Winter Soup (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781481891448)

Doyle Raymond Vines wrote and collected his creative works over a lifetime, but only became public after his retirement in 2007. Performing early at Mama Java's in Phoenix AZ, He is now one of the premier members of the Transpoetic Playground Collective of spoken word poets in Carbondale IL, part of the Southern Illinois branch of the Illinois State Poetry Society, Shawnee Hills Writer's Group, and Poet's Post; a regular singer-songwriter at Yellow Moon's "Howling at the Moon." Born the son of a junkman in rural southernmost Illinois, he worked his way through college, hitchhiked and backpacked across the nation in the times of the flower child and hippie. He saw poverty and suffering, exploitation, spiritual awakening, courage, kindness, and addiction. His lifelong search for love drove him, often immersed him. He always paid his dues and found his way, leaving a rich trail of stories and experiences from which to draw his characters and tales. As a grant writer, he was instrumental in opening seven health care clinics for low income people, while receiving federal approval for the first electronic billing system for Medicare. He became the manager of three Arizona mining towns. Much was written and published then in newspapers, magazines and periodicals, mostly related to his work, including a popular practical guide on "How to Run For Public Office", which he actually did in '92 and '94, receiving an unheard of 400k votes as a Libertarian candidate for the State Corporation Commission. As owner of a natural food restaurant on Tempe's popular Mill Ave, he emceed and produced the entertainment for a festival that grew to half a million participants. He sold his popular restaurant but continued cooking and emceeing on occasion. He only recently appeared as a character in two works by other authors. Never one to follow the established line, he is working on indie, online, and collective artistic marketing and distribution, with SouthPass Publications as a vehicle. Over fifty of his poems have appeared in Poet's Post (Vol's I-IV), Shawnee Hills Review, and 'Where We Walked' in the last three years. His book of Short Stories, 'Written Pictures', continues to be 'found' and purchased, with a second book,"Field Trips to Normal" coming out this summer. A book of poetry, "Perfect Day' is due this year. Though written in several forms, including a novel, "Winter Soup' is the first about love lost and found.