I think we better get started with some info about me but wait, lets hold it, maybe I should begin this with a disclaimer – not that one is needed – but still one never knows how something will be taken.Having stepped out on that creaking limb – this is not a how-to-book telling another how to live their own life, it is however a compilation of my thoughts that I have recorded during my travels on my life’s path.
My observations, likes and yes even my dislikes, come into play as I record my ricocheting thoughts as they came into my life.What follows is a combination of explanations in prose trying to explain what cannot be explained with moments of poetry interjected to describe situations and circumstances that were part of my life – not that what I have done is of any importance – just a small record of my presences here on earth.Hopefully the reader will enjoy what they find here and understand that how they live their life is up to them, just as how I lived mine was of my choosing.
Some of the subject matter that I have written on may be found a little too offensive, maybe a little too black or maybe too white for some people and their up bringing.Fear not, I have touched on the many shades of gray as well.In life we find happiness and sadness, not an equal amount but enough of each to appreciate the other.So with that in mind, let me begin on a good note, offering up an apology at the onset; which you may choose to accept or not.Still if you stop to think about it, the offending subject matter will always be out in the open for us to see, if we open our eyes.
I think it might help the reader a little better in understanding my poems if I set aside some time to provide them, the reader, with some background information about where I have traveled, along with who, when and maybe the why of my travels.I guess you could say that I have had three careers, 1) the child growing up (a time I view as bad), 2) member of the U.S. Marine Corps (challenges and excitement filled the day), and 3) Physical Security Professional (sometimes exciting and always challenging).As I look back my first career effort was one of trouble, trouble and more trouble, maybe it was period of time of my growing up or just me.Anyway, regardless of what I think, my troubled youth served me well for the careers that were to follow, but you will have to judge that individually.
Actually for me it all began in the early morning hours, at 36-minutes past midnight on 10 March 1940, in Detroit, Michigan.Yes, I was a night person from the very beginning, forever destined to work the dreaded graveyard shifts.Okay, I know, I was a little late for the first shift, but I am sure that I have made up for it many times in the following years, the many graveyard shifts I have filled.I have from that moment in time, been a night person, comfortable in the dark or with the moon moving slowly across the dark nighttime sky.
During the first nine years of my life, I distinctly remember taking two round trips in a Greyhound B us across the U.S.A. – Michigan to California, California to Michigan, Michigan to California, and California to New York.I remember more of the riding the Greyhound Bus than I remember my years in Kindergarten, First and Second Grades in school, where and whatever state I attended them.However, like everyone else I do get clear flashes of periods of time in different schools but I do remember starting and being in the Third Grade of the Interlaken Central School in Interlaken, New York.
I must admit, memories from my youth are very sketchy, but I do get flash memories of things that have happened in the past from time to time.These burst of memories seem to be brought on by sights, smells and sounds.I have also learned of things from a relative just recently, and a lot of what I have learned does explain some the flash memories I have.Such as when I had my tonsils taken out, they used ether to put me to sleep for the operation, when I woke up I remembered another time that ether was used to put me to sleep.The memory I recall was of me walking with my mother holding my hand down a wet city street; I was about 3 or maybe 4 years old.The sidewalk was wet, it was at night and the light was shining off of the wet sidewalk.The odd part was that I was throwing up because a doctor had just done some surgery on my left eye, which had been knocked out by my father; this I learned from my aunt.After all of the years that have passed and the false story I was given that I had gotten sand in my eye, this does not hold water since the left hand part of my left eye does not set where it should.So the violent reaction I had to the ether was a trigger to the memory.Finding out how I was treated, as a child is not surprising, I did not understand my anger, but learn the truth now explains to me why I found myself being so angry or full of rage without any avenue to get it out of my system.So maybe my joining the Marine Corps at 17 years old and the trouble I was always in as a teenager may have provided me with an avenue to express myself in a different way.So of course my attitude regarding my feelings does show in some of my poems and to be honest they paint a very good picture of the me that I was then.Of course if I had not learned anything in my growing up I would not be the person I am now.
Looking back at my teenage years it seemed that I went out of my way to get into trouble, well if I didn’t, trouble just followed me around.I drank, smoked and had fights, as well as skipped school.I did not do this to be the big man; I did this to keep to myself, to be alone without other people around since I had strong distrust of people.I never felt that they could teach me anything so I did not attend school as much as they thought I should.I was always a reader and someone who enjoyed writing poetry, but it was not something I shared with anyone.Who would believe that I enjoyed writing poetry?I think the only thing I attended school for was to be able to play sports or enjoy the challenge of the contest or the violence that was part of the sports.Which if you ask me I did pretty well at it, even with a bad left eye.
I quit school and joined the Marine Corps when I was 17 years old, searching for a place to belong.As I searched for that place, it found me, calling me one of its own for 21 years.My earlier years of traveling kind of put an itch to my feet, making moving and traveling for me as away of life.Well from 1957 to 1978, I was in the Marine Corps – going places that were not open to the tourist.However, after retiring from the Marine Corps, I have remained in Colorado, with two or three short trips outside of the state.By the way, I did finish my high school through the GED program, plus a couple of college courses (painting and writing).
As of this writing I have been married for 45 plus years, have two sons and one great and growing granddaughter...undergo dialysis treatments three times a week at the Longmont Kidney Clinic in Colorado. If you are familiar with the treatment process you know that I have ample time on each of the sessions to think and write.
So with that little bit of history in mind, let me share with you the things or circumstances that have attracted my attention.I guess I could present my poetry in alphabetical or even chronological order, but I think I will just put them before you as the mood moves me.I hope you won’t mind a little narrative comment from me between poems; hopefully this will pump some life into them, besides just the spirit in which they were written.Actually I would like to put them all in the first position, but we know that is impossible.So let me refer you to the three separate sections of my work.
My poetry can be found on this site by clicking on the link at the right - Life's Journey.