- Preface -

From the drifting thoughts of a bored high school student, listening to the droning of his English teacher as she speaks of a poet he doesn't understand...to a grown man awed by nature's splendor, challenged by personal introspection, or mesmerized by the beauty in women...

We've all had our moments of inspiration haven't we? You know, the kind where we suddenly find something tangible in the slurry of words coursing through our minds...yearning to be scribbled onto paper before we lose sight of their meaning. Such moments for me are rare, but they do come around every so often. Sometimes, the ink will trickle briefly and then, like a sailboat catching no wind, I'm stuck not knowing which direction I'll go next. And then, there are those times when I can hardly stop the thoughts from rushing forward to my fingertips, spilling the ink from the nib of the pen in a flow of words that could only be described as chaos and disorder. But hey, at least there's something there to work with!

No matter how quickly my thoughts get transcribed to paper, I do enjoy writing. When in high school, I wrote my first poem "The Eagle" and with encouragement from my English teacher, entered it in the local Annakusa Women's Club poetry contest. To my amazement, I won first place! Of course, it was the three dollar prize that convinced me to write for the reward of personal satisfaction and not of personal income!

In fact, rather than writing for the sake of money, most of my writing is for the sake of well-being. I find writing to be an excellent way to take what may occasionally be negative feelings and channel them in a positive direction. Call it self-therapy if you like. When I look back over my prose of several years and observe some commonality of theme or emotion underlying those words, a real wake-up call may lie there.

When and where my poetic license will take me next I have no clue, so I just consider it an adventure of expression, sometimes going down paths never before explored while others just circle back upon themselves. Perhaps you will find something here that strikes a familiar chord with you - wherever you are, where you've been, or where you're going.

As you go your way, please let me know you've stopped by.

Best wishes in your journey,

AMBRESS

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