SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 31, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Poetry is often a pure exploration of the human soul as well as an honest excavation of the depths of the human condition. John F. Rhodes does both of these, but the poems collected in his new book, Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence (now available through AuthorHouse), offer a complex mix of classicism, eastern philosophy and New Age thinking.
"My poetry utilizes common fantasies and riddles about our customary habits, giving them depth and value where there was none, making you wonder about the real hidden implications to regular life," Rhodes says. "I try to wake the reader from the monotonous one-dimensional rituals and conventions that we perform half asleep, to see that we are really at all times on a fantastic stage."
Having lived a bohemian lifestyle in Mexico during his young adult years, Rhodes blended his unconventional upbringing with the Zen riddles and filtered Eastern philosophies of George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and Alan Watts among others. After developing his style on the open mics of the coffee houses and poetry spots of San Francisco, specifically the Haight Ashbury district, he has collected his poems into one enlightening volume. The mystic offering, Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence, contains poetry that borrows its style from Zen Koans, Poor Richard's Almanac and the parables of the Bible and places them within the context of "the spontaneity of the spirit of the young." Original and yet hauntingly classic, each poem brings a creative approach at heightening readers' conceptions of the world. The poem, "Mexico," is an example of this poet's style.
Every step you take through the rising tide is followed by the lines of waves, which create new lines across our souls and across the unified universe, that is in us, and is made up of our genuine, actualized bodies dancing in these lines and waves on the sand./ We merge with God, there at the rising tide, where your statue of an image comes and goes, but the beauty of you by the tide will never disappear from my mind, no matter how fleeting life is./ We stole each other's hearts, but just like thieves, we gladly took from each other.
A lyrical lesson in mind expansion, Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence is a wake up call to the fantasies of life that surround everyone in the world.
Born and raised in southern Illinois, Rhodes spent his early adult years living around the world, which included a stint on the beach in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He attended college in Arizona and later moved to San Francisco where he has lived for more than 30 years. A lifelong student of Eastern religion, he has worked as a mental health counselor. Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence is his first book. For more information, visit his Web site at www.rhodespoetry.com
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