a life, written in verse
By R. Ray Barnes
author · producer · poet
about the poet
Soft. Unpredictable. Always toward the light. For over a decade he has taken the ordinary business of loving — a wife, a family, a God, an ordinary Tuesday — and turned it into verse that moves between the sacred and the plainspoken, the tender and the unfiltered.
A 2019 Michigan Regional Emmy winner, R. Ray Barnes has spent over thirty-five years as a music producer and songwriter — collaborating with Stevie Wonder, Mary Wilson of the Supremes, James Ingram, and Grammy winner Tony Coleman. He is the author of Queen Pin: The Story of Yvonne Barnes and the Motown Records Bowlerettes, a tribute to his mother and the team once called the “Rosa Parks of bowling.”
Written for his wife Diane and dedicated to the family that shaped him, The Art of Poetry is one long love letter told in five parts — to romance, to grief, to jazz, and to the faith that carries a heart through all of it.
— with heart, always
five volumes, one voice
Each volume is a chapter in one long love letter — to romance, to grief, to jazz, and to the faith that carries a heart through all of it.
Click a cover to read a sample poem
A soulful collection that explores the depth of human emotions, love, spirituality, and self-reflection. Every poem flows like a conversation between the heart and mind.
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Get on AmazonIdeas float off the page like butterflies. A spirit of love, peace, and joy accompanied by powerful poetic images of pain, courage, passion, and triumph.
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Get on AmazonWhen you inner-connect spiritually with that special someone, the energy created gives birth to a oneness that transforms you — a manifestation of love greater than either could be alone.
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Get on AmazonThe widest lens — faith, gratitude, and a life measured in grace rather than time. Love becomes the most important occurrence, mirroring the first love the Creator had for humankind.
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Get on AmazonThe fifth and final volume opens the lens widest of all — a spectrum of love, faith, jazz, and the full colour of feeling. Every shade of a life lived in verse, gathered into one luminous voice.
the journey
From a napkin poem to five published volumes — every chapter of R. Ray Barnes's poetic life.
A love letter scribbled on the back of a napkin becomes the seed of something much larger — the very first poem that would one day fill five volumes.
The sounds of Coltrane and Miles begin weaving their way into verse. A collection of jazz poems takes shape, blurring the line between music and poetry.
What began as a metaphor for transformation becomes the central image of the work — fragile, beautiful, forever becoming.
The first volume is completed. Love poems written over six years are gathered into a single, coherent voice.
Transformation and longing take center stage. The second volume deepens the exploration of change, beauty, and letting go.
Devotion goes deeper. The third volume strips away pretense to explore the raw, patient, deep-sea quality of waiting and being known.
The final volume widens the lens from romance to everything: faith, family, gratitude, and grace measured not in years but in grace.
Four volumes become one unified work. The complete series is gathered into a single, coherent voice — a love letter told in verse.
New poems are written. Readings, interviews, and a growing community of readers who find their own stories in the verse.
The pen keeps moving. A fifth volume takes shape — because the well of love, faith, and wonder never runs dry.
The fifth volume opens the lens widest of all. The series completes itself as five volumes, one voice — a love letter told in five parts.
There is no final poem. Every ordinary moment holds the seed of the next extraordinary line.
the process
Every poem begins with a moment — a conversation overheard, a sunset that won't let go, a memory that insists on being felt.
Words are shaped by rhythm. Each line is tested against silence. If it sings, it stays. If it doesn't, it waits.
The finished poem is not mine. It belongs to whoever reads it and finds their own story between the lines.
a taste of the verse
Jazz is Hot…
Like sunlight, its energy is always aglow…
as its Rhythms move through you
like a hot lava flow…
— All That Jazz
It is in silence
that God speaks the loudest…
and
She even sometimes sings!
— God Speak
LOVE
is comprised of a broad
Spectrum of COLORS…
&
HATE
is merely a dull array of GRAYS…
— In Living Color
what moves the pen
Every poem rests on something deeper than words — a feeling, a belief, a person. These are the pillars that hold up five volumes of verse.
The kind that writes itself in the margins of every day
A quiet trust that the music will find its way back
Improvisation as a form of devotion, rhythm as prayer
The people who gave him both the words and the silence
Arriving unannounced in kitchen light and ordinary moments
The beautiful ache that keeps the pen moving
beyond the verse
The pen does not stop at poetry. These companion works reach into faith, reflection, relationships, and family history — the same voice, turned toward other kinds of truth. Every title is available now on Amazon.
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A plain-spoken companion for the seeker — a gentle, accessible path through the nature of God, the quiet power of Spirit, and the many shapes of Love. Written for anyone who has ever wanted the sacred made simple.
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An invitation to pause. A collection of meditations and quiet provocations that ask the reader to sit with themselves — in the corner of a room, of a thought, of a life — and listen for what the silence has been trying to say. Also available through Kindle Unlimited.
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Sixty-nine candid, warm-hearted ways to deepen connection — with 43 poems, photographs, and a few laughs along the way. Written with Roberto Casanova & Julie Lovelace, featuring photography by LaSalle Barnes. The same voice that writes of love in verse, turned toward the everyday art of loving well.
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The true story of Yvonne Barnes — the author’s mother — and the Motown Records Bowlerettes, the all-female team that won first place in the highest-scoring all-white league in the United States and built the largest youth bowling league in the nation while fighting prevailing racial inequities. A tribute to a woman once called the “Rosa Parks of bowling,” and to an era that moved to its own rhythm. Available now on Amazon in Kindle, Audiobook, and Paperback.
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quote of the day
“If you Free the Love you have Within, you’ll never be Without Love.”
— Volume I — Thoughts Dancing From Heart To Mind
a moment in verse
So don’t hope to
fall in-to love,
hope to be-come love…
Then Love will
fall out-of you,
in abundance—
— from Volume I: Love Is Always & Forever
kind words
His words don't just sit on the page — they rise up and meet you where you are. I've never read poetry that feels this alive.
Marcus D.
Reader & Poet
Butterfly Thoughts changed how I see love. Every line feels like it was written for anyone who has ever ached beautifully.
Tamara R.
Book Club Host
This is not decoration poetry. This is the kind of writing that makes you put the book down and stare at the ceiling for ten minutes.
James O.
Literary Blogger
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bring the verse home
Five volumes. One heart, unfolding — plus Queen Pin and more, all available now on Amazon in Kindle and print editions.