"A Day for Every Poem
&
A Poem for Every Day"
 above: "A Day for Every Poem & A Poem for Every Day" - final cover choice (but something was taken out before the final printing... can you find it?)  WHAT THE READERS LIKED! "I wanted to tell you that I love Day 268: "Let Them Go Ahead"-- It is so simply beautifully expressed and so true. We shouldn't hold on selfishly to a loved one when it's their time to enter a magnificent existence... thank you for sharing your verses with others." E&J from Pensacola, Florida  PUBLISHING COMPANY FOR "A DAY FOR EVERY POEM..." Pace, Florida/ph. 850-473-5569 The Contents of this book... What's in a Poem? Chapter 1: First, The Day-- About the beauty of morning times Chapter 2: East of Today: Tonight-- On night. Chapter 3: Blue-Brilliance & Other Shades of Paint-- Every shade of color Chapter 4: Of Silent Sailors, Of Risen Royalty-- Tales of the Sea and of Royalty. Chapter 5: This Rain Is...-- Poems about rain. Chapter 6: Friends & Our Road Unfurled-- About friends and the goodness within. Chapter 7: Voices I Know, My Family-- About my family and maybe your family! Chapter 8: Remember the Forgotten-- Thinking about those "in the shadows." Chapter 9: A Black Past & A Brown Present-- On the African-American Experience. Chapter 10: At My Little Writing Desk-- About the writer. Chapter 11: Our Little Shadows: Our Children-- Simply, about children. Chapter 12: OK to Be Old-- The good about growing old. Chapter 13: "Small" & Storied-Poems-- Stories to teach the little ones. Chapter 14: In the Trees...-- About the birds just of above us.  | Life's important milestones and moments... captured in the written word. A Book...Books are more than just empty spaces filled with letters and punctuation marks, and more than one man's mere words... I like to think of books as profound physical extensions of a collection of human experiences. And if such is the case, we all, whether a short story or a grand novel, have at least one book inside of us (if not a series). So... I hope you enjoy my insides! "A Day for Every Poem and A Poem for Every Day" thoroughly covers a wide span of human situations and emotions encountered and felt along my travels across this country. This book surely could be considered a journal of sorts, one poets viewpoints on the trappings of life. Literary Influences...One time, someone asked, "So, do all your poems rhyme?" Now that I think about it, it was more than one time that such a question was asked, and it's not hard to arrive at that idea after thumbing through "A Day for Every Poem and Poem for Every Day;" I do rhyme quite a bit. Yet, there are a few passages that pour onto the page with absolutely no rhyme scheme or meter.But, why rhyme anyway?Besides for purposes of ready remembrances of passages and lessons/ideas nestled in my poems, I think my poetic influences have a lot do with my almost in insatiable need to rhyme ("right on time").
If you'll remember, and respect with me, such writers as Robert Frost, Edgar Alan Poe, Lewis Carroll, Rudyard Kipling, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow... what skill, what prowess, and what beauty within the bounds of human communications to, well, communicate through rhyme. Those authors were my professors of rhyme. From my early introduction to, for example, Frost and Poe, I rightly figured the rhyme scheme was the "hook" to draw the reader to the message in both a sweet and a simplistic way.
 Chapter 15: While Sitting Quietly, While Walking Slowly-- For and about sitting still. Chapter 16: America Accented-- About the states' state of mind. Chapter 17: Poetic Recollection of Mid-Middle City (Marietta, OH)-- Poems about my favorite city. Chapter 18: "Her" Each Time-- About how all hearts led to to my wife (Felicia). Chapter 19: "Where to Bury Me" & the Long Drive Home-- Poems about the end of life. Chapter 20: White Walls & Step for Step with People-- Dealing with humans. Chapter 21: Summer in the Fall with my Father, with my Brother...-- About God, about Jesus. Chapter 22: Carrots, Sticks, & if Good Things Come...-- Encouragement. Chapter 23: The Lower-Created Kingdom-- On the animals. Chapter 24: The Life of Spice & Other Dishes-- For those who find food poetic. Chapter 25: Tender Hopes & Innocent Prayers Chapter 26: Also Considered-- other things Chapter 27: The Sweet Life?-- The good life (it is). Chapter 28: Nothing New... Chapter 29: Leaping-- Taking the chances you should. Chapter 30: How I Write |
How I Write... (Chapter 30)
My Father is my scaffolding, Yes, Father is my scaffolding,
His lessons are my tools, His blessings give me thought,
And reasons why I so apply- And sad preceding truths unknown...
The how-tos learned in school, A story without plot.
Is not because of sheer "to-dos"
For that would be a pity,
But sweet reflections from above
See words writ-down "so witty."
Click on small boxes to view pictures larger...
4440 Woodbine Rd., Pace, Florida | 850-473-5569 |
