Short Sleeves 2008 Collection

For poet H.T. Manogue, 2006 was a year of change-change of thinking  about who he was and how he saw the world. In his second collection of  poetry, Short Sleeves: A Book for Friends2007, many of Hal's poems in this volume vibrate with the possibility that radiates from change.

Themes  of forgiveness, unity, love and the cycles of life underscore the  pervading theme that all is one, now is eternity, and we are co-creators  with the Divine. Whether paying homage to penguins in the poem  Flightless ("Dressed in suite of black and white, a touch of orange to  show your class"), or swimming in an ocean in self love where "Now I am  an island surrounded by myself", Hal reminds us of the grandeur of the  Ground of Being from which all things arise.

Sometimes  playful but always wise, Hal's poems give us kaleidoscope glasses  allowing new perspectives and fresh ways of being in the world. His  poem, I Am, reminds me a bit of Shel Silverstein:

"I am brown I am green

I am tall I am a wall

I am bark Iam an ark

I am roots I am leaves

I am a fort I am a floor

I am the opening for a door

I am you I am me

Connected branches

Of

A Tree"

Reminiscent of Rumi, Hal shows that he is in love with God and in love with reality. He writes in I Dance Everyday:

"I dance everyday

With spirit

Solo we waltz

To the music of love
And then we twist
With God

On the dance floor

Of Eternity."

Filled with over 100 poems, Short Sleeves: A Book for Friends 2007 is a delightful romp with Spirit, reminding us not to take ourselves,  or life, so seriously. Yet, Hal's poems also acknowledges difficult  circumstances like war-a mirror reflecting our projected aggression,  judgementalism, and conformity.