#PoetryReadathon – Touching the Sun: Mystical Poetry by Steve Tanham

 

What Amazon says

In this collection of mystical poems, Steve Tanham, founding director of the Silent Eye, explores his personal relationship between the soul and the sun. Plotting its course through the seasonal round, we can recognise the beauty of this natural cycle and catch fleeting glimpses of the greater beyond.

My review

Touching the Sun is a beautiful collection of poems about one man’s spiritual interactions with nature as the earth does its slow revolution around the sun. These poems are different from a lot of poetry about nature because they highlight the spiritual element of man’s interaction with the physical world around him. Many of the poems explore the poet’s own journey to extract the best from life, through seeking its meaning, as well as the cause and effect of natural elements on his journey.

The poet derives great pleasure from nature and enjoys its uplifting benefits as well as recognising its greater power over human life and our inability to control it or manipulate its forces. We are mere creatures who must go with the natural flow and course of events, while respecting this power. These poems have even greater impact at a time in human development when our own disregard for nature is weighing so heavily on our collective shoulders. These poems are not, however, sad or depressing, they are quite the opposite and leave the reader feeling quite hopeful and joyous at the end.

A few favourite quotes are as follows:

“To cling is but a dreamer’s sigh
As worlds rotate and tides return
Her russet hand will still caress
Though leaves are falling, thick and slick
Her naked skin still shines within
The wood-flames crackling burn”
From Summer’s Last Kiss

“We choose the crest or anguished trough
In looking with fixed eye
We play the chosen role that looks
For gaolers in the sky”
From On Golden Wave

Purchase Touching the Sun: Mystical Poetry

Follow Steve Tanham

You can find some of Steve Tanham’s lovely poetry, short stories and other interesting posts on his blog here: https://suningemini.blog/