"Experienced poet and veteran traveler Peter Romeo gives readers the reflections of his experience in Wings of Wonder and Other Poems. He presents his memories here in a fine and intriguing way. Wings of Wonder and Other Poems is of interest to any seeking a variety that is experienced as it is intriguing." - The Midwest Book Review
"Peter Romeo has compiled an observation of the world from the perspective of a man who has spent his lifetime taking it in. A distillation brewed of patience and empathy." - Dana Colley
"Peter's poetry has opened my eyes and lifted my spirits." - Marco Discipio
Wings of Wonder and Other Poems traverses the mindscape of human existence with the intention of grasping the world underlying it: a world of spirit. Peter Romeo shows us that the way the ancients saw themselves and their place in the world is still accessible to our consciousness, we simply need to alter or rearrange our description of the world.
The Wind
You could be called a trespasser,
for it takes more than just a fence
to keep out or even retain
your ethereal existence.
Your swift entrance makes most people
keep an eye on their property.
They hang onto their umbrellas
and grasp their paper currency.
Your stories of the fall will leave
a chill that runs straight to the bones.
But your trips in the summer bring
the smell of flowers and mowed lawns.
I have watched the way dead leaves swirl
and the way rain and snowflakes fall.
If you never took a partner,
I would not see you dance at all.
Sometimes I can trace your shadow
moving around in the distance,
rippling across the fields of wheat,
tiptoeing on a lake’s surface.
Even though you lack some substance,
you surely draw an audience,
for when you enter the forests,
the trees applaud your appearance.
I’ve seen you pick up hitchhikers
from the gutters and open roads.
I’ve watched you between the mountains
shepherding the cumulus clouds.
When I was young, you picked me up
right above a cemetery.
What you whispered to me that day
still eludes my inventory.
You came back as a hurricane
and led me to a life beyond.
Now I am one of your children
living life as a vagabond.
The Bird of Enigma
Many, many chapters ago,
when I had nothing left to say,
a silent bird grew within me
from early June to latest May.
My noisy feelings lagged behind;
my quiet ones flew far away.
A spoken word would break her spell.
I still knew where my body lay.
Soon I saw sounds I could not hear;
pictures I heard but could not say.
In and between two worlds I flew,
pulled by wonder, pushed by dismay.
It sounded like she waved good-bye;
it looked like she asked me to stay.
I broke the silence when I said,
“I want to stay! Don’t fly away!”
Points of View
The sunrise occurs in the East.
The sunset belongs to the West.
But from a point in outer space,
I know that they do not exist.
Eternity entices me
with lucid dreams and déjà vu.
When time as I know it falters,
I’m overwhelmed with points of view.
Pain
You don’t ask who I am,
you ask where I come from.
Maybe I’m from the word “no”
or from a mosquito bite.
If you’re very careful,
you could avoid me for a time,
such as looking both ways
when you cross a main street.
But I will visit you
even when you don’t expect me.
It could be at a party
or when you’re alone.
It brings me so much pleasure
to be inside your body.
From there I can control
everything you own.
Trying to escape me
is a silly impulse,
for darling, your pleasures
follow the edge of my shadow.
Now if you jump off that bridge,
I will get somebody else.
I never say goodbye.
I only say hello.
Heal Me
Infinity is a word
for an indescribable place,
an unknown time,
a pointless space.
It frightens me to forget who I am.
When our eyes meet,
don’t you see me?
Beauty is when eternity
becomes a moment.
Unable to keep it,
I feel so unimportant.
It hurts me to know who I am.
When I hold you,
don’t you know that you have a home?
The Cost of Freedom
I thought if I invited Death,
Death would not come looking for me.
After all, the secret of life
must lie beyond mortality.
And so I looked for a teacher
who was willing to bury me.
The one that I found watched me drown;
he had me walk upon the sea.
Clumps of dirt and hungry vultures
landed all over my body.
While the cold Earth swallowed me up,
the darkness pierced my memory.
Tasting the ground, I begged the Earth
to give my body back to me.
“Humans think they’re so important.”
And that was all she said to me.
I asked a tree that stood alone,
“Where should I go now that I’m free?”
The tree replied, “Not anywhere.
Now is the time for you to be.”
I was blinded by the sunlight
when a squirrel unburied me.
He cracked me open with his teeth.
I blacked out at the count of three.
Ever since I invited Death
and dared to walk upon the sea,
I left behind a cozy life
for one that’s filled with mystery.
Wings of Wonder and Other Poems