Poetry 4 - Poems on Sexuality - Introduction

Over 15 years ago I was in the final year of classes for my Doctoral work. The next year I would begin my dissertation and receive my degree in the spring of 1997. Since much of my doctorate was related to human sociological development, in one way or another, one of the final classes I took was on Human Sexuality. It was one of the more extraordinary classes I had. The professor, Dr. Harold Ivan Smith, was a prolific author and reader. He had probably read almost everything worth reading on the subject.

For the final project in the class, I decided to do a book of free verse poetry, written as more or less liturgical prayers, for individuals relating to various areas of our sexuality. I was not attempting to make any theological statements in these poems. I was simply seeking to give words to individuals who may otherwise have struggled with them. That would still be true today as I read them anew. I also think these some of prayer would serve well as liturgical elements prayed as a group collectively or broken up as responsive readings.

This is not meant to sound like anything more than factual information, but Dr. Smith gave me an A+ in both the class and this final project. He tried his best to get me to have these poems published, and gave me some insights into that. They are all protected under copyright law, but ultimately they were never bound and published. I guess I could say, until now.

Beginning with my next post, I am going to put all of these poems on this site over the upcoming weeks. As you read, you will see that I have attempted to address a very wide array of topics. Some of them will make many Christian people uncomfortable. I do not apologize for that, since the topics addressed are the stuff of real life. If you read one and someone comes to mind that you think would benefit, you have my permission to pass them along. I do ask that in the sense of accuracy and legality, that you give the author proper credit, who in turn passes the credit along to his Heavenly Father who gave him any talents in this area of writing.