Oh who can say what they would do if the winds had only blown them to distant shores. I wrote this of the dreams of another life not lived. I do not believe we are only able to love one person in life. I think there are thousands whom we might fall in love with if the time and place were right. It is the fates that leads us to our destiny. And this is just a thought on how life could be different if the winds had blown the opposite direction.

Who can say with any assurance that they know where their life will take them?
But like all of us I too had dreams. Maybe they were a bit lofty. Maybe they were naive. We all know the boundless wonder of becoming an astronaut or fearless explorer.
However the man who crushes a child's dreams may as well have killed him.
Forever is the innocence lost. Forever will he doubt the word of all adults. Lost is the beauty of divinity. Lost the love of fair play. Gone the reward for decency, never to return. This is why we must take our responsibility for the young as a most divine effort and solemn responsibility.

For Biff whose smile lit the world and whose loss set the sun to grieving.

Some of us have had the pleasure of meeting a gold soul.And thankfully never forgot it .
I wrote this for my friend George whose heart led my soul through life when I needed him most. Would that I could grant him a few of my own years.
George suffered a stroke 10/25/12 and all was touch and go. Though he has recovered I feel the hand of time on my shoulder. Reminding me that life is precious! What is the value of a man? To me George is the greatest man I ever knew. It has become quite evident that I will have to face this pending loss. I hope I can do this with the dignity befitting this great man. From this once wandered man to be I would just say. "No one was ever more loved than he is by me."
"Thank you George."
This is for those of you who belong to facebook. It is a tiny excerpt from the 20 minute 8mm film I rescued of his wedding in 1957
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151978140193586

Why is it we strive for power over everything and everyone? Only to find in later life that we wasted much of our time feeding our vanity instead of our friends. May we all strive to know the feeling of love of ones nature instead of admiration and fear of ones finances. It is the love of your nature that will fill the hearts of others when they think of you. Those same people will always wish for your company and treasure your blessings upon them and theirs.

Sometimes love is in the first sight! This was written for Rebecca. Seldom do the paths of dreams and reality meet .Rebecca is one of those.

Can a thought or feeling be larger than a universe? Love is the only trait that is worth remembering because it is meant to be given away selflessly. The recipient is as happy to receive it as you were to give it!

Ivor is one educated kind soul .Whose intelligence leaves him the unenviable task of having to witness the truths of life. Thankfully he possesses the heart of a lion and soul of a poet He is a humble man .I am sure he will protest that he does not deserve this. But I say he does. Who are you going to believe?

We should all open our eyes to the truths of life. Just a thought Americans make up about 1/23rd of the worlds population. So we are 1 out of 23 people in the planet. Yet we have 1/5th in other words 1out of five people in jail around the world are jailed here. We incarcerate 5 times more people than any other industrialized nation. It should not be a crime to be poor. Though it is our shame as a nation.

I decided long ago that when the winds blew me cold and long. I would simply look within myself. For memories of days when I was sleek, fast and strong.

It is a boys dream to be the hellion that turns the world upside down.To then be the envy of all his fellows.And my son was no different.The ship the Black Jack Drake is named for the great Pirate Drake Cooper. Who holds the spirit of all children and the heart of this man. So cheers. Here's to far away lands and dreams coming true! All children share in the greatness of dreams.
Tate

Life doesn't reveal the secrets of the heart until you look in the eyes of your own child!
One thing I can say about children is that no one can take them from you. If you raise them in love they will be the things of beauty by which you judge yourself and find you're not wanting.

I dreamed a dream that became Rebecca my wife. Herein lies the truth of a tangible life. Oh on our deathbeds will we look back and find the thing we cherished valued and loved was something we barely touched yet dreamed might touch us;that of the love of another unconditionally reaffirming our right to exist and reason to live.

Books are the windows to the world. But more than that they traverse time itself. As they take you to Melviles time of Moby ****. They inspire. More than that they create the world of imagination. For Ahab the White Whale was nothing to be so idealised, rather it was "...all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby-****. He piled upon the whale's white **** the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it."

