
    Ebook204 pages1 hour

    Living on the Edge: 50 Years of Poetry

    By Ken Paffrath

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    We all are Living On The Edge. Sometimes we fall off the edge, sometimes we decide to change edges. Regardless life on the edge can be exciting and fraught with many perils. Many times we stop Living On The Edge to contemplate where we have been and what lies ahead. Ken Paffraths life has experienced many ups and downs and is reflected in his poetry. Poetry which is introspective, suicidal, humourous, spiritual, environmental, thought provoking, or nonsensical. It is a chronicle of life in poetry, dreams, heartbreaks, ups and downs. In reading Living On The Edge it is hoped that you may identify in some small way with the author.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBalboa Press
    Release dateMay 1, 2014
    ISBN9781452595054
    Living on the Edge: 50 Years of Poetry
    Author

    Ken Paffrath

    Ken Paffrath has been published in 14 anthologies, various papers and won numerous awards including the 1989 Poet of Merit from the National Library of Poetry.He has traveled to many places and experienced the dualities of life such as happiness and heartbreak, life and death, war and peace, etc. He retired from the Air Force and Dept. of Defense. He is a disabled veteran with multiple sclerosis. He is married and lives in Riverside, California with his wife and Coca, a chocolate Labrador. They have two sons and three grandchildren.

    Related to Living on the Edge

    Related ebooks

    Poetry For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The New 2022 Nonfiction

      Aug 17, 2022

      The New 2022 Nonfiction
      13 min read

    • Article

      Steven Pinker

      Oct 24, 2022

      Steven Pinker
      5 min read

    • Article

      A Beginning From The End

      Jan 18, 2022

      A Beginning From The End
      6 min read

    • Article

      Yalie Saweda Kamara

      Dec 11, 2024

      Milkweed Editions (Jake Adam York Prize) How it began: I wanted to write a book that examined, complicated, and dignified parts of the communities to which I belong. I am from Oakland and Sierra Leone, two places that are susceptible to stigma and wh

      2 min read

    • Article

      TELL ME A Story

      Mar 31, 2023

      TELL ME A Story
      21 min read

    • Article

      Being Human: The Poetry of Life

      Nov 23, 2016

      Being Human: The Poetry of Life
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: C Pam Zhang

      Dec 11, 2019

      It was the last year of my third decade on this earth, and it seems with every passing year I grow increasingly alien to that earth, or it to me. The post A Year in Reading: C Pam Zhang appeared first on The Millions.

      4 min read

    • Article

      My solitary LIFE

      Feb 9, 2021

      My solitary LIFE
      4 min read

    • Article

      Arinze Ifeakandu

      Jun 15, 2022

      Arinze Ifeakandu
      4 min read

    • Article

      5 over 50

      Oct 9, 2024

      5 over 50
      12 min read

    • Article

      The Beauty In The Bittersweet

      Feb 14, 2022

      Susan Cain burst onto the literary scene 10 years ago with the publication of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, which launched an entire Quiet Revolution and a few spin-off titles. For introverts, Quiet has provided v

      6 min read

    • Article

      Viewpoint

      Aug 4, 2023

      My copy of this month’s Psychologies magazine landed on my doormat less than an hour ago, and I feel compelled to respond immediately to Briony Davies and her star letter. She has articulated everything I’ve been thinking and experiencing (and been f

      3 min read

    • Article

      Caroline Rayner Wants to Hang Out Forever

      Jul 17, 2023

      "It excites me when it feels like I don't know what I’m doing." The post Caroline Rayner Wants to Hang Out Forever appeared first on The Millions.

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Poet

      Oct 11, 2022

      The Poet
      8 min read

    • Article

      Journey To Solace

      Aug 12, 2019

      Journey To Solace
      5 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Jasmine Guillory

      Dec 19, 2019

      I’m honored to blurb other authors and support them. But I’ve had to figure out techniques for myself so I can read and write and keep joy in my heart for both. The post A Year in Reading: Jasmine Guillory appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Life + Health

      May 18, 2023

      Life + Health
      5 min read

    • Article

      Ada Limón and Erika Sánchez Discuss Self-Care and a Life of Words

      Jan 9, 2019

      It can be healthy to purge dark things, but it can also excavate old and new suffering that needs to be attended to. The body can't always keep up. The post Ada Limón and Erika Sánchez Discuss Self-Care and a Life of Words appeared first on The Milli

      11 min read

    • Article

      A Brand-new ending

      Jan 29, 2022

      A Brand-new ending
      7 min read

    • Article

      Her Own Drummer

      Aug 20, 2019

      Her Own Drummer
      5 min read

    • Article

      Portraits of INSPIRATION

      Dec 12, 2018

      Portraits of INSPIRATION
      8 min read

    • Article

      Writing From The Edge

      May 1, 2019

      One outreaches language in poetry when the inseeing elements of consciousness ask the unseen of life to come forward. My aim has been to unseat what we assume about time, about the verities of love and death, of the consciousness of those other senti

