Philosopher Poet in a Field of Dreams

By Richard Del Connor, Buddha Zhen, Buddha Z

Philosopher Poet in a Field of Dreams began on 9/11/2018 with the poem, “Dreams and Ambitions of a Gentleman.” He wrote this poem in the homeless shelter cafeteria after performing in a nightclub, jamming the blues on his silver plated flute. The final poem, “Without Supportive Backing,” was written 12/6/2018, contemplating the ups and downs of his life plagued with poverty his entire life. As Richard hand-wrote the entire poetry book on the same day – he was reminded of his teenage poetic role model, Jim Morrison of The Doors. Originally inspired by Jim Morrison during the 1960s when he was also dropping acid, but never drinking booze, Richard imagined himself attaining Jim’s life goal of wanting to be a poet. As a fellow songwriter, Richard’s poetry is very lyrical, includes a variety of rhyming rhythms, is often comical and sometimes thought provoking or philosophical.

Mistakenly thinking that the poetry book's completion was on Jim's birthday – Richard dedicated the book to Jim Morrison, thinking of him all the day he hand-wrote the final draft of his poetry book. With rain creating smooth drum patterns on the roof of his Tacoma truck, and his cat occasionally leaving paw prints across his notebook, Richard used his unique calligraphy style to hand write the entire book with expressive flairs and lettering styles.

Using the library computers, Richard then typeset the entire book also. Combining each typeset page, with JPG scans of his calligraphy poems on the opposing page, Philosopher Poet in a Field of Dreams is a work of art and love. All the poems were performed at poetry readings in various libraries, book fairs and coffee shops, sometimes on the same day the poems were written.

Most compliments come from people who say they open the Philosopher Poet in a Field of Dreams poetry book to random pages and always discover a unique insight that helps them with a current problem or a poem that inspires them to enjoy that day a little more.