This week, after last's week's very serious offering, we're going to move to a new genre of significantly lighter poetry with two poems by James Kavanaugh. (I made a rule when I started this poem-a-week thing that I would resist the urge to put two poems in one E-mail. But I had extra space, so what the heck. Rules are made to be broken.) Anyway, hold onto your hats if you haven't heard of or read Kavanaugh. If you are conventionally religious, you probably won't like him. He's a former Catholic priest who writes about spirituality and life from a different perspective than that of a conventional Christian.

I am so old-fashioned, or conventional if you will, that I don't know how to label Kavanaugh. I always think of him as a "New Age" poet. He is, after all, from California, and seems to be the head of some sort of "spiritual" movement that dates back to the 1960s. But the fact is that I wouldn't know "New Age" if it hit me over the head. So I'll just borrow a couple descriptions that seem to be acceptable to Kavanaugh. The first comes from the Internet.

"James Kavanaugh is a clinical psychologist and former Catholic Priest. His book, A Modern Priest Looks at his Outdated Church, rocked the religious world of the late 60's and 70's with an exciting new vision. He is the author of some 25 books of psychology, fiction, spirituality and poetry. Kavanaugh wanders extensively, reads his poetry and lectures widely, and offers body-mind-soul workshops in personal growth and healing."

The next comes from the dust jacket of my favorite volume of his poetry, Maybe If I Loved You More, from which the poem "Ernie" comes. The book was published in 1982, so the details may not be valid anymore, but it serves the purpose of explaining a little about Kavanaugh.

"James Kavanaugh lives in Los Gatos, California, where he is the director of the James Kavanaugh Institute, a forum for "Searchers" who are looking for "all that life has to offer." A licensed clinical psychologist, philosopher, lecturer, and poet, he and his professional staff offer seminars and workshops for men and women throughout America and Canada, "Who are ambitious for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide." Much of his free time is spent in the Sierra foothills outside Nevada City, California--in the gold mining country. He lectures and reads poetry at colleges, enjoys trout fishing, tennis, wandering, oceans, forests and the mountains."

Anyway, before you start groaning, just sit back and read a couple poems by this gifted and interesting man. I have enjoyed his work for many years now. As his great success as a modern, popular poet suggests, there is something immensely appealing about his work. The second poem, "It Hurts," comes from a volume entitled, Winter Has Lasted Too Long. Both books were published by E.P. Dutton, New York.