Techie Turned Teacher Turned Poet

PHOTO The author in Maui PHOTO Mark Tarpinian's book, Inspired! PHOTO Shanghai at night

Robert Frost’s “The Road Less Traveled” is the best place for me to start...

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference

—Robert Frost

The first time I read this as a boy it became one of my favorite poems, and although not consciously embracing its message then, I’m living it deeply now.

I used to look upon poetry as a pretty, separate, specialized form of “art with words” … a form to be mused in idle moments, which few spent time digesting. Today I realize, in books and seminars focusing upon life coaching, poetry is among the most powerful expressions cited, to permit moving and lasting connections and shifts in those ready to receive. It now feels natural, in desiring to propel people to be their best daily, to express myself publicly in this way … offering “Poetic Boost” to integrate high vibration into all facets of life … fuel for everyone, always available for nourishment.

What’s the root of poetic energy? I’m convinced it’s its source of “Human Condition”, heart-pulsing energy emanating from its creation. This “human condition” is something my High School English teacher Ms. Rita Mallahy spoke about explicitly, one of her themes weaving through everything we read and wrote, in colorful fabric and spirit. Ms. Mallahy was a woman relegated to a wheelchair through polio, who wore a gracious uplifting perpetual smile … she couldn’t get through a full sentence of “cross reaction” in class, without breaking into a kind of beaming grin before she was complete ;o) In her gentle strength she was living poetry, and her energy continues to circulate through the planet now, warming us all.

First the heart sings, then the brain dances, and in turn the body flies … we’ve all felt it, and we can engage such feeling and flight frequently with poetry we love. Have you ever found yourself singing spontaneously? Perhaps if you step back, you consciously realize it’s because you’re deeply moved within … and as you sing, feelings grow … for me it’s a conscious choice to feel the welling mix of infinite expansion, joy, love. Know that poems can illuminate an amazing bridge, letting what’s inside out into the world!

What I’ve written through a book titled Inspired! Photo Poetry February 2008, taps two powerful sensory conduits simultaneously—words and images. It’s intentionally created to let readers worldwide float to the free-flowing heights we’re all born with access to … big-picture as well as detailed “feelings of view” in the book, are meant to guide personal growth, healing, and awareness.

Coming to this point on my “road less traveled”, has included steps taking me into ever-increasing contrast of experience, allowing accelerated exploration of self & surrounding human condition: Science & Technology & Language through MIT Chemical Engineering & Spanish studies; Manufacturing via AMD computer chip process engineering; Global Business perspective through 2 decades of semiconductor equipment Sales Management in the US and Europe, then 2 years serving in Business English Consulting in China; Employed in Silicon Valley California with large multinational plus lean startup corporations, followed by a choice to teach freelance abroad; Enjoying 8 years of marriage as well as subsequent single life; Watching my three sisters build loving families; Witnessing my parents’ 40 years supporting each other, then mother’s yield to cancer. All of this has graced me to arrive at deep eternal Joy in knowing life’s beauty exists in every corner of the earth, and we’re all more alike than we are different … “contrast bringing union”, what a lovely ironic reality, which I’m now consciously allowing and embracing on this gifted infinite path called life.

Be any thing, any time, any where … and live the poetry only you can create, with your unique voice! This is as real as it gets; all we need do is simply choose it, then listen and move daily with this hART-based flow from within.