About the author

I love to write poetry, take photographs, read non-fiction about current events, travel overseas, and listen to news/political podcasts, college lectures and classic literature. In the daytime, I specialize in web development and video production at an advertising agency.

For biographical influences please read below or visit my poetics / aesthetics statement. I update several websites regularly. My personal blog is titled Llama and Lamb and on it I discuss daily life, current events, politics, and married life. I am active in online social media on which you can contact me below.

Biography

Stephen James grew up in a pastor’s family in rural Kentucky.  Self-described as a pragmatic conservative, he oscillates between the emphases of different Judeo-Christian traditions. Stephen made his first web page in 1995 and the Internet has shaped his life ever since. Wikipedia and quick access to information often inspire his work.

His poetry synthesizes a wide variety of juxtaposed references. This “slant meaning” referred to by rhetorical figures of speech define his work. His work tends to deal with external events via the internal emotions they elicit.  He believes that metaphors are more than a matter of style and the greatest effect a poet can have on an audience is showing the audience a new perspective and experience through a metaphor. His process is self-taught outside of a few elective classes and except for collegiate reviews his work has never been submitted for professional publishing.

He currently lives with his wife and fine artist, Rachel Steely, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Photography

Captions to photographic collage below (clockwise from upper-left) Stephen and Rachel on their honeymoon on the southern shore of County Kerry, Ireland; an engagement photograph of Stephen and Rachel; Stephen at Taste of Chicago in Grant’s Park; Stephen near Sugar Creek in Indiana; Stephen on the second story of the Ballycarbery ruins near Cahirciveen, Ireland; Stephen taking a photograph of Indian Falls in Jessamine County, Kentucky; Stephen hiking at Shades State Park in Indiana; Stephen at “Ground Zero,” New York City, taking photographs of people taking photographs of “Ground Zero”

You can view photos of Stephen and Rachel James at his Photo Gallery.