From the Heart: Poetic Reflections on Growing Old in Maine - Softcover

Ken Nye

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0978970535 ISBN 13: 9780978970536

Publisher: TJMF Publishing, 2007

Synopsis

The poems in this book could be characterized simply as vignettes of life, but I hope that the reader sees more in these poems, recognizes the myriad ways that love, the creative spirit that permeates our world and the universe beyond, and our own eagerness for and commitment to relationships that nourish and sustain us and frame our lives, weave together this world of wonder and mystery with which we have been gifted.

About this title

About the Author:

Ken Nye has not been a poet all of his life. As a matter of fact, he discovered poetry only four years ago at the age of 61. Consequently, his poems carry the perspective of a person who can now reflect back on where he's been and how he got there, a person who is a bit more sensitive to what is important in life and what isn't. In an easy, laid back narrative writing style laced at times with a touch of a smile, Nye tells the stories and highlights of his life as a father and husband, grandfather, lover of dogs and lover of the woods. Although Nye's poems are personal, almost all of them dealing with events and people in his life in Maine, they are also universal, prompting readers to nod their heads and say to themselves,, "I know exactly what he's talking about." Nye's love affair with the state of Maine began when he was six when his parents purchased land on the shores of Lake Androscoggin in Wayne. Born in Nebraska, raised in Westchester County just above New York City, the son of a Congregational minister whose family was raised in parsonages belonging to others, the "camp" in Wayne became for Nye his heart's residence. He fell in love with Ann, a high school classmate and childhood friend, at the age of seventeen and when they graduated from high school, Ann went off to Mount Holyoke and Ken to Colby College in Waterville, Maine.. After two years of Ken hitchhiking back and forth to and from Ann in South Hadley, they realized that they were meant to spend their lives together, so they got married, Ann transferred to Colby, and they haven't spent much time away from each other for the last forty-five years. After Colby, the Nyes spent seven years in Illinois where their children were born. Ken taught high school English and attended Northwestern University where he received his Master's degree in 1965 and a Ph. D. in 1971. With his degrees in hand, Ken went back to Maine, looking for a high school principalship. Hired by the Rumford School Department as assistant principal at the high school, Ken brought the family back to Maine to an old farm that hadn't been lived in or operated as a farm for ten years. With a hole in the roof, hayfields lapping at the porch steps , dust and debris thick throughout, the farm became home for the Nyes, as central to the family as the camp in Wayne was for Ken. When their two children graduated from high school in Rumford, Ken and Ann moved to Freeport where Ken was principal of Yarmouth High School and where, in 1993, he was named Maine's Principal of the Year. In 1994 Ken moved to the University of Southern Maine where he taught educational leadership for twelve years. Now retired and dealing with Parkinson's disease, Ken spends most of his time on his poetry, on his yard, and playing cards with Ann. The Nye's have two children, a son (now 41) and a daughter (now 40) who lives with her family right across the road, three granddaughters, two dogs of their own and three granddogs.

Review:

Ken Nye This collection is Everyman, speaking for all. Time and again, as I read, my mind would recognize and mutter, "I have been in a similar place,""I know that feeling, that delight," "I do the very same thing."Most importantly, "I FEEL the same way." Poems From the Heart is a collection to linger with, a companionship with Nature and with the nature in each of us. In all of its melodies, it a song of wonder for us all. -- Burt deFrees Author of The Big Brass Bed and Gift of the Animals Burt deFrees Author of The Big Brass Bed and Gift of the Animals Burt deFrees Author of The Big Brass Bed and Gift of the Animals

When (Ken Nye) wrote of Monhegan Island and his farm in rural Maine, I saw Oklahoma's rolling hills and valleys and my own parents' little place above the Red.When he wrote about the people and the natural world surrounding him, it felt like home to me. That's a rare talent in a writer and the mark of a great one. When a poet can do what Ken does with his words, put the reader right there beside him, he can transform the reader, move him, make him a part of the work. -- Ron Wallace Author of Native Son: American Poems from the Heart of Oklahoma

About this edition

• Publisher: TJMF Publishing
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0978970535
• ISBN 13: 9780978970536
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 119
• Illustrator: Susan Gilbert