Forward

My poetry-producing years were from age late teenager to early twenties. It was like an urge or a hunger to record my emotional awakenings.  The miniature photos above are me during that time.  I was a young man full of muscle, brawn, and bravado, but little skill in making a living or supporting myself - much less anyone else.  I could lift 200 pounds over my head with one arm, or another fellow completely over my head.  Despite my physical prowess, I was very keenly aware of the dichotomy of myself as a young adult - physically ready to take on life, but woefully under-trained in a socially viable and self-sustaining role in the society I found myself. 

The poetry I produced was without much regard for meter or rhyme - the important thing was the thought or emotion expressed.  I do not know the exact order that I wrote these poems, but some of them I know were earlier or later than others by their content.  Most of them were written in my early college years.

After I married my first wife at age 23 my longing for expression was apparently adequately satisfied in producing and raising children, and for the next 50 years I never produced another poem. Instead my interests turned to making a living, furthering my education, and dabbling in philosophy, science, religion and governance.

Then one day, for some strange reason late in life, I wrote "In the Garden of My True Love" to my third wife, and was quite surprised and pleased that she loved it, and me.

- Simon Revere Mouer III