Pocketful of Poems

About the Book

This short collection of original poetry was written as a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings during a turbulent period in my life: a dissolution of marriage and an emerging same sex relationship. The poems reflect those intense emotional upheavals associated with divorce and a subsequent evolving love relationship. The poetry is illustrated with original, colored pencil drawings done by artist and friend James Williams of Lexington, KY.

About the Author

I was born in Scottsville, KY in 1946 in the days when the family was defined in "Leave It to Beaver" stereotypical images of that era: Saturday afternoon matinees, Sunday drives to nowhere in particular, medals for perfect attendance in Sunday School, small locally owned businesses, Necco Wafers for a penny, banana splits at the Carpenter Dent Drug Store lunch counter, 23 cents per gallon gasoline at the Gulf Station on the Square, church picnics on the grounds and all those myriad kinds of things that define a simpler time, of a bygone era, in small town America. Gay meant happy, and boys married, or went to war, or both. From this community and culture, I moved to Louisville, KY, married and had a family and became a teacher in the Jefferson County KY schools where I taught for 28 years. During my life in Louisville, personal issues, regarding sexual orientation, had to be confronted. In that process of working through my own self awareness and self acceptance, I wrote hundreds of poems; they were a cathartic experience, and their intrinsic value to me was that they were redemptive. Some of these poems dealt with the tragic breakup of the family, and some dealt with the excitement of the emerging same sex relationship. They were all sincere expressions from the well springs of my heart, and they were all a spontaneous overflow of my intense emotions. I now reside in southern IN where I enjoy retirement and life with my partner of 28 years, Kenneth Weller. We were finally able to marry in Victoria, British Columbia, July 5th, 2005.