When Lakeside writer James Tipton comes out with a new book of poetry, I always take a look. His latest, hot off the press, is a bilingual book, “To Love for a Thousand Years/El amor que dura mil años.” (Ediciones del Lago, 2012).
I like the themes in Tipton’s poetry, which most often cluster around finding God in relationships. He commonly finds his inspiration in beautiful Mexican women. Tipton is at the same time both religious and irreverent, for example: “Try to kiss the person beside you right now; while God in sensual form is still hovering in your lips.” In another poem he observes that “We no longer look for God in pieces of stale bread … in our own time God is hiding in relationships.”
Make no mistake, though, that the author understands the passion, sometimes madness, between the sexes, and how that passion changes us. There is lots of lust and energy in his poetry which women love, but which men also relate to. In his poem, “You Created Me in Your Own Image,” he concludes: “But forgive me God, for in truth I learned the shape of my own body by sleeping against the bodies of many beautiful women.”
Tipton will be the featured speaker at Open Circle at the Lake Chapala Society (16 de Septiembre, 16-A, Ajijic) on Sunday, February 12, 10-11:30 am.
“To Love for a Thousand Years” is available at several Lakeside outlets or through the author at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..