Preface to Second Edition

10 to 17 February Afternoons and Other Poems was my first book and published in 1977. It was personally typeset on an IBM Selectric and printed on newsprint by a local printer. The title poem was written on the 10th and 11th of February 1972 and put in its present form by the 17th. Its rough edges have been preserved. Misspellings and obvious errors are the only editing done for this Second Edition.

I began writing poetry as a means of self understanding and discovery, while serving in the U. S. Army from 1969 to 1971. The “Other Poems” section in this volume dates from that time through early 1977.

It was a period of personal exploration of Poetry, initially influenced by the English Romantic poets of the early Nineteenth Century. Many of the poems were written for, and dedicated to, family and friends, as well as writers and thinkers being studied.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to everyone who assisted in, and supported, this initial effort.

Every journey must begin with a first step, and this was mine. It began the lifelong odyssey of traveling Philosophical Poetry Road.

There are still some First Edition copies available — go to “Special Order” to inquire and request specific editions and signed copies!

 

Book Contents (ALPHABETICAL)

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• “A stranger walked into town”
• “After you begin”
• “Another day”
• “Anticipation in waiting”
• “As long as”
• Autumn
• Beyond
• Bird or Dog
• Bridge to Sleep
• Candlelight (For Aldous Huxley)
• Coming to Terms
• “Common sense”
• Communication
• Crutches
• “Do you fully understand”
• “Dreams built on sand”
• Ethereal Love
• Every Day
• Far Away
• “Feeling and flowing”
• Floating on the Lake
• Foresight
• “Help is coming”
• “I want to taste your love”
• “Is it valid to”
• “It is now winter”
• Laine
• “Learning is quite simple”
• “Leaving our footprints”
• “Living life”
• Man
• “Mislaid Afterthoughts”
• Of Two
• One Way or the Other
• “Poetry is flowing today”
• “Standing”
• The Child’s Bark
• “The Creative Castle contains”
• “The gift was not given”
• “The Heavens appear”
• “The history we hold so dear”
• The Owl
• “The spigot will open gushing”
• “The time has been reached”
• “The treatment of love”
• To Her
• To John Keats
• To Steve Moore
• Today
• “Today a feeling has possessed me”
• Today – Tomorrow
• “Tomorrow – a new day”
• Truth
• “Unable for so long to smile”
• “We become strangers to each other”
• “We have been alone too long—“
• “We have passed this way before”
• “We hold the key”
• Well Traveled Road
• “White caps appear between the grey”