“Before the World Lost Its Compass: Short Stories and Poems” is now available at Amazon.com in both printed and Kindle versions.(click on photo to enlarge)

Follow the experience of a talented female refugee from Syria in an American small town, a young couple who become two of the many Vietnamese boat people, and faculty who struggle in a resource poor historically black private college. Witness both the skill of a psychologist whose advice to a troubled young woman enables her to achieve notoriety as a scientist and the mischievous ways of a ladies man who receives his comeuppance in a most unusual way. These and other human interest themes are chronicled in this collection of short stories. The volume also includes more than thirty poems that capture images ranging from the beauty of nature to the chaos caused by human greed.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Short Stories:

1. The Syrian Refugee…………………. 11
2. Ever Evy……………………………….25
3. A Legend in His Own Mind…………. 33
4. Two of Too Many Boat People …….53
5. The Panhandler……………………… 65
6. A Boy’s Best and Only Friend ……… 73
7. The Outcome No One Expected………89
8. Where Are All the Lawyers?………….99
9. Aki Maki………………………………107
10. Three Boys and Three Singers…….125

Early Poems, 1972-1978:

1. Values of the Executive………………. 146
2. Four Haiku of the Seasons……………147
3. Ode to My Co-Author……………….. 148
4. Passing Moment of Beauty………….. 149
5. Kinst Road…………………………….150
6. Early Summer at Hickory Hill Farm..152
7. Awakening……………………………. 153
8. Connections Missed………………….. 153
9. The Subordinate Society…………….. 154
10. Renewal………………………………155
11. Nature’s Rigid Class Structure……..155
12. Doubt Within……………………….. 156
13. In Pursuit of Economic Humanism …. 156
14. Heaven From an Airplane……………..157
15. Southern Route West…………………..158
16. Reflections Upon a Vacuum………….. 160
17. Waiting………………………………….161
18. Methodology for Thought……………..162
19. Two Sides……………………………….163
20. On Academic Anarchy…………………164
21. All About Egos………………………….165
22. Possibility……………………………….166
23. The Wedding Party…………………….168

Recent Poems, 2011-2016:

1. Sunset to Sunrise……………………….. 169
2. Missionary Success………………………170
3. Origins……………………………………170
4. Accomplishments?……………………….171
5. Growing Up………………………………171
6. Tofino……………………………………..171
7. Foolishness………………………………. 172
8. The Golden Age of the Oblivious Mind…173
9. The Monsanto Legacy……………………174
10. The Small Business…………………….. 176
11. Memories of a Friend………………….. 177
12. Last Gift…………………………………177
13. To My Beautiful Children…………….. 178