Stone and Ice

As stone and ice shape the Sierra forces at work in our own lives shape and transition the way we act and think. These forces--influential persons spiritual or career junctures or life-altering events--affect our present moments and futures. <I>Stone and Ice</I> a collection of poems describes and examines junctures and events through the eyes and mind of a genuine explorer.<p>Poet Joseph Whitson's perspective of his surroundings of people in his life and of specific events derives from a mix of his educational background in the sciences and his interests in backpacking climbing mountaineering and other adventures. The center of town becomes:<p align=center> Buildings pushed up from the ground<br> In distorted contrivances of the earth<br> Persons at corners like billboards<br> With something to sell gurgling<br> With the noise of the anger--this city.</p><p>Poems of adventures transition into explorations of the awesome forces of nature or of the awesome powers of other persons. Quiet Sundays become surreal. A year of the poet's life becomes an abstract. <I>Stone and Ice</I> as poem after poem unfolds into two or three levels of meaning is the adventure!