MILD BEAUTY

A woman doesn’t need to shop for pearls.  She could harvest them on her own.  It is priceless beauty when a woman produces such qualities as mildness, loving-kindness, goodness, trustworthiness, and so forth.  This “secret person of the heart in the incorruptible [apparel] of the quiet and mild spirit…is of great value in the eyes of God.”–1 Peter 3:4

Black pearl and its shell

Enjoy my haiku, Mild Beauty, taken from my nature poetry book entitled A Mountain of an Artist.

MILD BEAUTY

Oyster undisturbed

Harvesting in warm waters

A woman calmed down

by Naaman Hills

from A Mountain of an Artist

A LOVE STORY: GIANT PANDA

The poetic form used for this love story is villanelle.  I bet this lovely couple is still together.  Enjoy.

GIANT PANDA

Show me love, Amanda.

Let me be your teddy bear.

I want to be your giant panda.

Here’s a shoot of bamboo manna.

That your pretty teeth can wear.

Show me love, Amanda.

In the lower forest of a “montana,”^*

Will you spend the winter with me there?

I want to be your giant panda.

I would like to make your mother a nana,

Just me and you making an heir.

Show me love, Amanda.

I’ve paid no attention to Anna,

But in you I’ve gotten lost in a stare.

I want to be your giant panda.

You know I don’t believe in Santa.

You must be the gift that God spared.

Show me love, Amanda!

I want to be your giant panda.

*Spanish for mountain

by Naaman Hills

from A Mountain of an Artist

IN GOD’S IMAGE

I hate racism.  All of mankind is beautiful.  We ultimately have the same parents.  These sentiments are expressed in my poem entitled “In God’s Image”.  Sticking with the common thread throughout my book, I am again using nature to reveal this message.

IN GOD’S IMAGE

Black pearls, white ivory, and yellow blossoms–

The basic or fundamental jewels

That paint mankind,

Races of people

Discovered in God’s image.

Highly prize black pearls,

Die for white ivory,

Long to see the yellow blossoms,

And all the in-between

Here in God’s image!

Continental drifts

Formed coral reefs on the coast,

Races of mankind

Spread about in the earth,

Distinct and beautiful

In God’s image.

Ships bridge the gap,

Sailing deep

With knowledge and understanding

Until common ground is reached–

The beginning–

Through our first parents

Created

In God’s image.

Not everyone can afford to buy

Love carried on merchant ships

And the truth about to make it sink.

Still, the earth swells in pride

All around

In God’s image.

by Naaman Hills

from A Mountain of an Artist

Book Review: Animal Radio Reviews the first edition of A Mountain of an Artist

“A Mountain Of an Artist is a collection of poetry that commemorates the natural world by Naaman Hills.  You will learn many things about Naaman Hills through his poetry.  First of all that he is a spiritual man and secondly he is a lover of nature.  But I have to tell you; this is not a religious piece of work.

It is nice to see that Mr. Hills hasn’t forgotten about the animals. You will find many poems of animals sprinkled throughout, from dogs (a Collie from Brooklyn, New York) to the flightless ostrich.  Mr. Hill’s poetry also includes real life situations (perhaps you have encountered some of these yourself!).

Throughout the book, you will find many photographs of Naaman and his wife, opposite an appropriate poem (I have to say–they are a good looking couple!!)  Bob Roth performed his review for the very first edition of A Mountain of an Artist released November 2009.  Since then those lovely pictures have been removed and some replaced for the better.  Now the book contains 31 pictures, more than at first, with only one of me and my wife to match a poem entitled My Pomegranate that I dedicated to her.–Italics mine.

Sometimes you just have to sit down, take a break, and gather your animals around you for reflection.  (Don’t be surprised to see how high I scored in his review, two and a half out of five paws for a book that is not even fifty percent about animals.  With Animal Radio it’s all about the paws so overall this must be a good book.) With Naaman’s book of poetry, you can allow the beauty of nature to charm you while doing so.”–Reviewed by Bob Roth, Animal Radio Book Club

CLEAN WATER

Drinking Water

Today, the simplest things are the most desired.  Sadly, mankind is ruining the earth which includes our water supply.  This free verse poem helps you reminisce on your desire to enjoy basic life necessities with the use of water.

CLEAN WATER

He came to shower in a hot spring.

Water fell over a sculptured rock mass.

A stream drained into a river.

A water wheel was at the mouth.

Splashes accumulated onto a dry floor.

The stream slowed down.

