Step into the Solemn is a collection of poems that was completed in 1980. The 2023 revision (a revision that is long overdue) tells a somewhat fundamental story about our human existence. This is a concise story of what it means to be human; it is a tale of what it means to be a person, to be alive. For each one of us individually, where we have been is much less meaningful than who we are in the "now." It is THIS moment that is more significant than any others that have come before it have ever been. I call this the state of "presentness." It is living in the "now".... Step into the Solemn is a written recognition that most of us want to do good, and we want to BE good. And yet, we ever - we continually - fall short of our own expectations, let alone those of others. We do fail, and yet we fail because we are not perfect. But we must forgive ourselves - and others - because only then do we learn to move forward, always looking to the next moment, finding our sense of selves, finding our presentness. To be in the moment - to live in THIS moment - is not only fundamental, it is essential to who we are. The poems in Step into the Solemn can be read from back to front - or from front to back, dependent on one's own presentness. There is a purposeful order to the poems, and no matter the order in which the poems are read, it is hoped that the reader will choose to step into the solemn.