What: “I Pray You” - Poetry reading by Tim Jones

When: April 9, 3pm

How much: Free and open to the public, Please RSVP: 828.698.7000 or info@galleryflatrock.com

“Woman with a Parasol” - Claude Monet “Afternoon Stroll” - Alec Hall

“I Pray You” - Poetry reading by Tim Jones

For his second book of poems, “I Pray You,” published in 2021, Tim created a book of blessings that reflect the beauty and terror of being alive in the real world. Tim credits inspiration for the book to the late Irish poet John O’Donohue, particularly O’Donohue’s book “To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings.” The poems in “I Pray You” are drawn from Tim’s real-life experiences being on the front lines of trying to keep vulnerable people safe in the middle of a pandemic.

"There’s nothing more beautiful and nothing more terrifying than being alive in the real world,” Tim says. “I’ve spent 20 years serving in a homeless shelter ministry. Crisis intervention work is always stressful, but the last two years in the pandemic have been especially difficult.”
Indirectly, the poems ask the question: How can we remain steadfastly in love with God’s world when the real world seems to always be coming apart at the seams? Rather than offer answers to such questions, Tim says the poems function as “companions to go with us while we seek those answers together.”
“I’m as much a storyteller as I am a poet, so I will read some of the poems and talk about some of the real-world stories that shaped them," says Tim.
“I liked that O’Donohue situated the blessings in those everyday realities that people deal with,” he adds. “I don’t have any agenda other than for it to be a blessing and to pass it on to others…the whole goal of writing is that it will bless others.