Dancing Thoughts: Poems That Imagine

Humans depend on imagination for so much: mental images, concepts, ideas, things not present to the senses, images, sensations. Think of how often people use the words "just suppose." They may imagine things not present to their senses or things they have not experienced. Though people may not think of problem solving as involving imagination, how old, current, and new information is processed requires creativity. Furthermore, imagination is a key facilitator of social connections. Think of recalling certain memories and visualizing possibilities, and how thoughts of them dance or move. How does an inventor invent? How does a painter conceive ideas to paint? Though being unsure where modern AI is leading, people know that it involves imaginative interaction. The poems here are divided into four sections, though the categories are inadequate to grasp the broad spectrum of imagination. The mind may be viewed in large measure as the seat or origin of thoughts. Imagination is often shaped by or around specific concepts. What might transpire in many arenas of existence if people broaden their vision of themselves, others, and the world? They may grasp that their imaginary dancing thoughts are also related to sensory perception, even reality.

S T Kimbrough Jr. holds a PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary and is currently a research fellow of the Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition at Duke Divinity School. He has taught on leading theological faculties in Europe and the USA. He has published numerous books with Wipf and Stock including The Lyrical Theology of Charles Wesley; Radical Grace; Partakers in the Life Divine, which addresses Charles Wesley's thought and that of Eastern Orthodoxy; and many books of poetry.



William B. Lawrence is professor emeritus of American Church History at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. He is an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church and a clergy member of the North Texas Annual Conference. Before retirement, his career included both academic and church positions. He was a pastor in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington DC. He has served on the faculties and staffs of four theological schools. And he has been president of the Judicial Council of The United Methodist Church.