I consider myself fortunate to have had a few good friends. I can count on one hand their number. This poem is meant for one in particular. Without whom I would not have made it to write this. Thank you Robyn! She gave me a certain Banana Republic shirt that I treasure. So count yourself a fortunate princess Robyn. Be assured I am one for whom your welfare will never be done. Being so scarce great friends are considered precious. The miracle many wish for is not in a life we missed. It lies within the life we have. And so friends give us the feeling that we are loved as much or more than we love others. Those few memories unlike most are the only ones we recall in color not black and white. This because they are associated with the colorful shirt that painted the brush strokes of our lives together and times apart.

It is always after the fact that we notice the problems that we ourselves have fed.

A simple note to mark the passing of the human race. If we continue to mortgage our children's futures, someday we will be a footnote to history.

Little Drakes grandmother passed away a week later and he was extremely upset. If I could do anything for him I would. He has taken it as well as any man would. But times like these we don't want him to have to be a man. We want him to live out his childhood as a boy. I can tell you the tears of a child can break the heart of any man!
This was the dedication I wrote in the front of my newest book
The Ties That Bind
I dedicate this book to Drake Cooper
A young boy of unique talent and intellect. In him I see the great handy work of the Almighty. His was the heart that once reached out to mine. When I was most alone. I will always be grateful. He bought me my first poetry album. Then inspired me to fill it with my writing. Possessed with the heart of a lion and soul of a poet. Meeting him was one of the greatest gifts I ever received. He will always be loved by me.
Tate

The winter chill is much warmer and less biting to me this year. Having gotten married I see sunshine everywhere nowadays.

I have often thought that a fathers job lay not only in his ability to provide.It is to enlighten your children with love of life. With that in mind I feel it important that we pass old wisdom's to the new. Time has a way of wearing us down. The old recriminations seem to ring out hollow as we ourselves become polished by the winds of time. In that end we see that enlightenment shows bright upon the simple truths that society masks and hides. We are here to succeed in life. Not monetarily but by producing a better version of us each time. Darwin would be proud. However to me Humanity has transcended the boundary of sentient thought. Leaving us a greater purpose that of carrying our brother along with us on life's journey.

It is the one place we all can say touches us all.We all have our roots in the African nation.
May they find peace and freedom.

I hardly remembered my dad
from the time when I was a boy
When he left we were all bereft
there alone to fend for our joy

So with a pocket full of dreams
I traced the river as it flowed
More like a stray finding his way
I departed the winding road

I went out to try my fortune
and find the father I had lost
How I would grow I didn't know
investing my youth was the cost

He was a man of single mind
who would rule with an iron fist
Much was my fear when he was near
that I would make it to his list

Racing is a beautiful sport
as a horse is a handsome steed
I paid my way every day
to learn the things that I would need

After many years we parted
as I developed my own ways
Never dull my life is grateful
to have had those wonder filled days

Tate

Our house had burned last summer. It was a telling time for sure. But through it all my son stood by me. He and he alone helped me rebuild what we had lost. I realized when he turned down going to the school to meet friends just to help me finish our new deck that he was a man. But as we passed smiles back and forth I also knew I was losing my little boy. It is a great feeling to know you have done well by your child. It is also so sad to realize that the day will soon come that I will have to let go. I can say when a man is a boy all the new days ahead are adventures. But to a father time seems to test your resilience. While everything is exciting to the young who find it new. Life makes us grow when older by learning to let go.

I have always been exceptionally grateful for the few friends I could count on one hand.They are the ones that renew my faith and give my life dignity. The picture is of my daughter and two friends.Two with whom she is still friends. She is in her 4th year of college with Emily her room mate pictured in the back.

Can anyone truly know the heart of another? I have found wisdom in the most unlikely places.

We will never make it to enlightenment at the rate we are going. Men just don't live long enough to learn from their mistakes.

