Poems and Thoughts: Observations and Commentary on Life, Love and Nature

by Terence McSweeney

This book is a collection of writing focused on the natural world and human interaction with it. Each writing is inspired by the oil painting displayed  and by the author's observations and experiences throughout his life. Terence McSweeney began to paint in oils in 2016. He chose painting because it was an avenue for expressing the beauty of light and color all around us within the world. Most of his paintings are natural landscapes within this book, but as a painter he is always exploring different styles. He chose to write about how these paintings made him feel with the encouragement of his wife Joyce. One of his main goals as a teacher was to help students step out of their fear of ridicule in favor of stretching self-made limitations to become truly successful people. Life is meant to be lived not survived and that requires tenacity, observation and will. There will always be times that you will be uncertain, or you will doubt yourself. Do not listen to that call, for it is just noise. Rise up and present yourself to life. Dive in and make your mark. History is full of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. A fulfilling life is not for the timid. The paintings and writings in this book attempt to bring that message to the reader.

58 pages, Hardcover

Published May 9, 2020

About the author

Dr Terence McSweeney, writer, film-maker and academic who works in Southampton and lives in London, is a senior lecturer in film and television studies at Solent University (Southhampton). He is widely recognized as one of the leading writers on contemporary American cinema. He is the author of The War on Terror and American Film: '9/11 Frames per Second' (Edinburgh University Press, 2014), Avengers Assemble! Critical Perspectives on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Wallflower Press, 2018), The Hurt Locker (Auteur Press, 2019) and The Contemporary Superhero Film (Short Cuts) (Wallflower Press, 2020). He is the editor of American Cinema in the Shadow of 9/11 (Edinburgh University Press, 2016), co-editor of Millennial Cinema: Memory in Global Film (Wallflower Press, 2012) and co-editor of Through the Black Mirror: Deconstructing the Side Effects of the Digital Age (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) with Dr Stuart Joy, which features contributions from renowned scholars such as Henry Jenkins, Sean Redmond, Steffen Hantke, M. Keith Booker and many others.
Terence's newest book, Black Panther: Interrogating a Cultural Phenomenon (2021), is the first in a new series he is the co-founder of at Mississippi University Press (alongside Dr Stuart Joy) called Reframing Hollywood.