Growth: Life's Flow in Poetry traces the arc of human life through evocative verse-beginning in the innocence of childhood and flowing through the transformative phases of puberty, adolescence, adulthood, maturity, and the dawning of wisdom. In this deeply personal yet universal collection, Peter Freeman opens a window into moments that shape and define us: moments of fear and courage, joy and sorrow, pain and healing, connection and loss.
Structured as a poetic memoir, Growth speaks from the heart and to the heart. The poems in the "Childhood" section capture early memories with vivid specificity: a boy's triumph over bullies, the joy of riding a pedal car, the unfiltered awe and confusion of a first moral reckoning in "The Kittens," and the haunting intergenerational legacy of war in "Old Men in the Shadows." These poems show a child navigating the world's complexity while holding fast to empathy.
"Puberty" and "Adolescence" bring forth poems of identity and becoming-first kisses, physical pain, emotional awakenings, and moments of shame and pride. The poems in "Adulthood" delve into the responsibilities and moral dilemmas that accompany independence: the burden of conscription, the reckoning with mortality in "Last Rites," and the thin lines between risk and resilience in "Southern Ocean," drawn from the poet's near-death experience at sea. Each narrative is grounded in emotional truth, offering insight into how we become who we are.
The "Maturity" poems are meditative and grounded, reflecting a growing awareness of vulnerability, partnership, and purpose. In "Touch," Freeman revisits a devastating cycling accident, capturing the pain of physical recovery and the grace found in human care. "Relation of Being" and "Lover's Call" explore intimate emotional landscapes, where healing and connection overlap.
Finally, in "Wisdom," Freeman considers mortality, memory, and meaning. "Friend" is a tender tribute to youthful love and enduring connection. "A Gathering of Vanished Days" and "Apocalypse" contemplate endings-not with despair, but with acceptance and reflection. These later poems blend clarity and poignancy with spiritual resonance, rounding out the journey with hard-won insight.
Freeman's language is clear, lyrical, and rich in imagery. His poems draw power from understatement as well as emotion, whether recounting a childhood betrayal, a brush with death, or the beauty of a quiet friendship. Growth invites readers to not only reflect on their own lives, but also to feel part of a shared human experience. It's a book of memory and meaning-of how the past lives in us, and how, through poetry, we can transform experience into art.
Ideal for readers who appreciate autobiographical poetry, coming-of-age themes, and emotionally honest writing, Growth is the first volume in a trilogy, followed by Regrowth and Outgrowth. Together, they chart a life lived fully-with curiosity, resilience, and a deep reverence for the journey itself.
Freeman: - "Author background=================Peter Freeman lives on Salt Spring Island on the west coast of Canada. He writes nonfiction and fiction novels, screen and stage plays, short stories, magazine articles, and poetry.Peter grew up in what was once the sleepy fishing village of Noosa Heads on the Sunshine Coast, just south of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. He started his career as a cadet surveyor and then as a journeyman fitter and turner before focusing on computer science at the University of Tasmania.While in Hobart, Peter joined the local rock climbing club, where he later met Max Dorfligger, a carpenter, shipwright, and famous Swiss mountaineer. Peter sailed across the Tasman Sea with Max in the thirty-two-foot sloop, Sunshine, that Max had built to New Zealand, where Peter then spent the next few years driving trains and building his sailboat, Laiviņa.Eventually, Peter sailed from New Zealand to Australia and then to Canada, where he incorporated an Information Technology company that produced and sold scientific and business software to universities, governments, and the private sector. In 1984, Peter departed Victoria, British Columbia, to sail his thirty-two-foot sloop, Laiviņa, on a solo, non-stop circumnavigation of the globe, breaking the existing world record with a time of 236 days. His book, Cape Horn Birthday, is an account of this journey.Peter is a masters athlete who has represented Canada internationally in world championships, competing in Italy, South Africa, Australia, the USA, and Canada, and has won gold, silver, and bronze medals in these competitions in the 100, 200, 400, and 800 metre events. In 2003, at 51, Peter was ranked 11th in the world and 1st in Canada in the 400-metre event for his time in Puerto Rico of 55.10 seconds.Peter has twice ridden his bicycle across Canada and, at the age of 61, bicycled the 15,400 kilometres around the perimeter of Australia, unsupported, in 79 days, averaging 200 kilometres a day.His colourful history has given him an endless vault of story ideas to write about, as his publishing experience illustrates: Awards====== - Winner - 2019 University of Saskatchewan, The Fieldstone Review's literary prize - "Hidden Message" - Best Short Story (Shortlist): "In the Waiting Room" - Best of 2018 Adelaide Literary Award - Best Poem (Finalist): "Last Beating" - Best of 2018 Adelaide Literary AwardPublished========= - Books ◦ Novels ▪ Deadly Delivery - 363 pages - Ensilwood Publishing, SSI - 2025 ▪ The Silenced Boy - 266 pages - Ensilwood Publishing, SSI - 2025 ▪ Fleeing the 51st State - 274 pages - Tablet Publications, Vancouver, BC - 2025 ▪ The Worm Lady's Daughter - 256 pages - Ensilwood Publishing, SSI - 2025 ◦ Nonfiction ▪ Cape Horn Birthday: Record-Breaking Solo Non-Stop Circumnavigation - 348 pages - Seaworthy Publications Inc. FL - 2018. ◦ Short Stories ▪ Elements: Thirteen Stories (2nd Ed) - 305 pages - Ensilwood Publishing, SSI - 2025 ◦ Screen and Stage Plays ▪ Alchemy Alive: Twelve Screen and Stage Plays - Fiction - 382 pages - Ensilwood Publishing, SSI - 2021 ◦ Anthologies ▪ In the Waiting Room - Best of 2018 Adelaide Literary Award - Short Stories - Adelaide Books, New York. ▪ Last Beating - Best of 2018 Adelaide Literary Award - Poetry - Adelaide Books, New York. ◦ Poetry ▪ Growth: Life's Flow in Poetry (2nd Ed - #1 Growth series) - 141 pages - Ensilwood Publishing, SSI - 2025 ▪ Regrowth: Reaching for the Poetic Sky (#2 Growth series) - 119 pages - Ensilwood Publishing, SSI - 2025"