Whenever my son asks for my permission I always ask myself now, who will it hurt if I say yes? If the answer is only myself I always say yes. A lesson I learned the hard way. It seems I learn best that way. I should say the reference in this poem to blood being spilled was metaphoric, not literal. In this case I had just lost quite a bit in the divorce and was distraught. Little Tate just wanted my attention. When he started nagging me I turned on him and launched a tirade his way. The look on his face as a tear arose from his soul was heart wrenching. Having never seen me so upset he was devastated. The barb launched his way rebounded off his innocence to strike me dead center in my own heart. I had broken both our hearts. If ever an experience wrung the very water from my soul, this was it!

Born and raised a Catholic I still find I often think on this conundrum. Why would a god want worship anymore than a father of his children? It would seem counter productive for a god to demand worship of you at the same time telling you as a father to be humble. God did not give me a brain to follow others like sheep. It would be wrong not to use it to question the concepts we hold dear. If this upsets someone I am sorry. Not for the idea but for the injury. I am forced by nature to question all we hold dear.

My son got into little scraps and he said it was because they teased him calling him Tatertot LOL He came to like that name as it wore on him. I could spend all night trying to explain the behavior of boys.Truth is there is no reason or excuse for us lol.

It never seems to end. These prophets predicting doom. The time before it was the Millennium. This time a date from prophecy. Always it is the same story these phony prophets of the scriptures. And always they leave nothing but heartache and disbelief in their wake.

This I wrote for the sweet maid Lucy Hamilton of Ireland. She rescued me when I was lost, with a sweet nature and a melodic voice like far flung rain. Her loving care melted my cold heart and gave me back my soul.
May God watch over her.
As to the poem It is the most complex thing I ever constructed. I try to make works seem as though they just roll off the tongue. However with this it was intensely hard.Every rhyme adds to complication of a poem.But that does not always make them better.In some cases the simplest formulas and rhyme make the best poetry.
I hope you liked it. It was anything but easy to construct. And I have worked on it off and on for 2 yrs.
Tate

It isn't so hard to understand the differences in love and usury.
One is selfish the other selfless.

The hopes and dreams of my ancestors echo down through the years to tell me "who we are" is as simple as where we came from..
My mother, had 4 of us to care for go back to school and work. I sometimes wonder why she didn't drop dead from the work. I meant this to be an endearing piece to honor the struggles of life. It has been an observation of my own life that the men I valued most seemed to own the least. This is so true that I cannot deny it. I imagine it was true life struggles that gave to them their great nature. I simply wish to shine the light upon our own misguided ways. The worship of the almighty dollar has never tucked a child into bed. Nor held the hand of a grieving woman. Money cannot buy love. Nor can it manufacture it. The reason the son of a rich man can wreck a 50,000 dollar car and think nothing of it is simple. To him that is what his father was willing to pay to placate the son. In the mind of the child the car is what the father is giving him to replace the time he doesn't have for him. So since the child's life is not important to the father neither is the car valued by the son.

I think many times on the friends whose lives have effected my own.So many times I wonder why I had such a hard life. The truth is I had a good life and I am very blessed to have the family and friends that I call my own. Envy, jealousy and all that goes with it always leads to pain and misery. Be happy to be alive and well.And hope for this fleeting moment that you might be given the chance to share in another s fate and love.For what else can any of us hope for?

I don't know what it is, sets a mans soul afire. But I was one of those souls who wandered the world searching for adventure. I still roam the lower 48 as if they were my own back yard. Will my poor restless heart ever find peace?

I can't say that this piece is wrapped completely in reality. It was a thought of youth and time I spent with others and still remember. Time changes everything does it not? Young love is a lot like that. We always entrust our future to the winds of fortune. What once seemed like the end turned out to be only the beginning of something much better. So to all of you who are still young remember this from a man who has been there. It may seem like your love is gone. As if everything you dreamed was just that, a dream. These moments are the ones that carve the character that will make you interesting to others in the future. The only ones who truly know what life has in store, are those who have lived it and come out the other end a little wiser. The pain that will seem to accompany young love teaches us to be true to one another. These pains will help you through life. Through memories of these mutual pains, those endured and those imposed by us on others, we learn to respect each others feelings. This will make you a better person. One you too can respect.

