A Long Walk: A Father & Son's Words & Images

A collection of poems by Tim Bienkowski and his father, Andrew Bienkowski. Original color photography accompanies each poem to enhance the meaning of the words.

The book is divided into 13 Chapters. Topics include: The power of Nature for rejuvenation and peace; Silence as a way of connecting to your higher self; Slowing Time to gain insight and reveal hidden truths.

Additional topics include: Love, Fear, Dreams, Aging, Family, Identity, Injustice, Backpacking and the power of the Written Word.

The plain-spoken poetry and focused imagery may inspire calm, gratitude and a connection to one’s inner self.

A Long Walk, a collaboration between father and son, Andrew and Tim Bienkowski, is a deeply moving work expressing the need for nature’s “ancient melody” in our daily lives. Tim has carefully selected his original photographs, not only to compliment the poems, but also, to enhance them. In fact, the photographs themselves become “visual poems” celebrating even the smallest component of nature…a fallen leaf. This father and this son bring a unique exploration of the external as well as internal geography of daily life…love…loss…aging….hope. The imagery is sparse, but always quietly eloquent as we are invited by Andrew and Tim to join them on their long walk through “earth school” to finally encounter “an island of peace.”

-Kenneth Feltges, Award winning poet and photographer, Writer-in-residence at Mt. St. Mary Academy

This wonderful collection of poems, written by a talented family of poets, reads--as the best poetry does--like a collective searching. There are odes to nature, to lovers, to gratitude, to reentry, and the joys of letting go. The word-images created in these pages limn the human experience like a beautiful sunset flashing against the sea, enhanced in their meaning by expressive photography carefully selected for each poem. There are echoes here, reverberations, both within the individual poems and between them, too, as they play off one another creating a seductive and soulful melange for the senses.

-Mary Akers, Author of One Life To Live, Women Up On Blocks and Bones Of An Inland Sea

The vivid mental imagery evoked by the poetry of A Long Walk and the beautiful photos of nature instill a peace, a calm and a knowing that connects me with my higher self. The words in this book gently remind me that I am so much more than my name and my story. What a privilege it is to witness the ways that nature manifests in our world. We are part of the same universe, same nature, that on a deeper level we are one. These words sum up for me the essence of this book –that whether we realize it or not, everything and everyone is connected. Wake up and see with your heart as well as your eyes.

-Jen Compton, Inspirational poet and author of Life’s a Mango