The conclusion of an epic poetic trilogy, "surrendering to transcendence" explores and deepens the themes first encountered in "swimming in a thunderstorm", and developed further in "surfing the tsunami".
Kelly Giles obtained his Juris Doctor Degree from Pepperdine University School of Law in 1989. Kelly practiced U.S. immigration law for twenty three years, until late 2012, and continues to practice Canadian immigration law. He wrote and published his Darwin's Desert trilogy of poetry books between 2010 and 2012, Swimming in a Thunderstorm, Surfing the Tsunami and Surrendering to Transcendence, and has published multiple Six Word Memoirs on the Smith Magazine website. In 2014, he gave a talk entitled "Heart Surgery for the Legal Profession" to a class of USC Law Professor Jody Armour's law school students related to his upcoming memoir. He also performed as a featured poet at both Cobalt Poets and at Michael Jasorka's Hello World Zine Release Party, and has been a featured guest on both Jill Delbridge's Artist's Lounge podcast and Apryl Skies's Edgar Allen Poet podcast. For the past several years, he has been a member of Aim for the Heart's Microphone Sessions and Heart Sessions poetry and hip-hop workshops, founded by Tupac Shakur's manager Leila Steinberg in 1996. He currently lives in Culver City, California, volunteers with Amnesty International, Reverb and Headcount, and is a member of UCLA Extension's Writer's Program Now, Film Independent, and NewFilmMakers LA. Killing Justice is his debut memoir. He is passionate about raising awareness about mental illness and the criminal justice system and encouraging others on their healing journey, especially through the arts. You can read more of his work at www.kellygiles.com.