      9 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Living on the Edge

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Living on the Edge - Ken Paffrath

      Copyright © 2014 Ken Paffrath.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      Balboa Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      Balboa Press

      A Division of Hay House

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.balboapress.com

      1 (877) 407-4847

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      ISBN: 978-1-4525-9504-7 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4525-9506-1 (hc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4525-9505-4 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2014905719

      Balboa Press rev. date: 4/22/2014

      Contents

      Preface

      Brotherly Love

      Regeneration

      The Journey

      Life’s Purpose

      Truth

      On Being An Example

      Alone

      Bound

      The End

      Min Docga*

      The Fountain

      Freedom

      A Couplet

      Life I

      Life II

      On Indifferences

      A Song

      On Flying

      Ramblings of the Mind

      The Prisoner

      The Holocaust

      Peace

      Untitled

      Ode to a Lover

      God’s Light

      A Perspective on Life

      The Trip

      Ahead to the Future

      Mind Trip

      The Stream I

      Untitled

      Body and Soul

      On Knowing God

      Untitled

      Untitled

      A Message of Peace

      Spirit’s Journey

      Untitled

      The Flame

      The Reality of Spirit

      Untitled

      Untitled

      Ode to Evergreen, Colorado

      Lady of the Past

      The Stream II

      Progress

      God’s Love I

      To an Angel

      The Glory of God

      It’s Amazing

      On Knowing Yourself

      To a Shower

      The Clock

      To Colorado

      God Within

      Free

      Untitled

      Untitled

      A New Day

      In Transit

      The Birds

      The Search

      Love

      What Difference

      Life Is Like a Cigarette

      The Leper

      Love: A Response

      Death

      The Rainbow

      God’s Love – II

      The Wind

      The Invisible Ones

      A Game of Love

      To Scott

      War

      Free Spirit

      The Unknown Angel

      Another Day

      Untitled

      Reaching Upward

      Beyond

      To a Dream

      Where Have the Words All Gone

      No More

      Change

      A Welcome Embrace

      Journey into Chaos

      A Thing of the Past

      Soul Mates

      Spheres of Light

      Lady of the Night

      In Retrospect at Twenty-Eight Thousand Feet

      Diamonds from Above

      Words

      My Heart’s Longing

      For You

      All That I Am Is Yours

      The Flowing Wall

      The Source

      Memories

      A Study in Suicide

      Paradise

      The Ocean Shore

      A Time to Mourn

      The Rising of the Sun

      A Broken Heart

      A Time to Be Born

      The Sea’s Embrace

      Clear Vision

      Because of You

      My Choice

      You Are There

      A Time to Plant

      A Time to Die

      Christ Descended

      Christ My Strength

      A Prayer to Dedicate the New Day

      God’s Love Leads

      Untitled

      A Time to Weep

      T’was the Week after Christmas

      A Study in Suicide

      A New Beginning

      The Encounter or The Gal versus the Dude

      Thoughts for a Monday Morning

      A Time to Love

      Another Healing or Into the Spiral Again

      Riding the Wind

      Dying Species

      You’ll Not See Me Cry

      Who Am I?

      My Hiding Place

      A Plea

      Fear of Loving

      To a Lover

      Forever in My Life

      Misery

      The Dawning

      The Mother Goddess

      Simple Simon

      Alone

      Friends

      Ode to Slot Machines

      The Mice and the Clock

      The Mad Hatter and the Red Queen

      Yorick

      The Weeping Woman

      Harbingers of Death

      The Haunting

      My Heart’s Desire

      The Soldier

      Living on the Edge is dedicated to all my friends, fellow authors, and family, who encouraged me to assemble all my poetry into a book. It is also dedicated to all the kindred spirits who find themselves relating in some small way to my poems. Lastly I must mention my wife, Patty Ann, who showed great forbearance in these final stages of assembly.

      Preface

      I chose the title Living on the Edge because I felt that it describes my life in a nutshell. The poetry within is in many ways a chronicle of my life experiences. Every time I wrote a poem I dated it so if I went back at a later date, I could recall the circumstances in which it was written. Many of the poems have a story behind them; some of them are flashbacks to different times.

      I started writing poetry in 1963, about the time of Kennedy’s assassination. I was in college and questioned my existence. My writing often came in spurts, as I would hold things in until I felt like I was going to explode. I often would push my limits to see how far I could go. In 1966 I joined the United States Air Force where I spent the next twenty years. This provided me with material that enabled me to write more. It opened my eyes to the world, starting with Buddhist priests in a monastery in Thailand and four years in Southeast Asia to Spain and England. I also managed to see much of America. I learned to open my mind to other lifestyles and to the misery of the poor ravaged

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1