About -

James (Jim) Ralston lives on Rocky Gap Creek outside of Cumberland, Maryland, a post-industrial town trying to find its way. It’s also the setting of for his new book of poems, Lyrics for a Low Noon, recently released by Blue Light Press out of San Francisco, and soon to be available at Amazon.com. Ralston currently teaches English and Play Production at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College in Martinsburg, West Virginia. He has been writing columns, articles, and poetry for several decades; below is a listing of selected writings archived on jameslralston.com.

Charleston Gazette

09/11/91	Honest Work Nothing to Smirk At	02/19/93	Road Would Take Us the Wrong Way
10/17/91	Fall Brings a Clear Perspective	02/25/93	Don’t Expect Reform From Clinton
02/06/92	Harry Truman’s Racism is Typical	03/06/93	College Sportsmanship Fouls Out
03/18/92	Progress Makes a Mess of Nature	03/26/93	Psych 101 Class, Rat Lab Prove Helpful in Real Life
05/28/92	How Do You Say, ‘I Love You Dad’?”	03/26/93	Wake-Up Call of a Peak Experience
08/12/92	Katy Finds Freedom Is Fleeting	05/01/93	Get Up, Get Out and Get Healthy
09/04/92	Lessons From the High and Mighty	05/19/93	Has U.S.A. Become Insecure Bully?
09/10/92	A Refreshing Approach to Living	06/02/93	Highway Will Makes Us Road Kills
10/01/92	We’re Losing Touch With Nature	09/17/93	Finding Our Heart In ‘Primitive’ Culture
10/07/92	Candidates Ignore Bitter Truth	10/22/93	Mountain People Are a Rare Breed, and That’s Unfortunate
10/21/92	Those Who Cast the First Stone	11/19/93	Fast Food for Thought: World Becomes One Big America
11/04/92	The Best Things in Life Are Free	12/19/94	Does ‘Religious Left’ Even Exist to Wage Counterattack?
11/17/92	My Son and I Rough It On the Road	02/27/95	The Widening Gulfs that Separate Us
12/09/92	God’s Work Is Being Desecrated	11/22/95	A Fine Reason to Celebrate
01/21/93	Some Trouble Does a Person Good	01/24/00	A Roadside Change in Perspective
02/03/93	Popularity Just Killed Paradise

The Sun

January 1984 A Family Album	June 1986 US Section: Lost and Found	April 1988 US Section: Flirting	April 1994 A View of the Lake
April 1984 The Choice of Emptiness	July 1986 US Section: Voices	August 1988 Another New Advancement of Civilization	October 1994 Leaving Walden Pond
June 1984 US Section: Miracles	November 1986 Hard Labor: Thoreau and the Meaning Of Work	September 1988 US Section: Two Worlds	April 1997 US Section: Habits
April 1985 US Section: Turning Points	December 1986 US Section: Where I Am Now	October 1988 US Section: Signs and Symbols	January 1999 Come Rain or Shine: Twenty-five Years of The Sun
July 1985 US Section: Going to Sleep	January 1987 US Section: Broken Promises	May 1989 US Section: Breaking Up	March 2003 Don’t Come Crying Home to Me
August 1985 US Section: A Simpler Life	April 1987 US Section: Obstacles to Peace	November 1989 US Section: Dancing	July 2006 You’re In Here, Too
October 1985 US Section: My Happiest Moment	June 1987 US Section: Taking Risks	June 1990 On the First Anniversary of the Death of Our Love	October 2009 Confessions From a Conversion Van
February 1986 US Section: My Biggest Mistake	July 1987 US Section: What I Do Best	July 1991 Correspondence: James Hillman and “The Myth of Therapy”	September 2012 Low Noon
April 1986 US Section: Making Marriage Last	October 1987 Correspondence: David Schiffman and Acts of Courage	November 1991 US Section: Homecoming	November 2015 That Terrible Thoreau
May 1986 US Section: Guilt	March 1988 US Section: First Memory	April 1992 Balancing On the Wind

Poetry

Refrain	Summer, At Best	My Husband, the Mobster
Come Live Alone With Me	Playing Time	The Dirty Work
Therefore	Meg Men	Dents
The Reptilian Part	Born Once	Clairvoyant
Then	Vengence Is Mine	A Yearning
The Little Flame	Cutting Off My Inner Woman	Power Lines
Love at Rest	You Hear a Fly Fart When You Die	Putting Baby to Bed
Among Carptenter Bees	A Sparrow In the House	The Renunciate
Incarnate

Plays

35 Folds to the Moon

Divine Madness

The Lone Star League

Many Mansions

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