A Life in Poetry
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Like crystals the sun’s shattered rays
shimmered on the surface of the lake
And tho’ all is silent, soft chatter was all about
It was as if a deep silence stilled the lake’s surface.
Flocks of duck seemed to sail in slow motion
above its shimmering surface
Reminding me that troubles end at Summer’s end.
And as it is promised, a time of rest will prevail,
As it is written – on the mirror of the lake’s surface.
Flocks of people too – jogging soundlessly along,
Were allowing the breeze from the lake’s calmness
To nudged them on – as the rest of us
Basked cozily in this last respite.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Seeing that our paths are destined to cross, We by instinct maneuvered so that no time is lost To clear each others way adjusting on either side, As that point was reached so that we do not collide. With an acute acknowledgment from eye to eye As we without accident past and I asked why. Since nothing is by chance I wondered at each quick glance. What the meaning was of this encounter Did God decide you and I make silent banter?
About the Author
I was born Bobby Waddell Kellum in Thorpe,
The first recollection of any type of poetry in my life were fairy tales that were read to us, many of which we learned “by hard.” During my elementary school years, I remember reciting Longfellow’s “The Psalm of Life” for a school program and how great it felt. I was also fortunate to have a brilliant professor, Mr. Lewis Freeman, our principal, who also taught me in sixth grade and who presented each of his students with a deck of “Author Cards” including all the famous poets and novelists, such as Longfellow, Dickens, Poe, et al. Mr. Freeman also read the “Illiad” by Homer to us. He inspired in me not only a desire to read books but also a desire to write. By the time I reached college, I discovered such luminaries as Ralph Waldo Emerson, a great thinker and poet and the novelist/humorist, Mark Twain whom I greatly admire. Also, all through my life I heard the funny, dialectic poetry of Paul Lawrence Dunbar; The “Creation” by James Weldon Johnson was a favorite performance piece. I’ve also enjoyed the influence of others writers, like Toni Morrison and James Baldwin who wrote beautiful prose. But what has most influenced my writing has been my own life experiences: its joys and sadness, its desires fulfilled and unfulfilled, and the eventual spirituality that has designed all that has been created through me.
– Bobby Wadell Kellum –