Popcorn and Soda Pop

Mr. Warner gave his poem book the name he did because he believes people should pick their literature as if it was food on a big menu because taste buds are different for each person. Mr. Warner explains his revolutionary concept in much greater detail in his book in essay form.

Mr. Warner's poems are about what he thinks and feels about the world. Many of them are humorous; many of them are about 'love' the universal interest of people everywhere; some of them are about resentment and anger; some of them are about universal themes: Christmas; Easter; St. Valentine's Day; Memorial Day; Mother's Day; Father's Day; a long one about a despised ex-president; and one about the hostages illegally seized by the Iranians! There are also some parodies of some famous poems.

Some of Mr. Warner's poems are poems that tell a story, which is his favorite type of poem. One of them, "The Rose I found in the Bible" is his favorite, the longest, and he believes, his best one!

Mr. Warner has included a short history of some of his poems with the hope that this history will be of interest to his readers.

If you like poems with lots of rhythm and rhymes, long poems, medium sized poems, and short poems, about a verity of subjects, you will enjoy Mr. Warner's poems, which he has written for the entertainment and amusement of readers everywhere.

Mr. Warner went back to school at Long Beach City College on the GI Bill, taking Mechanical Engineering and then switching to journalism. After about a year and a half at City College, he quit.

Mr. Warner had always been interested in writing, but he had huge handicaps to overcome: he couldn't spell (he still can't); and grammar was then and is now a mystery to him.

Mr. Warner first began to write when he was about 20.

During the next few years he wrote some songs, poetry, and a few short stories, but his output was quite low.

From 1947, after Mr. Warner left City College, to 1950, he had a number of different inconsequential jobs, the longest at Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach where he worked in the blueprint department for eight months before quitting to loaf awhile.

In 1950, he enlisted in the Active Naval Reserve as a Weekend Warrior, so he could learn seamanship and get paid doing it. He has had a life-long love affair with boats (building his own) and fishing.

About three months later, the Korean War started and Mr. Warner was called back to active duty in the Navy Aircorp for a year, getting discharged in August 1951, serving on three aircraft carriers, operating off of Korea in the China Sea, bombing and strafing the communists!

After Korea, Mr. Warner went back to City College for awhile, then got a job on a freighter as a deckhand and made two trips to the Hawaiian Islands, about 30 days round trip, hauling bulk sugar for C&H Sugar in Crocket California on the Sacramento River.

Leaving the ship in Crocket he went to Santa Rosa, California, where he washed dishes in some restaurants and got a poem published in the local newspaper, a big day in his life.

Next, he went to Yosemite and washed some more dishes, then he went home.

Mr. Warner has cleaned chicken dung from under the pens; he owned and operated his own auto wrecking yard; owned his own 2nd Store; was half owner of a Yacht Landing; speculated in Real Estate; and worked at some other odd jobs, going to work for the Long Beach Fire Department in 1953 for the next 26 years, retiring in October 1979.

Mr. Warner got married in 1961, had his son in 1963, and then got divorced in 1973.

In 1974, Mr. Warner and his son, Jeff, drove to Alaska during the summer. On his return, Mr. Warner wrote his first novel.

Since 1974, Mr. Warner has written 31 novels, about 125 short stories, two Civil War books, and two poetry collections.