Beyond Me: Poems about Spirit in Scripture, Psychotherapy, and Life

Beyond Me seeks to capture and convey the wonder, mystery, and healing power of the Divine Spirit and its activity in human beings, life, and relationships. This Divine Presence is often felt or glimpsed as Mystery--beyond us, yet within us--which grabs our attention and pulls us into a deeper and fuller exploration of what life and human existence is all about. As an ordained Presbyterian minister serving as a Pastoral Psychotherapist, Carroll E. Arkema is especially thrilled and fascinated to notice and then capture in his poems the congruency between psychodynamics, spiritual growth, and scriptural stories. His interdisciplinary perspective illuminates the complexity of the divine/human relationship, tracing how people change, heal, and are sanctified, while also resisting such change and growth. Personal experiences and scriptural accounts throw light on each other, and Arkema shows poetry to be a format capable of holding and integrating both.

Carroll E. Arkema is an ordained Presbyterian minister (Presbytery of New York City), licensed as a psychoanalyst and as a marriage and family therapist. He was on the faculty at Blanton-Peale for sixteen years, teaching and supervising other therapists. This is his fourth book of poems to be published.