Into Light

Nearly all of these poems were written in2020, the year in which covid-19 moved from China,to Europe, to the United States-an amazing series ofmovements that changed our lives. Infections. Deaths.Face masks, distancing, personal isolation. Racialprotests. Civic chaos. Global instability.The burdens were great, and still are-thelingering deleterious effects of Trump’s corruptadministration and his non-functioning Senate. Thecovid-19 pandemic. The plummeting economy. Thehorrideous psychological diminution of confidence,energy, will power, and creative courage throughoutthe land.Nevertheless, in spite of these and relatedburdens, the center of the human heart remainsforever alive. We love, we care, we doubt, we fear. Wescale the heights in our mind, sometimes succeed,sometimes fail, and always aspire to realize the best,the most hopeful, the most loving and empathicdimensions of ourselves. That is what most of thesepoems are about: the forever-shining jewel-center ofthe universal human heart. 3