Pikomoku

Miles to Go Before I Sleep Pikomoku

The poems "Miles To Go Before I Sleep." were written after the author suffered a close to death experience on massive radiation of a large tumor his pelvis. The liver, riddled with cancer, had begun to fail due to the toxicity of the radiation. The experience has been recorded in his book Dont tell me I'm Going to Die: Reflections on my Terminal Cancer" Scraps and pieces of previous scribblings that were to going to be consigned to the wastepaper basket were retrieved and magically transformed themselves into what has been described as a "wondrous journal." None of these poignant poems in celebration of Love, Life and Death would have come to light if it had not been for the cancer eliciting in an intense and penetrating light on a foreshortened life. The book also contains a short story of the author's search for his own blindness--his inability to see things as they are, and his work with the blind farmers in India that gave him an insight into his own limitations. The photographs he took accompanied by short poetic phrases make this living experience a fit sequel to the poems that illumine a unique vision and way of life.