James Rice

Out of Hiding James Rice

This is a collection of poems about arising with, opening to, and owning your life. The three sections start with sky, proceed through sea and come to earth. Getting higher, spreading out, and remaining grounded are the general categories roughly containing the seventy-two poems in this book. Reading this book will allow you a look into the mind of a practicing, long experienced, and well-trained psychiatrist. Dr. Rice has learned about habit patterns and their ability to dominate our lives. His slow healing through many iterations of himself subsequent to crippling personal losses as a young adult is central to most poems in this collection. His science and his experience inform every word of his poems. Resolution is slow. Evolution from grief to gratitude is painful and difficult. Through this process are pitfalls and injury to innocent bystanders. People who have loved him have been damaged. Though healing is incomplete, progress is appreciable. In his journey, the poet has lived the themes of his poems. He has been the team of horses running wild, the quadruple amputee begging at India's Gate, and the mythical kingship of bougainvillea. You may taste his experience in his poems. Taste and enjoy.