Longing to Share What I'm Feeling

Expression of feelings by men was not taboo in my family. Indeed, it was expected of all adult males at the celebrations of special occasions—very plentiful since my mother had eight brothers.

I became earnest about versifying when my father suggested I write a poem about how I was coping with being jilted by a girlfriend. I did so that night and was pleased with the result, as well as emotionally soothed.

My father had organized his poetic output into nine appropriately named files titled Chapters and Verse and one more labeled Not for Publication. That hint was the impetus for this book.

“Wonderful to see a father and son both exploring the medium of poetry to celebrate special occasions. This collection of their verse, culled from decades of their creative output, includes a wide variety of poetic forms, from the limerick to the sonnet, as father and son play with meter, rhythm, sound, rhyming patterns, and even other languages” (Leslie J. Freeman, family friend). Expression of feelings by men was not taboo in my family. Indeed, it was expected of all adult males at the celebrations of special occasions—very plentiful since my mother had eight brothers.