Poems/Songs
I’ve been writing poems since I was 15 but it wasn’t something I shared with my friends, or my family. I was different enough in a rebellious sort of way which gave me a little space from others…but poetry was an alienation device that would have left me stranded.
In my late teens, I published several poems in a Montreal poetry mag called “the bloody horse”. At the University of Waterloo, some years later, I published poems in the campus literary magazine, “Lyons Tale”. After that, I continued to write, sharing my poems with few others, but as time passed and the vicissitudes of life crowded in, I wrote less and less, though I composed works of brilliance in my mind as I drove to or from work or sat through meetings that required little attention or as I tended my vegetable garden on a hot summer day.
After retirement, the urge to compose returned, but I rebuffed it at first, I’m not sure why. Sometime late into my second year of retirement, I began writing again, vowing to write only what I wanted to write, when I wanted to write, and without any regard whatsoever for what others may want to read or agree to publish.
In the past 4 years, I’ve been true to my commitment. I only write when the poem demands to be written, and that might be one or two days apart, or weeks, or even months. I’ve sent several poems in for publications in literary magazines and have only been successful in publishing in my son’s publication of The New Chief’s Tongue in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. I’ve given several poetry readings (with other poets) and enjoyed them very much but have no desire to read again until I can read the poems that mean the most to me and that’s not possible in most poetry-reading venues.
The poems are lyrical and narrative and deal with the old themes of love and life found and lost. And some of them, the ones a friend of mine described as “raw”, deal with themes of misogyny and a dystopian vision of the world that some find alarming.
Whatever the case, I’m back in the saddle, riding in the outfields of my mind.
If you’re interested in the poems, send me an email and I’ll send you a list of titles you can choose from.
Prices
The poems go at $5.00 Can. each, minimum of five by email.
Chapbook 1234 (4 poems plus a special additional poems) for $15.00cdn.
Chapbook Murder, Mayhem and Misogyny (11 poems plus 2 extra) for $20.00cdn.
2006 Raw selection for $50.00 cdn. by email.
Add $10.00cdn to any purchase to receive a CD Studio Recording of the poems read by me.
If you want the poems mail- posted to your home and signed by me add $10.00 Can. for postage.
Somewhere along the line I realized that some of my poems were songs, and then I began to write song lyrics instead of poems. I’ve written songs for jazz, blues and country (and a couple solidarity and protest songs). I’ll post some lyrics from time to time, but the musical score accompanying the lyrics will have to be negotiated. Get in touch with me and we'll talk more about this.
|
