A Second Helping

ISBN 978-0-9842449-6-6
5-1/2 x 8-1/2
160 Pages
$12.00

November, 2010

A Cedar Creek
Legacy Book

TO ORDER:

(Available wholesale from Ingram Book Group)

A SECOND HELPING - LIFE IN REVIEW
by Douglas C. Vest

DOUGLAS C. VEST, a retired Episcopalian priest and former research physicist, shares a poetic legacy of life in review - from boyhood years to entering the mystery of the future.

A Message from the Author
A Second Helping began as intentional life review, as my wife and I contemplated moving into a retirement residence. Quite to my surprise, the first several months of my next writing effort seemed largely confined to reflections on my childhood. I came to generalize the thought that the memorable things in life are often those which are experienced for the first time or so. Fresh -- shall I say childlike? -- curiosity has begotten many never-to-be-forgotten events. And there have been many moments which I was convinced of being welcomed into a private world which was little known to others. The ‘wisdom’ of teen-age years asserted itself, as did the personal concerns of parenthood, with the tendency to impart my custodial concerns to others.
        As I released this copy to my publisher, I reflected on the question: “What comes next?” And I turn from time to time to the title of one of my earlier books, Entering the Mystery. The future is a realm of mystery – so here we go!

                             POEMS FEATURED IN THIS BOOK

$2 Bill
A Penny for Your Thoughts
Across the Road
Adverting the Mind
Advertising
Amaryllis
At the Center
Attraction
Big Boys Don’t Cry
Butterfly
Change of Life
Chemistry
Citizen Amphibians
Clothesline
Come On, It’s Just War!
Conveniences
Coping
Dominion Gone Amok
Edged In
Ego Trip
Enlightenment
Excelsior
Failed Experiment
First Day
First Impressions Endure
Flint Knapping
Gathering the Nest
God of the Chaos
Got Religion?
Graven Images
Great Idea!
Grits
Ground-up Freedom
Harvest Moonlighting
Haying
Hearing Aids
Here It Comes Again!
Hide-out
Home Block
Hooped
I and Them
Island
Isthmus
Let Us Rejoice!
Let’s Not Talk About It!
Letting Go
Life Review
Living Records
Looking Back
Love Grows
May Jesus Come to Church?
Memorable

Mingled Pleasure
Mister Fix-it
Mobius Strip
Mystery
Mystified
Nature’s Peek-a-boo
Now, Long Ago
Ostriches
Paired Paradox
Passing Grade
Passing Understanding
Pealed Away from Chores
Play – Fully
Play It Again – for Real, Sam!
Porch Swing
Porches
Remember When?
Revving Up Fast
Sans Chapel
Shadow
Shinny
Showboat
Side Effects
Something Missing
Statement in Song
Still Lacking Perfection
Subject Objectified
Suggestions, Anybody?
Summertime
Swinging Bridge
Synergy
Teach Me to Pray
Techno-messiah
Tee Shirts
The Corner
Thinking Free
Tomato Skin
Town Limits
Transcending Transcendence
Tree Friends
Two Hands
Unswaddled
Waking
Water’s Edge
We Never Really Know
Weed Etiquette
Well, Can You Imagine?
What Do I Mean?
What’s Happening?
Who Says?
Wholly Island
Wild West

This is Doug's tenth book, and here is what his fans have to say about his poetry:

        I love Doug Vest’s poems, and read them again and again. They help
        ground me, reminding me where my true center is. -- Louise Fox

        Almost every night before I go to sleep, I read one of Doug Vest’s poems.
        They help ease me into a restful sleep and a good waking the next morning.
         -- Ann Fasnacht

        Although I am a long-time meditator and lover of nature,
        Doug’s poetic insights are always freshly revealing for me. -- David Caffrey

        Doug’s poems are so refreshing. I enjoy reading a poem or two
        at a time, slowly. It puts a smile on my face – and it makes me think.
        -- Beth Jahncke

        These are approachable poems! -- Joshua Galloway