Turning Pages: A Poet’s Reflections

By Dave Penn

Poetry is a powerful way to use words for self-expression and
exploration. Through poetry, deep emotions can be brought to
the surface and expressed. This collection is as much about selfawareness
as it is about the perfect delight of being in love. It speaks
of different paths on the journey of discovery through the corridors
and dimensions of love.
Turning Pages: A Poet’s Reflections captures the intricate raw power
of words and the subtlety of their influence. While most of the poetry
can be classified as free verse, there are standard poetic forms
scattered throughout—from poems that lean strongly toward sonnets
to others that embody the delightful lantern form in appearance.
The words of Dave Penn plunge the heart and mind into the imagery and
landscape of human life. Come enjoy an immersive experience, where
you will find yourself reflected in many of the creative expressions.
These words capture some of the realities, fantasies, and passions of
relationships while warming your heart and lifting your spirit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jun 18, 2024
• ISBN: 9781663262967

Dave Penn

Dave Penn fell in love with poetry in elementary school, writing his first poem as a sixth grader in Jamaica. He lived in Brooklyn, New York, and Maplewood, New Jersey, before relocating to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where he engaged his love for words in this personal and expressive creation. He dedicates this book to the memories of his late mom and dad, whose lives demonstrated a love for God, people, and service. Turning Pages is his first anthology.

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Copyright © 2024 Dave Penn.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6632-6295-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-6297-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-6296-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024909807

iUniverse rev. date:    06/05/2024

Contents

1— The Awakening

1 Turning Pages

2 The Celestial Ride

3 From the Shadows of Darkness, I Rise

4 Awakened on the Shores of Barrier Lake, Alberta

5 Blue

6 Cold Winds and Warm Love

7 Face to Face

8 Facing Mirrors

9 Freedom Portals

10 Hope

11 I Came Alive

12 I Took a Deep Breath for You

13 Love Blooms

14 Oh Love!

15 Time to Shift the Paradigm

16 Strangers in Love

17 Suddenly

18 The Opening

19 The Storm Is Past but You Are Here

20 To Beauty, Attend

21 Today, I Am Awake

22 Unbreakable

23 Unstrung

24 Unveiled

25 Wondering in the Invisible

2— Breaking Apart

26 A Satiating Emptiness

27 Blind Love

28 Broken Dream

29 Crumbling Walls

30 Damn!

31 The Door to My Heart

32 Dust Storms

33 A Love Lost

34 Finding an Oasis

35 Flooded Rivers Overflow

36 Frozen Fire

37 Heart of Love

38 Heart Song

39 I Wait for You

40 Ice Cold

41 In Search Of

42 Lines Drawn

43 On Waiting for My Friend, My Lover

44 Pieces of a Broken Heart

45 Red Rain

46 Resolve

47 Stormy Sea

48 Teardrops for My Heart

49 The Bleeding Rose

50 The Flame

51 The Long, Sleepless Night

52 The Upside of Patience

53 Thinking Aloud Silently

54 Time Tunnel

55 To Live Free, With or Without

56 Trapped

57 Unclaimed!

58 Will Love Bring Me Back?

59 Your Call

3— The Healing

60 Daniella

61 I Will, but Only Until

62 Missing You Is a Matter of the Heart

63 Rainbow of Hope

64 Soft Winds Blow

65 Sunday Morning

66 Take Flight

67 The Endless Call

68 The Joy of Loving You

4— This Is Love

69 For Your Delight

70 Aisle 5

71 Last Night, I Pretended You Were Here

72 The Calculus of Love

73 The Aura of You

74 Tethered Souls

75 A Life Sentence

76 A Nice Happening

77 Addictions of Grandeur

78 Am I to Be Faulted Because of My Desire?

79 As I Kiss Her Lips

80 Blanket Love

81 Captured, Tempered, and Tamed

82 Altered Landscape

83 Come, My Dearest

84 Come, My Love, Take Hold of My Heart

85 Dancing to Your Rhythm

86 Dawn Awakes

87 Aroused

88 Falling

89 Forever You Are

90 Fusion

91 God’s Love

92 I Get Butterflies for You

93 I Think of You and I’m Happy

94 I’ll Be There Where Swans Cruise Along

95 I’ll Tell You

96 In My Heart

97 In My World, on My Mind

98 In Your Presence

99 Just Be You

100 Kiss Me Sweetly

101 Holding the Night Together

102 Ma Cherie

103 New Love Arising

104 Nile Eyes

105 Oneness

106 Raw Honey

107 Return to Me

108 Security

109 Designed Destiny

110 Simply Put

111 Sweet Heart

112 Symphony of Love

113 The Ache for You

114 The Resident

115 Thoughts on What I Want

116 Throwback

117 Timeless

118 To Your Eyes, I Surrender

119 Tsunami

120 Unfurling Folded Wings

121 Walking toward Tomorrow

Introduction

Poetry is a powerful way to use words for self-expression and exploration.

Through poetry, deep emotions are brought to the surface and are expressed. Many of the poems in this debut collection are about relationships. They reflect the various levels of emotions we traverse as individuals as well as in couples and other types of relationships with people, society, and things.

Many explore love in its physical, emotional, and spiritual forms. This collection is as much about self-awareness as it is about the perfect delight of being in love.

Collectively, the four sections of this collection are deliberately broad in focus; however, they bring together specific pieces that work together, and speak to different paths on the journey of discovery through the corridors and dimensions of love.

I hope you find identity in one or more pieces of the collection—and, to that