The Poetry of Clare Hollister : Hallard Press, LLC

Beautiful

Living the life you want
What a beautiful thing!
To be living
With spontaneous joy
A sweet intellect
Coming forth into light
Meeting by chance
She offered him her humor
Filling life
With laughter and love
Seeking adventure
Lovers coming together to play
Dancing the night away
Hearts entwined
Feeling the touch of breath
All
Should be so lucky
Feeling the passion of beauty
Silently hearing
What some may never hear
The sweet sound of
Ivory in the ear
Sounds of sea against the shore
Never needy
Never greedy
Music that flows
Drifting through the air
Knowing the language
On perfect pose
A jewel brilliantly withstanding
The test of time
Turquoise, emerald, or jade
Having a life made
“Beautiful”

Bitterness

Do you have an unhappy life?
Were you cheated?
Not born rich?
Had to work?
As your best friends became
Loneliness, misery,
Anger and depression
While joy and comfort
Remained
Forever a stranger
Never in tune
Their music off key
Cheap trinkets bright
Became your guiding light
As it played
Your song of bitterness
While you lay
In a self-composed coffin
Cold and dreamless
Mired in mud
With no one to close the lid
You craved comfort
But it remained
Beyond your reach
Rise
You’re not dead
It is never too late
Cast off the bitterness
Think of others
Put them above yourself
Making someone else
First and foremost
Giving love and not taking
Learn to love “you”
Forgive
Forget the past
Look with passion
To the future
Start a new life
Unite fulfilment with desire
Undo the done
Repair the heart
A new “you” will start

Be Kind

In a world where you can be
Anything
Be kind
A man that washes his face
In women’s tears
And boring dirty jokes
Where the “F” bomb and
Hateful language
Become common place
Have humans lost the race?
Look at the beauty all around
As day breaks
The shadows flee
Take a clear-eyed look
At what might be
This is America
Where freedom abounds
Men have fought to pass down
This right
Sacrificing many lives in the fight
It is ours to keep
Or throw away
A wonderful luxury, I pray
Is here to stay
Be kind

Clare Hollister is an American Poet noted for his celebration of all cultures that make the “American Dream” possible. Especially in this year 2021, when we all need to “stop”, take a breath and reset

Clare’s reflections on life and people are based on his farm upbringing in rural America and 28 years of service in the US Air Force. These are trying times; poetry, music and the arts sometimes get lost in the shuffle.

Clare’s books are a passport to visions of beautiful mountains, distant oceans, mysteries of nature and the complexities of humans. His prose is expressed in awe and wonder at the magic and mysteries of our planet and home on this earth. Written in rhythm rather than rhyme, it expresses humor, satire, and seriousness.

The illustrations are done by Clare’s son, Larry, and are from the book The Journey: a Father and Son.