Grace and shalom to you from God our Father and from the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who gave himself for our sins, so that he might deliver us from the present evil world-system, in obedience to the will of God, our Father. To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen. ~ Galatians 1:3-5, CJB

A person whose desire rests on you
you preserve in perfect peace,
because he trusts in you. ~ Isaiah 26:3, CJB

I have been writing poetry, in various poetic forms, since I was a school-age youth. In fact, I was in 5th grade, when I composed my first poem—a funny limerick.

Over the years, many of my classmates, friends and family members often told me that I should publish a book of my poetry. However, I hadn’t always thought that I was an accomplished poet—accomplished enough to have my poems published—and that’s probably why I always was very selective about the poems I would choose to share and selective about the family members and/or friends  I would allow to read them.

That behavior didn’t change much until the late 1980s. Back then, while I was in graduate school at Howard University, working on a Ph.D., one of my African-American Literature professors had made her students submit at least one of their own poems to the Howard University’s Poetry Contest (sponsored by The Academy of American Poets). I had given my professor a four line free verse poem to submit—a poem that I had not considered to be my best work. Well, lo and behold, “Pebbles,” my submitted four line free verse poem, had received Honorable Mention! From then on, I gradually had become better at sharing more of my poems with larger groups of people.

I said all that to say this: after writing poetry, on and off, over 52 years, around mid-September 2014 I finally decided to try my hand at composing the haiku’s 5-7-5 syllabic structure. Once I got started, I didn’t want to stop. While I didn’t set out to write a collection of standalone mini-poems, I am elated that one of my flashes of inspiration gave birth to Perfect Peace.

This week, Perfect Peace went live. As a result, this blogger officially joined the ranks of published book authors. Praise God!

Currently, Perfect Peace (in paperback) can be purchased on barnesandnoble.com and on Amazon.com. The e-book version can be bought on iTunes (Apple iBooks), Amazon.com-Kindle, and/or Barnes and Noble-Nook.

Perfect Peace also eventually will be in Christian bookstores. I will provide the names of the Christian bookstores, as soon as I have that information.

Lastly, but most important, much love and many thanks to everyone who already has supported me throughout this publication process. I look forward to receiving as much additional support that anyone is willing to give.

Equally important, I want everyone to know that I trust completely in Father God, who is in control of Perfect Peace’s destiny. Without doubt, I know that He will bless Perfect Peace according to His Will, while keeping me in perfect peace. Finally, the greatest desire I have for the pint-sized poems I have included in Perfect Peace, prayerfully, is that I have used my God-given haiku writing skills to His Glory.  Amen!