To all who have known the trials of a life beset with tribulation. I would just like to say the things that make life worth living are not to be found in pursuit of wealth. I never remembered anyone fondly for the station they held in life. True wealth for me is held within the hearts of those I have loved and who dared to love me. When I first wrote this piece it lacked an owner, as I waited for the one who might deserve it. Such was the case when my friend passed into memory. Mike died on my wedding anniversary February 13th 2013.

The days of childhood haunt us .Yet they fill our dreams and buoy of thoughts hopes and dreams with the possibilities of life .

Sometimes the thoughts of the mind take me back to times that seem like yesterday. However the day has set on those times and the new day risen on better ones

t hurts my soul to even think of some of the foolish misguided passions and mistakes my life once fed. Don't we all wonder what if? I suppose we all would like to be forgiven for the transgressions of our youth. If we could who among us would not go back and repair the damage we have wreaked? Every time I have been upset with my son. I think back to the wasteland that my youth devastated. I find it easy to forgive his little transgressions.
I'm proud to say my son is a better man than me. And my wife a better woman than I deserve. But I shall stay with her so long as she will have me and count my never ending blessings.

Christ said " No greater love has any man than to lay down his life for a friend"
While war seems the ultimate test of this tenant. It is the ultimate shame of humanity. While I see the need of it in WW1 and WW2. These skirmishes since have been needless waste. Humanity will destroy itself if it doesn't stop this. If we don't find the way to forgo war we will all surly die from the shame of it. The countless women and children killed by it are enough reason.

This is my first attempt at something a bit abstract. So please bear with me as I learn.
In our great attempt at manifest destiny we have left so many families broken apart, estranged, lost to the winds of time. Even now we let our cities die as we build ever outward to the horizons. We are in such a hurry to make our mark on this world

The air is sweeter, the night is cooler. Life springs forth anew. Such is my life since meeting Rebecca. I remember thinking to myself, what does she see in me? I am prone to times when I am depressed. I wondered till recently how Becky would react in those dark days. Thankfully she is a dream come true. She took my hand, calmed the seas of doubt and led me to the light!
"God grant me this one extravagance. May she and I dance till the end of time"!!

I remember that night as if it were yesterday. It was Christmas eve 1968. The missions to the Moon which originally were an attempt to beat the Russians. Turned out to be more than the sum of their parts. It was a great time to be an American. But on that night there were no nationalities. As we looked back upon that little blue marble in the vastness of space. I realized everyone who ever lived came from there. from Adam to Da vinci. The largest crowd in history watched in awe that night as Apollo 8 rounded the Moon. Then without a script the crew decided that they would read from Genesis. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. Then from the mission commander came " From the crew of Apollo 8. We wish you all a Merry Christmas all of you on the good Earth." I had never seen an adult cry as my mother did. And on TV the members of Mission command were all in tears as well. As each and every one realized the enormity of what they were doing. Martin Luther King, Bobbie Kennedy and John F Kennedy had all been assassinated in that decade. The world seemed poised to tear itself apart. But for that brief moment something grander in the human spirit shook the world. It brought us back from the brink. It is hard to imagine now but they did all this with little more than a slide rule. I remember my great great grandmother who had been born in 1878 and was then 90 yrs old watching in absolute astonishment. As a boy at the time I remember we all studied math and science. We knew that was essential to passing the grade as an astronaut. To us the old idea of wanting to be a fireman or policeman was now for slackers. We wanted to be hero's. We watched fearless men who knew they were atop the worlds largest Roman Candle. Any one of which could in an instant become the tragic Titanic of the age. Most astronauts seemed not to fear anything or anyone. To a boy of nine they were the personification of the pioneering men who won the west. They lit the fuses of those candles and rose into the heavens. Taking the hopes and dreams of this little boy, all of his friends and the rest of humanity along with them for the ride. I have to admit the Americans know how to put on a show. Who else would take a four wheel drive golf cart to the moon to play golf?
This was mans finest hour! I was watching the history channel the other day. A World War two veteran and holder of the Congressional Medal of Honor was speaking about his latest talk to a high school. He said he was introduced by a high-school senior as being a veteran of World War Eleven. If this is the case we will never walk on the moon again in our lifetimes.
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This I believe is Drake's dream for himself and his mother. How I wish he were my own child as well as my friend. What is there to say of this extraordinary young man that I haven't already said? He is the brightest of light in this world. We choose our family as much as we create them. I saw in him the undeniable desire to dream. Because he is so like me. A mind that wanders the wonders of life at will. I wish you well Drake. May the quest for your hearts desires not be too easy. But instead be fulfilling and rich.
My friend Drake.

