I created Poetical Journeys in 2001. I revised the website in 2010. To see the newly designed homepage, click here. This is our Anniversary Issue which begin Year 21. It contains winter pictures of the Midway, UT, area. Poetical Journal ©by Bob Casey _____________________________________________________ Mission: To provide poetical and thoughtful comments on life ____________________________________________________ PLEASE! Supporting the efforts of the Poetical Journal is greatly appreciated! Any amount of donation is appreciated. To support, click on the link and scroll down. click here. My trilogy is now available on Audible.com and iTunes. It was released in December! Please click here to go to the Amazon link to learn more about my books. Supporting the efforts of the Poetical Journal is greatly appreciated! To support, click here. (Scroll down to the donate button.) For Unique Poetical Gifts click here! Questions? Email me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VOLUME XXI – Issue 1: Sunday, February 27, 2022 (246th Issue) Welcome & Online Version Opening Comments from Bob Two Poems: Classroom Custodians and Fireplace Bonus Poem Section: Altitude Perspective Vignette: A Bit of History Please support my efforts for this publication by donating or purchasing merchandise. Recommendations Quotable Quotes Bits of Humor PJ Forum PJ Demographics – Subscribers in 27 states and 13 countries PJ Online PJ Policies Subscription information Welcome I am pleased to have you as a reader. If you enjoy the PJ, please encourage others to subscribe. If your country is not listed in the demographic section at the end, please let me know so I can update the list. The next Poetical Journal will be out March 27, 2022. Snow has arrived in Midway, UT ...Opening Comments from Bob This Issue: The February Issue is always a special one as it starts a new year for this newsletter which began in 2001. The vignette below provides a brief history of the PJ. The two main poems, Classroom Custodians and Fireplace are new. The first speaks to a lesson I learned over the decades. The examples used are real. The second poem provides a bit of subtle romance. Subscriber Residences: PLEASE let me know if your state, providence, or country is not listed in the demographic section at the end. There currently are subscribers in 27 states, 3 provinces, and 13 countries. See complete list near at the newsletter. Next Month: The next issue comes out on March 27, 2022. To become a friend on Facebook, click on this link. ------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE! Supporting the efforts of the Poetical Journal is greatly appreciated! Any amount of donation is appreciated. To support, click here. -----------------------------------------   Farmland during the January thaw   Two Poems this Month + Bonus Classroom Custodians Seated before me, a third grade student,     quiet and studious,     obviously likes me,     someday to become a pastor     and church leader. Another young boy     living in conditions less than ideal     struggles to read and catch up     grows to man and fatherhood,     his family most precious.            Through his leadership,     the auto union grows. In row three sits a tough one     a chip on his shoulder,     quick to explode. One day, now grown,     he taps me on the shoulder,     pulls out a faded polaroid     and asks if we are ever going     to dig up the time capsule. Sadly, a shy student sits     wishing for anonymity     as often happens at home. He later disappears into the prison system,     twenty to life for murder. Good teachers understand     they’re about more than teaching facts     for they are custodians for a few hours     of the minds of the future. Comments: I started my career as an elementary teacher. Many of my former students went on to healthy and productive lives. This poem speaks to four of them. The final stanza speaks to a belief that I always tried to maintain during my career. Fireplace A whiff of the air     brings thoughts of the hearth,     frigid nights     ice covered windows     and warmth as the flames dance     before the eyes. The softness of the sheepskin rug     adds additional remembrance     to an ideal evening. Two empty wine glasses     tell their own tale. Comments: Memories of romance.   Winter has arrived in Midway   Bonus Poem: On Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram I have been running a daily series of my older poems accompanied with an appropriate picture. I will show a favorite in this section each month. This poem first appeared in VOLUME XIII – Issue 4: Sunday, May 25, 2014 .   Vignette this Month: A Bit of History Twenty years have passed since I sent out my first Poetical Journal. This issue begins the twenty-first year. At one time the newsletter had over 22,000 subscribers, one of the largest poetry newsletters in the country. In fact at that time, Bob Casey was number one in a Google search. However, when another Bob Casey became governor of Pennsylvania and later senator, my name was relegated to page 2 or 3. Over the years due to costs and internet rule changes, my subscriber numbers drastically dropped. However, I still have one of the longest running poetry newsletters in the country. Another plus, ninety-one per cent of those who currently subscribed have been with me for over seventeen years. Over the years, the format has changed. The original biweekly newsletters were two pages an issue with no pictures. If you were to print this issue including the pictures, it would run fourteen pages. I proudly can say that the newsletter has always come out on time despite open heart and major abdominal surgeries along with two near death experiences. I have tried to create a newsletter that is upbeat based on the premise that much of our news today is negative and disheartening. However, as a poet, I would be failing my role if I didn't write about the bigger issues facing all of us in life. Another principle I have held is to never spam or inundate subscribers with unsolicited emails. One of the great joys has been interacting with subscribers over the decades. Outside our front door Recommendations Stay warm and healthy! Please take a look at the online book and gift pages. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Edge of Midway, UT Coming into Midway Quotable Quotes "When yu can bear your own silence, you are free." -Mooji "No seed ever sees the flower." - Zen saying "Don't try to steer the river." - Deepak Chopra "It is the job of poetry to clean up our word-clogged reality by creating silences around things." - Stephane Mallarme   ................................................................ A Bit of Humor A bit of laughter is healthy for the soul Boy Friend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 Dear Customer Service, Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a slowdown in the performance of the flower and jewelry applications that had operated flawlessly under the Boyfriend 5.0 system. In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.9, and installed undesirable programs such as NFL 7.4, NBA 3.2 and NHL 4.1. Conversation 8.0 also no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do? Signed, Desperate Compliment of A Joke A Day   Snow covered Mt. Timpanangos, the highest peak near us Tai Chi Corner In early January, I attended this wonderful workshop. Contact Bob for a name of an instructor near you. PJ Forum If you have comments, recommendations, or suggestions for the PJ, please e-mail them to bob@poeticaljourneys.com. I personally respond to all. (When editing the comments for publication, I eliminate very personal comments and edit for spacing. --------------------------------------------- "I love your site. . ." - Janice from Troy, OH (Ed.: Many thanks for your kind comments.) ====================================================================================== Reader Demographics States - AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, HI, IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, NC, ND, NY, OH, OR, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WV, and WI      Canadian Provinces - BC, ON, and QC;    Countries - Albania, Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Turkey, UK, U.S., and Venezuela. ........Changes to this section will be updated each month. If your state, province, or country is not mentioned, please let me know. ______________________________________________ Book Reviews Blast Series: Review by Janice M. regarding Blast Book Four: . . . I loved the book.  There were so many ideas floating around in my head from your writings, and I understood everything you wrote about.  I saw the visions while traveling through the pages. Thank you for your inspiration. . . ." General: JJG wrote: I've read Bob's "To the End of Time" trilogy twice, each time gaining deep and deeper insights into the human condition. The three small volumes hold their own as good stories but also provide a unique glimpse into a new religious paradigm. Would that it could come to be. Specific Book: To the End of Time and Back: An Epic Journey David from Utah: "The new novel, To the End of Time and Back is a skillful account of two lovers on an 'Epic Journey,' racing through time and history to learn life-changing truths. Their spectral mentor, Arundel, sends them through difficult travels, but their relationship endures and remains strong despite physical, and psychological stress. Powerful emotions such as fear, anger and happiness, combine with lust, pain and sexuality to help them learn. Written in verse form, the story is an epic poem, painted to portray the duality of mankind throughout dimensions of human history that is sometimes cruel and horrific. The reader will come to know and understand what is being described and will certainly enjoy the stimulating elegance of the story and the philosophy. A thoroughly enjoyable read that is certain to make you think." ______________________ Jim from Mt. Vernon: "I finished your book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was much easier to follow by having the whole thing in front of me, and reading as much as I wanted at a time. I felt pretty weary after bouncing around in time for many hundreds of years, but I was relieved to know that at least part of the world survived 'Armageddon'. What a feat you have performed." ______________________ Kimberly from Ohio: "Well, Bob! I am rather blown away by your book. Finished it yesterday, and it only took four days, which means I was intrigued and wanted to know how the book ends. I'm a slow, deep reader and since my profession is writing and editing, I edit continuously as I read. Can't help it! But this book was worth dropping everything for and reading to the end. I admit to cynicism about your claim that it would change me, and I don't know that it has just yet but it won't be leaving my heart and head for a long time, and change could happen. I'm impressed that the book actually lived up to your claims for it. . . . I'm intrigued by this book because it rings so true, and I am therefore tempted to believe you actually were given the gift of this dictation. But if not and this is fiction, you have written one hell of a book, masquerading amazingly as non-fiction ... which is indeed one of the goals of fiction." ______________________ An Ohio Reader: "WOW! WOW! WOW! I read it in one sitting and found so many things you wrote about 'true' for what I know and feel about past lives I've lived. Actually, the chapter about the Holocaust was something I couldn't bear to read–too sad and painful. (I've always felt that way about that period of history.) . . . it was very well done, Bob. Just beautifully done. I'm looking for the movie. . . I'm sure others will feel connected to this book just as I did. AMAZING. Just AMAZING. I couldn't put it down. There was so much anticipation with each chapter it hooked me from the very beginning. . ." ______________________ Specific Book: Adelyn: An Epic Journey: Ohio Reader: "In his book, Adelyn: An Epic Journey, Bob navigates the reader through a challenging journey in the time space continuum while exposing both the weaknesses and strengths of humanity. As Adelyn is exposed to the infinite love of The Source, the reader is challenged to understand how personal beliefs and actions often have more to do with cultural rather than spiritual influences. In a time and world filled with political anger and personal indulgences reading Adelyn offers the open-minded promise. It would make a great book study." Specific Book: The Tao of Momentary Thoughts Doug from Ohio: ". . . I was not prepared for page 116 Should have been because of the extremely personal nature of the entire book. Please understand that the unusual length of time to finish your book (especially for a binge reader like me) was because it screamed to be read thoughtfully in increments. For me that was 10-15 pages every weekend, often in quiet . . .Thank you for "putting pen to paper" and sharing your soul. Those of us who have followed Poetical Journeys will recognize much of the content. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to share part of your journey really feel a part of it." Charles from Park City: "Hi Bob….I just picked up your The Tao of Momentary Thoughts.  It’s wonderful . . I love your book." Ed from Seattle: The Tao of Momentary Thoughts: "I was smiling all the way through the reading . . .I think I will reread it again during the next week." ______________________________________________________________ PJ Online To read some of the back issues of the PJ, go to here. The next issue will go out on Sunday, March 27, 2022. Until next time - joy and peace, Bob   Subscription: To unsubscribe, click on your individualized unsubscribe e-mail at the end of this newsletter. (Not appropriate for this web page.) Bob Casey Poetical Journeys P.O. Box 319 Midway, UT 84049 bob@poeticaljourneys.com If you are reading this and have not signed up for your free subscription to the Poetical Journal, please click here. Top Click on the icon to go to the homepage.