Tropical Testament

I have been writing poetry for about fifty years and I have several rather inflexible beliefs about what I think poetry should be. First and foremost I believe poetry should be readable. One should not need a PhD in literature to understand the meaning. Second, poetry should be lyrical. It does not have to be structured or rhymed but the language should flow. Third, poetry should evoke emotion. It should touch some common human chord. It should remind us of an emotional space where we have been before. I hope I have achieved at least some of these goals in these poems.

I was born in 1946 in a small town at the edge of the Mississippi delta. The town and surrounding countryside would have been great subject matter for Norman Rockwell paintings. Much of that landscape and many of my experiences there are reflected in my poetry. I was educated in the parochial school system in Yazoo City, Mississippi and graduated High School in 1964. I attended Spring Hill College in Mobile Alabama and graduated from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale Illinois with a BS Degree in Psychology in 1969. After graduation, I worked as a school teacher in the then segregated African American school system in my home town and later as a social worker in Orlando Florida where I worked with all kinds of troubled and abused children. In 1987 I graduated from Rollins College in Orlando with an MA Degree in Counseling. For the remainder of my career I worked as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor at Venice Hospital, in private practice, and as a group specialist at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. But the most important accomplishments of my life have been watching my son grow up and having the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream to write and especially to write poetry.