Take Me To Your Feeder

L. Eugene Startzman, Professor Emeritus, taught at Berea College in the English department from 1967 to 2008. He earned his doctoral degree from Ohio University in 1970, and received the Seabury Award for excellence in teaching in 1997. He is the author of two volumes of light verse: The Phone Poem Book: Occasional Verse and The Phone Poem Book: Simple Gifts. Professor Startzman is an avid reader and considers Dante, Shakespeare, Milton, Flannery O'Connor, J. R. R. Tolkien, and C. S. Lewis among his favorite authors. Professor Startzman also maintains a "phone poem" website: www.thephonepoem.com.

Michael Startzman is a professional graphic designer with a passion for drawing; his influences range from Andrew Wyeth to Patrick McDonnell. Michael’s illustrations are a mixture of traditional drawing and digital coloring. He earned a bachelor's degree in art from Berea College and continues to be inspired by art in every form. He looks forward to writing and illustrating more books for children. Michael maintains a website that effectively reveals the extensive range of his work: www.michaelstartzman.com.

Michael Startzman has selected from his father's two volumes of light verse (The Phone Poem Books) those poems especially appropriate for young readers and illustrated them with delightful and colorful images. While the poetry ranges from the whimsical to the poignant, the images enhance and deepen the emotional impact of the verse, as in such poems as Clip-Clop the Wonder Horse, Petting Zoo, Turtle Walk, Blackbird, My Teddy Bear, and Zen, the Possum. The themes of delight in nature and its creatures, the love of whimsy (see especially the title poem, Talk, Talk, Talk and Grapes and Apes), and the importance of affection for one's fellow creatures, but especially one's pets, resonate throughout the verse and the art.