I’ve been writing poems for over half of my 52 years on this planet. One was even published. I submitted a poem to Voices of Michigan: An Anthology of Michigan Authors, volume 3 back in 2001. They liked it. You can even buy the anthology from Alibris or check it out of your local library. Yeah, that’s right…my name is in the library (besides in the phone book…if they still have those there) — that used to actually be a goal of mine…to be “published.”

Besides that one poem, though, the rest have resided in one of a dozen journals I’ve kept, tucked in the archive of this blog, or included as part of a letter (pre-internet). Though some of my friends, like Bob Rentschler, created many chapbooks over the years, I never got a ’round tuit.’ Until now…

Just this month, with the help of Fed-Ex Office, I self-published my first collection of poems:
Connections I and II. Seventeen poems in near chronological order charting my relationships with people and with the world over five decades. The hard copy will be a gift to family members and a few friends, but the pdf file in the link (above) is my gift to you for reading my blog. I decided that the frills were keeping me from finishing the collection; so there are no photos or art and it’s not for sale on blurb.com (as I had hoped it would be). No, it’s free…and worth every penny. (“Anythin’ free’s worth savin’ up for” like they say). By calling it my “first” collection, I’m hoping that means there will be more collections. Time will tell, as it always does, but for now I’ll keep searching for those ’round tuits.’

I dedicated several of the poems in the first half of the booklet to family members or friends. For some reason, many of my poems that have stuck with me through the years were inspired by the death of a close family member or friend. There’s something about losing a loved one that spurs me to feel deeply…and to write.

The second half (Connections II) speaks more to relationships I’ve had over the last 30 years and observations of life in that time span. People amaze, confound, surprise, and amuse me (as does life)…and once in awhile I come up with words that almost adequately express how I feel about them/it. I hope you’ll take time to read the poems and let me know what you think about them. Maybe you’ll see yourself or someone you know in there somewhere. Peace and joy to you all.