THE UNFINISHED CANVAS
THE UNFINISHED CANVAS In my self-portrait, in the exhausted flesh of this human body,
my name is Jack Shinholser Sr and I live in DeBary, Fl. I am a retired senior with a wife, Verma, and two grown sons. I am from very modest beginnings but was able to get a college education by a football scholarship at Florida State University, and I’m very proud of making second team All-American and subsequently being inducted into the Florida State Football Hall of Fame. I was briefly under contract with the Washington Redskins but was terminated because of injury.
After pro football, I experienced a great deal of turbulence in my life brought on by a latent spirit that seemed to have just been waiting impatiently for me to complete the primary years of my life so I could dive into my real education. I was caught completely off guard by what I can only describe as a spiritual assault and lost a few years hiding in substance abuse. Thank God I have not abused anything for the past thirty years, come the 24th of April, but a typewriter and a keyboard.
ihope you enjoy the daily thoughts I bring here about everything from seeds to sand, the beginning and the end, the start and the finish and please consider my poetry and poetics book, I SEE (displayed here on this site). It’s the story in poetry and poetics of being returned to sanity and immersed into unconditional love by a power greater than myself that still allows me to be as doubting and cantankerous as I want to be.
THE UNFINISHED CANVAS In my self-portrait, in the exhausted flesh of this human body,
YOU ARE MY ANGEL We are angels in each other’s lives; for you are
OUR INEXHAUSTIBLE SOURCE I was staring into my bathroom mirror this mourning and realized
YOUR WORLD The world, your world looks and feels to you exactly how your
I realized the Inevitable and was a child no more; I realized the inevitable and was a child again.
Jack Shinholser
the truth of my existence, my relationship to other people, and the mystery of the world around me are my constant fascinations. Many times these thoughts, meditations and feelings manifest themselves poetically. These poems and poetics are my offering. I have divided these poetic pieces into three sections: Rebirth, Growth and Love. They reflect a long period of tumultuous change and transcendence in my life.
REVIEWS
or some unknown reason, this book ended up in my hands. I must admit the cover is beautiful. The poetry, it grabs you from the first poem. You know a poet is great when you read the first poem and realize you have to read it again because it made you think. Shinholser writes words that glue you to the page so tightly that you feel as if you are floating through a journey that is each poem. Poetry for the soul. The book is divided into three sections; rebirth, growth, and love. I enjoyed the whole book. It’s spiritual poetry, human poetry; full of love, wisdom, and understanding.
