In the spring of his life, poet Terry Barker of Sechelt was attracted to a young woman, Connie, like a moth to flame. They wed and he promised her a trip along the exotic Silk Road - one day.
Now in the winter of his life, at age 84, Barker describes the love affair that has supported him in all seasons in his new book, A Fine Romance: Two Lives in Poetry, dedicated to his wife of 60 years.
They haven't managed to travel that Silk Road together - life intervened, kids were born, mortgages had to be paid - but he has written four poems with that title, and the last one in the series expresses the hope that they will yet walk the streets of Samarkand.
"But will I shame you with my cane," he asks, "and will your wheelchair ride on sand?"
In another poem, Love Evolves, Barker describes how the blazing beach bonfire of his youth has turned to warm embers at life's end. Poems such as these encapsulate life's lessons and offer some of Barker's best writing about the wisdom that comes with age.
A Fine Romance features the artwork of Barker's daughter, Shannon. Each of her paintings, reproduced in colour, depicts an aspect of the changing seasons and introduces a section of the book. Her last painting, winter, is an evocative representation of a snowy forest and captures the mood of the poet.
Despite the overwhelmingly loving tone of many of the poems, the dark side peeks through. My Secret Day, that describes the joy of hugging one's thoughts to oneself, is also edgy: "I learned to dance with trees and hold my body on a knife." You Can't Say We Haven't Been Warned is downright apocalyptic.
Barker is a regular fixture at the Sechelt Farmers' and Artisans' Market every Saturday during its season that just launched last Saturday (April 7).
He's often heard telling tales of the Sunshine Coast drawn from his three books in the Sunshine Sketches series that relate anecdotes and depict people and places in the community. Three years ago he published a more personal and revelatory book, Last Chance This Life, letters to his drug-addicted son who has since passed away. This desolation has found its way into one of the poems in his winter cycle, Did You Watch Us?
Despite a recent sojourn in hospital, you can bet Barker will rise again and will soon be at the market on a Saturday selling his new book. You can find out more about his writing by looking at www.lastchancethislife.com.
