Rick Belden - Iron Man Family Outing

Austin, TX

New Book

Scapegoat's Cross: Poems about Finding and Reclaiming the Lost Man Within
A Message from the Author
I'm pleased to announce the completion of the manuscript for my second book.  Scapegoat's Cross: Poems about Finding and Reclaiming the Lost Man Within is both a companion and a follow-up to my first book, Iron Man Family Outing.  I'm very proud of this new work and eager to get it out into the world where it may be of use to others.

I've posted some preview material on this web page, including an excerpt from the introduction and some of the poems that appear in the book.

I'm also making signed preview copies of the complete manuscript available to those who'd like an early look.   Preview copies are spiral bound in a protective plastic cover and may be ordered via the Contact page on this site at a cost of $20.00 per copy, shipping and handing included, for recipients in the USA.  If you are located outside the United States, please contact me for pricing information.

If you've read the manuscript and would like to share your thoughts on the experience, you can click here to leave a comment on my blog.  To download a PDF version of this announcement, click here.

Thanks to everyone for your interest and support of my work.

Introduction (excerpt)

I'm a man who got lost.  This is the story of finding and reclaiming that man, of looking straight into all the pain and confusion in my life that got me lost in the first place and actively making the decision to stay on the path of truth and healing, even if I can't pretend anymore that I know where it's taking me, where I'm going to wind up, or how long it's going to take me to get there.

Twenty years ago, I wrote a book called Iron Man Family Outing, which was largely focused on the experience and consequences of growing up with an angry, abusive, emotionally unavailable father and a mother I saw as his victim and my protector.  I told my story as best I knew and understood it at that point in my life, and I told it as completely as I could.  But there were many things I didn't understand yet about myself, my history, and my family ...

My relationships with women continued to be broken, if I had them at all.  Every job felt like a death trap that left me gutted and hopeless at the end of the day.  I wanted more, and I knew I was capable of more, but something seemed to be blocking me and I didn't know what it was.  Once again, I found that life was calling me to look more deeply into myself, and when I did, I discovered that I was still carrying a big secret from my childhood, a secret I didn't even know I had ...

 

 

 

Excerpted from Scapegoat's Cross: Poems about Finding and Reclaiming the Lost Man Within by Rick Belden. Copyright © 2009 by Rick Belden.

Austin, TX