Big whales flapped in shallow water

As he stepped onto the floor.

Clouds of dense fog were carried away by the wind

As he ran the exhaust fan.

Reflections in the presence of sun presented blurry images

In the mirror from falls of water.

Rough winds of a towel rubbed and pressed away

Until the rock, the man, was dry.

Her hands turned on a lake in the tub.

Water rose when her yacht sailed in to bath.

Songbirds were on her boat.

She anchored down

And splashed around

As she moved,

Washing off sediment

Until her the length of her body was hid

In dirty salt water.

Songbirds flew away.

She washed ashore;

Dried off on a sandy beach.

Together they drank clean water

When the desert was parched

From a river that was completely renewed,

Refreshed and subdued–the faucet.

by Naaman Hills

from A Mountain of an Artist

BORNEAN ORANGUTAN – ONE HEALTHY LOOK!

Bornean Orangutan

So many of us are plagued by dissatisfaction of our weight despite the fact that we are doing everything right.  Let’s stop taking ourselves so seriously and laugh.

BORNEAN ORANGUTAN—ONE HEALTHY LOOK!

You have ten fingers?

Ten toes?

A belly button?

Two arms?

Two legs?

A butt?

Sticking to your diet of fruits?

Been exercising your limbs?

Sleeping good at night?

Yes?

Go look into the mirror

And kiss my reflection.

Two thumbs up!

Big smile?

Your beautiful!

by Naaman Hills

from A Mountain of an Artist

THE MOON SMILED AT ME

We all have had moments when we were down and out when even our companions may have given up on us, but soon after, something bright happened in our life.   Enjoy this free verse from my book entitled A Mountain of an Artist.

THE MOON SMILED AT ME

Dark comments overshadowed

And the sun began to set.

The children left the playground.

My heart would no longer skip about.

It was a lonely hop scotch.

Laughter was tucked away

In a deep sleep.

I marched in my funeral procession.

Depression wept and wailed over my casket.

Afterward, I reached up and peeked

Through this skirt of darkness

To catch a glimpse of a star.

And tonight the moon smiled at me.

Tomorrow onlookers will bury an empty casket

Because the moon smiled at me!

by Naaman Hills

from A Mountain of an Artist

So what do you think about my poetry book entitled A Mountain of an Artist?

My purpose for writing  A Mountain of an Artist is to educate, motivate, and entertain.  This 15,351 word and 31 picture poetry book encapsulates  the not below par style of precision, clarity, and creativity such as those poems lain down by Maya Angelou, William Shakespeare, and Emily Dickinson, but with much originality built on the platform of our natural surroundings.

Shakespeare has masterfully crafted emotion–love, hate, joy and despair– into his renown poems.  These same emotions explode in my poetry as nature takes the front line, sometimes intertwined with real life scenarios.   Maya Angelou has pioneered the way for culture and inspiration.  I follow the path in many of my poems.  Some might particularly enjoy learning about a black locust tree in clear, concise rhyme that reminisces the cultural history and characteristics of blacks who have been uprooted from Africa and planted overseas.  Emily Dickinson, in her prolific free verse and quality nature poems,  has convinced me to produce nature poems that live.   For example, in one poem I’m giving you a step by step process from attracting a mate, to courting, to the engagement, to marriage, to the honeymoon, and what happens next in easy to follow free verse and rhythm using various species of birds.  How many of my contemporaries do you know have resurrected multiple poetic forms once popular and dressed them with verses that attract in our modern age?  Not very many, although they may be great poets.  You will, however, find that in my poetry collection.  Thankfully, my contemporaries and favorite poets have left space for me to bring something fresh to the book market with A Mountain Of an Artist.

Each of the fifty-nine poems in this book welcomes everyone  to embark on a journey of love and romance, reflect on common aspirations and real life situations, deepen an appreciation for the gift of life and culture, or simply allow the beauty of nature originating from the Grand Artist, God,  to captivate them.  The poems are designed to reach an audience of young adults on up from childish to scholarly, straightforward to creative, serious to funny, and so on.  You will find such titles as The Moon Smiled at Me, Black Locust Tree, Clean Water, Cherry Tree and Blossoms, Mild Beauty, Pearl With Class, Love Measured In a Wings Span, Spanish Moss, Weeping Willow, Look Up at the Sea, and many more.  Embracing over sixteen different poetic forms including one I invented, A Mountain of an Artist celebrates the majestic beauty of the world.

Naaman Hills

Author of A Mountain of an Artist