Some of the parents who listened to doctor Spock in the 60s and 70s.Those who tried the kinder gentler approach to raising little Henry. Are now held hostage by their unruly children. So thank you doctor Spock for everything you didn't do. And for all the answers you professed to have but really never knew. Now the public schools want to discontinue the teaching of cursive writing and spelling . As they see it why do we need them anymore? However they also told us we didn't need the phonics that they discontinued back when children could read? The schools got one thing right. Why try to teach children to write if they can't even read? I would truly be interested in knowing just how many parents have been told by teachers that their children need medication. So if this is the case I would like to take a poll. Tell us all how many of you there truly are. Is this just a way to manage overflowing classrooms? When was it we gave teachers the right to diagnose medical problems? In years gone by we would have thought that an affront. It is truly out of their expertise. But I hear over and over that that teachers recommend certain doctors to make sure the children are medicated. If this is not the case tell me. I could be wrong . However it seems it would be more productive to fix the broken schools. Instead of saying the children are broken.

There is just something grandiose about the stately Willow Tree. I have always had a fondness for them and they for me. I often thought one day I might build my child a tree house within the arms of a Willow. I think in the end I would also like my ashes to be buried neath the same tree. Lately I was fortunate enough to run into my childhood friend. He the one who shared with me my own childhood. Upon his sainted mothers homestead stood a stately Willow. That tree watched over us all through childhood. And was privy to many an adolescent secret. His mother died a few years ago. He told me she had at her request been cremated. That her ashes had been poured in ceremony into Lost Creek. This the creek that almost claimed our lives once in a fool-hearty downriver adventure. It would seem so fitting that I would wish to be left under the tree around which I grew up along side the creek where his mother was laid to rest. I once told her I would never have had a childhood had it not been for her. Her tears seemed to signal she took it well. Gladys Williams was without a doubt the greatest woman I ever knew. She and she alone holds the mantle of the most selfless soul I ever met. Gladys if you are up there listening this man wants to thank you for the wonders of life and love you showed me.
May God watch over her.

As in the times of the ancient mariner we all hear the call of sirens that gesture us to sail home. Continuity of purpose flows from the wellspring of our lives. In the end we all find we are drawn inexorably home, to the hearth from around which we told our tales of long ago and spun our yarns of a life well lived. The well spent life will always beckon from the winds of change a call for home. Kathy was the glue that holds to us all. She was the keeper of our stories and heritage.

When I first wrote this piece it lacked an owner. I was looking for the man who virtues would personify the qualities listed herein. When I met Michael I knew I had found just such a person. So last Christmas I laid it out on canvas. It was given to Michael as a present. Little could any of us imagine how prophetic these lines would become. Yet none the less he remains the one deserving in my mind of such an honor. When I met Michael I turned to my wife and said" Man what a nice guy. He must have great parents". And so he does. His father Steve a generous stoic soul, cut from the tough pioneer stock that once tamed this country. While his mother could best be described as a saint. It is easy to see where his strength and humanity came from. Michael was one of those few men by whom we judged ourselves and found we were wanting. Michael s life ended tragically a few days ago. What's left to say but we loved him we miss him. Nothing fills that void.
What more could a man ask but to have a loving family and good friend's?

We face them every day, and sleep with them every night. Our character is defined by how we deal with our mistakes! For those of us who learn best the hard way this is both bittersweet and true