You May Think Life Stinks but It Could Be Verse

By Steven C. Stoker

Look through any neighborhood, pick out any random country farmhouse, search through any military barracks, screen any school enrollment sheet and you can find them-"closet" poets! They scribble their innermost thoughts down in notebooks, on envelopes, even on napkins and then stash them away in secret places! Why? Because those sentiments are a part of them-a part they want to recall later, whenever they feel the need to relive those treasured moments, recapture the emotions, and savor those extraordinary experiences again.

Such poetry runs the gamut from horrendous to brilliant, but that does not matter. The quality of the work is unimportant! What is important is that someone out there has chosen the written word to create a literary "painting" that tries to capture a moment in time and space to save it for posterity. You May Think Life Stinks But It Could Be Verse is a collection of one man's meandering psyche. It contains a lot of chaff but an occasional precious kernel of wheat can be found that can be useful in nourishing the reader's psyche as well. Read, enjoy, and let the critics do the analysis!

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 29, 2003
• ISBN: 9781469769691

Steven C. Stoker

Steven C. Stoker retired from the United States Navy as a Chief Electronics Technician. He enjoyed a second career as a teacher before retiring and settling in Arizona with his wife and two daughters. He spends his leisure time enjoying his family, the Internet, genealogical research, and writing.

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You May Think Life Stinks

But It Could Be Verse

Steven C. Stoker

iUniverse, Inc.

New York Lincoln Shanghai

You May Think Life Stinks But It Could Be Verse

All Rights Reserved © 2003 by Steven C. Stoker

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic,

electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage

retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

iUniverse, Inc.

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Any resemblance to actual persons, plants, or animals—living or otherwise—is purely coincidental.

ISBN: 0-595-28122-2

ISBN: 978-1-4697-6969-1(eBook)

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Acknowledgements

Editorial Method

Introduction

Wordplay

Why I Rhyme

Nonsense

Home and Family

Animal Stories

Political and World Events

Military and Maritime

Friendship and Romance

Just For Fun

Philosophical and Religious

Strange Thoughts and Stranger Places

Health and Medical

The Alzheimer Angel

Decker Delights

Leftovers

Random Thoughts

About the Author

To Mom

This one is for you!

Acknowledgements

I have experienced a wide range of thought and feeling as I have contemplated the completion of this project. This digest—writings compiled from a lifetime of jotting down my innermost senti- ment and mentation—is the climax of a longstanding dream of mine.

I feel an obligation to express my gratitude to all who shared even a small part in bringing this project to fruition. The finished volume is the culmination of many years of writing rhyme and verse. It is my hope that appreciation for its var- ied subject matter will extend beyond family and friends—that it will find an audience willing to shed a tear, share a smile, and generally enjoy its contents.

I must begin by thanking all of my teachers, whether academic or spiritual, for their tireless effort to teach me an appreciation for language and the written word. I want to name a few in particular that I shall always consider special in that regard: Ada Lankford, Lettie Wheeler, Sally Bowman, Ella Becker, Ruth Chandler, Irene Schou, Doris Pratt, Keith Slane, Maryvee Stevens, Roger Ralphs, Moana K. Young, and lastly, but definitely not least, my parents—Max and Eva Stoker.

I must also express my gratitude to those who inspired feelings that were felt so deeply as to force me to take up the pen. In most cases, they are the beautiful girls, ladies, and women in my life, and I shall not embarrass them here by nam- ing names. Others that inspired deep emotion range from world leaders to mur- derers to drunk drivers to faceless strangers. All affect our lives in some way or another, and I hope I was able to convey that to some measure in these pages.

Lastly, I would like to thank a small, but select group whom I pestered for opinions here and there, as I pulled this volume together. Some did no more than comment on parts of the work, not knowing they were evaluating it. Still others took a more involved role and actually went so far as to provide a stroke here and there when my ego needed stroking! I listened to their ideas, I corrected the

typos they found, and enjoyed the fact that they were willing to spend some of their precious time on my project. My special thanks go to Joyce M., Vicky G., Donna A., Ann F., and several others from the Internet who filled lesser roles.

Editorial Method

gl have never felt the need to explain pre- vious editorial methods, but in this case, perhaps it can be helpful for the reader to know why the book is laid out the way it is.

I had originally thought to include the phrase Rhymes and Reasons as part of the title, and provide a small explanation about each piece of work on an indi- vidual basis. I envisioned a rhyme, then a reason for the rhyme, then another rhyme, a reason for it, and so on, through an entire book of verse. Then it occurred to me that poetry should be able to stand alone, and some people may not want to know what inspired the poem, or read any footnotes about it. Therefore, I changed my mind!

I decided to divide the volume into sections, with each section loosely con- taining a specific category of subject material. I began each section with a title page, followed by a Rhymes and Reasons page that contains the notes for each poem in that section. Then—after that—the poems would be presented on their own, in the same order that they were listed on the Rhymes and Reasons page, thereby enabling the reader to glance back and find the notes easily if need be.

Furthermore, I chose to avoid the extensive need to play with margins by cen- tering each poem on the page and only worrying about margins with the Rhymes and Reasons text.

I hope that this format will be beneficial to the reader and his or her needs.

Introduction

In order to enjoy this volume, the reader will have to dispel any pre-conceived notions that rhyming poetry is old- fashioned and no longer acceptable. In fact, that stance, often taken by certain knowledgeable folk, has been a thorn in my side for a long time. Anyone who does not recognize the legitimacy of rhyme and meter in poetry, anyone who does not give credit to the poet who agonizes over his versification, anyone who assumes that free verse, blank verse, and a dozen other forms have replaced rhym- ing poetry—should all be taken out behind the woodshed and horse-whipped!

Most scholars would agree that poetry, in its simplest definition, is any com- munication that evokes feeling or emotion. I am the first to agree that both free verse and blank verse can do that. I will also contend that metered verse can also do that, often better than other forms. In truth, I will also admit that a newspaper article or a television ad can also evoke feeling and emotion. Therefore, it is my claim that poetry is whatever we want it to be—whatever moves us—whatever stirs our emotions, one way or another.

Commonly used dictionaries of the day define poetry as:

literature in metrical form

metrical writing

verse

writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm. a piece of literature written in meter; verse.

a piece of writing in which the words are arranged in separate lines, often ending in rhyme, and are chosen for their sound and for the images and ideas they suggest

Rhyme developed after the classical period, perhaps to reinforce rhythm when the old quantitative verse was no longer used. It is an important element in struc- ture which uses stanzas. It was developed to a high degree in Romance languages, especially in French and medieval French dialects. Germanic poetry, completely unrelated to normal Greek origins, developed characteristics of its own, many of which are reflected in modern poetry. Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic poetry have strong accents and a pattern of alliteration. Much of Middle English poetry is alliterative verse, while the rest follows the French forms of rhyme and rhythm.

That being said, I would implore everyone to just enjoy a poem for what it does for you, regardless of its form and structure. Even so, something deep down inside my common self-identity tends to view the so-called purists of poetry as self-aggrandized examples of humanity with too much time on their hands. In my mind they are like those who view spoiled grape juice as something of great value, something described with such terms as body, bouquet, woody, tannin, supple, sweet, and etc. all in an effort to impress the listener with their cultured background in fine wines. Come to think of it, I may be com- pletely wrong about such people. Perhaps they are just trying to be poetic!

Wordplay

Wordplay Rhymes and Reasons

Wordplay is exactly what it sounds like. Merriam Webster describes it as verbal wit.