I’ve always loved reading and writing. One day, out of nowhere, I became hooked on poetry. Talk about a learning curve. When I finally felt comfortable writing my very first poem this is what I came up with after three days. Timing is everything they say, I was invited to read it at the Key West Poetry Guild Poetry Slam which was scheduled for five days later. Nobody threw tomatoes, so I think I did okay. Here it is:

When I started studying and writing poetry, my wife was shocked. “I never thought I’d be married to a poet,” she said, with her hands on her hips. Then, in an Everybody Loves Raymond episode, Raymond wrote a poem to his wife. “Why don’t you write a poem about me?” Be careful what you pray for. Here it is:

I Go To Sea Alone

I go to sea alone.
But do not leave my phone.
When I exceed its range,
I do not complain.
I planned to be alone.

I enter the Gulf Stream,
I’m living my life’s dream.
The ocean vivid blue
With unobstructed view
Stem to stern, beam to beam.

Apparently endless.
Actually endless.
Primal peril displayed
In iridescent spray
Above the dark abyss.

The last frontier is this.
In oceanic bliss,
Its inhabitants legion
Roam King Neptune’s region.
But none, my phone would miss.

A sparkling golden hue
Luminous sapphire blue.
Three-sixty perspective
Its splendor infective.
My contact with God anew.

Shed my digital world!
My cell phone is hurled!
I head ever deeper
The ocean’s my keeper.
My heart and my soul unfurled.

Poetry Is A Game

Poetry is a game
By any other name.
Rules, rules, rules to the hilt,
But If broken – there is no guilt.

A poetic tweeter…
I sometimes cheat meter.
And though unforgivable,
These lines…seven syllables.

Hardly Bardly am I
So, on him I rely.
Though you might understand
My wife slaps my hand!

A grammar major, she;
Always I before E,
No caps in mid-sentence,
Or suffer the penance.

“Poem not prose,” I say,
And I love her anyway.

First Light

First light. Start the motor.
No-wake is in order.
Sparkling gelcoat and teak
Idling through Sisters Creek.

Then the first ocean view
Brilliant turquoise its hue.
Still minimum wake now
So, don’t let the bow plow.

Channel markers to thread
One-side green; One-side red.
All the power I need
Brings the boat up to speed.

Past the reef in a flash,
To get lines out I dash.
Four baits in the water
My spread now in order.

I’m fishing! I’m fishing!
I’m fishing at last.