Prose to Ponder

Quote: We don't read and write poetry because it is cute. We read and write because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, which are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.Dead Poets Society About the AuthorI was born in the 1950s and I would say that makes me a little old fashioned. I hold to the old fashioned sense of what is right. I grew up in a time when role models and heroes were real and stood for the same things that parents instilled in their children. Sometimes when I write the nostalgia peeks in and you can see and feel an era long forgotten. But it's an era I don't forget for a moment. My children say; I'm old...I started work at the age of 12 working as a pot and pan cleaner in a restaurant in Portland Maine. I started at $ .60 cents an hour and somehow felt good about that. Growing up poor and on the wrong side of the tracks makes one appreciate the little things and simple times. Having graduated early, I enrolled into Bible College at the age of 16. Since then it has been a whirlwind of adventure and several lives rolled up into one.I was married at 24 and we had 5 children. By this time in my life, I was working as an assistant pastor and a police officer. Many asked how the marriage of those two was possible. It just was, is all I can say to that. After extensive travel around the globe having experiences few could tell we settled down to a small church and a side job as private investigator. I became a volunteer assistant chaplain to a major league basketball team in the 80s. It was also at this time that I started writing poetry. I found a way to articulate thoughts and dreams that had been mute till this point in my life. Poetry became a way to open my soul to any who would read. To quote an unknown author, " Let people see the cracks in your armor for that's how the light gets out." I had learned a wealth of personal knowledge through pain, but was unable to reveal it to many, till poetry.