The Pebble Poems is a fantasy trip through drought, like the one we find ourselves embedded in today; this trip makes things concrete, simple and conspicuous, it takes us from the edges of consolation and timid frailty into the boundaries of the decision-making process. Mind you, all this is not as cemented as we would like for, as the poems themselves 'tell us', most of these things are too easily said and done. This is a push for, and not against, love. Granted, setting the world on fire in this day and age is a crazy notion, a crazy business, but somebody's got to do it; and this should fall to each and everyone of us. These poems are personal nuggets, if you will, pebbles of the mind, settled pieces (or not) to travel by; the 'pebble' in the title of the book hails back to those cobblestone roads of ages past. Let us say that what was said was unsaid; Let us seek its trail through a dusty road in the Allegheny wood, And learn from its vibrant edginess; Tantalizing is the view, muffled in greatness, In momentary stratospheric turmoil bound and held..., Excerpt from the poem "Where is the elemental say of the thing in the thing said?"...
There is a bonus attached to Mr. Villarreal’s new book of poetry: a one-act play which deals with seeing only what one wants to see to the detriment of a birthing consciousness. The novella deals with the would-be world the protagonist/narrator moves through, a not too pleasant one. As always, life is a format ever in the works in a Villarrealean piece!
Mr. Villarreal takes his title from N.V. Krogius' Chess Psychology. On doubt: [For the player] “the fully acceptable variation seems... not quite strong enough, he wants... something still more effective”; aka, the "illusory chase,” — “chasing the bluebird”. Mr. Villarreal proceeds to paint the American Dream as a "chase" where one risks falling away from life. In chess, the clock is always ticking; so, in real life. But is this verifiable? Yes; for, perfecting the human in us all is like trying to perfect God! —it’s a lottery few of us ever win. “It stands quiet in its domain, in the stellar part of the universe, apart and distant, arbiter which it is on the state of the world― (It sings, and it calls, and then, scurries away into the perfect edge of day!)” From the poem, The bluebird
The title (On the Path Not Taken) stems from Robert Frost's poem of close to the same name; but Mr. Villarreal's poems speak to the easier road most Americans choose to take: the urge for the good life ushers in the Crash of '29; the notion we are too privileged to be moved leads to our entry into WWII; our choice to honor inordinately tapers into the "personal" tragedy of '63; thirst for height as symbol for greatness spawns an unthinable 9/11. The OTPNT Poems piquantly tools away at these conceits; more, they question who we are as Americans. We can see our past only dimly when not aware; It strengthens the will, if antithetically, almost whimsically, To our detriment- And to our continual lack; The measures we take from then on are much Too angularly felt to transform- Too estranged from us to matter. Excerpt from the poem A Beginning Time...
Mr. Villarreal takes his title from N.V. Krogius' Chess Psychology. On doubt: [For the player] “the fully acceptable variation seems... not quite strong enough, he wants... something still more effective”; aka, the "illusory chase,” — “chasing the bluebird”. Mr. Villarreal proceeds to paint the American Dream as a "chase" where one risks falling away from life. In chess, the clock is always ticking; so, in real life. But is this verifiable? Yes; for, perfecting the human in us all is like trying to perfect God! —it’s a lottery few of us ever win. “It stands quiet in its domain, in the stellar part of the universe, apart and distant, arbiter which it is on the state of the world― (It sings, and it calls, and then, scurries away into the perfect edge of day!)” From the poem, The bluebird
There is a bonus attached to Mr. Villarreal’s new book of poetry: a one-act play which deals with seeing only what one wants to see to the detriment of a birthing consciousness. The novella deals with the would-be world the protagonist/narrator moves through, a not too pleasant one. As always, life is a format ever in the works in a Villarrealean piece!
The title (On the Path Not Taken) stems from Robert Frost's poem of close to the same name; but Mr. Villarreal's poems speak to the easier road most Americans choose to take: the urge for the good life ushers in the Crash of '29; the notion we are too privileged to be moved leads to our entry into WWII; our choice to honor inordinately tapers into the "personal" tragedy of '63; thirst for height as symbol for greatness spawns an unthinable 9/11. The OTPNT Poems piquantly tools away at these conceits; more, they question who we are as Americans. We can see our past only dimly when not aware; It strengthens the will, if antithetically, almost whimsically, To our detriment- And to our continual lack; The measures we take from then on are much Too angularly felt to transform- Too estranged from us to matter. Excerpt from the poem A Beginning Time...
The title, When the cactus rose blooms, points to a human being: to one who is ruggedly heroic, not quite tied to an unassuming demeanor; it points to the intuitive character that John Wayne plays in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence. The cactus plant serves as a motive running through this character’s prickly, but kind, awkward, but right symphonic journey: it points to that piece of music we might call “man”. In the film we are told that when the legend becomes a lie you print the legend, or something along those lines; we, on the other hand, live on too many legends founded on too many lies! The total venue of our existence has for the longest while now been needing an overhaul. As has been stated in The Pebble Poems, the first attempt to tackle such ills, this is a case for, and not against, love; our need to be unwhispered here requires it. We are asked to press out of the ordinary, past remembrance, to step into that place where “the cactus rose blooms”! The times we live in keep changing inordinately; here’s hoping a fresh perspective proves helpful.
The title, When the cactus rose blooms, points to a human being: to one who is ruggedly heroic, not quite tied to an unassuming demeanor; it points to the intuitive character that John Wayne plays in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence. The cactus plant serves as a motive running through this character’s prickly, but kind, awkward, but right symphonic journey: it points to that piece of music we might call “man”. In the film we are told that when the legend becomes a lie you print the legend, or something along those lines; we, on the other hand, live on too many legends founded on too many lies! The total venue of our existence has for the longest while now been needing an overhaul. As has been stated in The Pebble Poems, the first attempt to tackle such ills, this is a case for, and not against, love; our need to be unwhispered here requires it. We are asked to press out of the ordinary, past remembrance, to step into that place where “the cactus rose blooms”! The times we live in keep changing inordinately; here’s hoping a fresh perspective proves helpful.
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