Baby Boomer Verse

By Gerald H. Shacter

This book of verse is about the shared experiences and observations of the baby boomers. You come into this world and suddenly, or what seems like suddenly - forty, fifty, sixty years later, you find yourself trying to figure out what makes you think and feel the way you do. This book is my way of connecting some of the dots - NASA, Johnny Carson, Crayons, War, Love, Dylan, Trigonometry, Veterans, Soap Operas, Orlando, Beatles, and more than a handful of pieces about automobiles and the environment. You may find yourself remembering what you are happy to recall, and perhaps recalling what you were hoping to forget. Some pieces are therapeutic, others humorous, some sad, a number opinionated, but I hope you will find them all meaningful - worth keeping around and taking a look at now and then. This book may tie a few loose threads together for you, and loosen a few others. So it is with memories.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gerald H. Shacter
• Release date: Jan 31, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463080535

Gerald H. Shacter

The Chicago area is where I've always resided, beginning on the far north side a just couple of blocks from the lake. I went to the local elementary and high-school, and the U of Illinois, Chicago. I majored in a number of subjects, never really figuring out, or seeing the need to figure out, what I wanted to do. I don’t think I ever wanted to do anything in particular, or not do anything in particular. So what do you pick? I had a couple of data processing courses and got a job as a programmer. That’s mostly what I ended up doing for an income. But I think writing was always there because over the years I worked as a very part-time and intermittent stringer for a newspaper. I’m fortunate to have many friends and family. When not writing, my wife and I spend much time enjoying our grand-kids. I like doing that, maybe not so much the part where you find yourself poking around under a table to sponge up a puddle of milk - the result of giving in to a toddler who insisted, in lieu of a fit, to putting the top on the sippy cup all by himself. OK, so maybe I really do like it, though I admit that there is more than a feeling of mild relief to hear one of the parents finally at the door Anyway, I have no particular area of expertise. I'm probably not much different than you are. I’m just sort of here, and somehow a book came out.

Book preview

Preface

There is not a lot of opportunity today to get to know ourselves. We are inundated with a torrential input of television, radio, internet, newspaper, iPod, laptop and cell phone chatter through our ever-present ear buds, giving us an appearance that would make Star Trek’s Mr. Spock jealous. There is little time to think, to evaluate our own feelings and ideas when constantly in receive mode. I think that’s why I like to write – writing is a chance to get to know me, a respite from the input of the latest Twitter du jour.

There are 90 pieces of verse here. You will read about war and peace, Walter Cronkite, Johnny Carson, veterans, pollution, Beatles, exploitation, commuting, downtown, the Olympics, Star Trek, cars, the environment….. Mostly the book is about whatever I happened to find floating around in the bowl of Cabbage Soup (one of the book’s selections) mounted between my shoulders. I don’t know what kind of soup you like, but what follows is some of the stuff that fills my bowl. I hope you like it.

Warning

A book with a warning label – what more could you ask for! Just a note about viewing. As a book of verse, formatting coveys meaning, such that words can’t be allowed to just wrap from one line to the next. It might be best to view some selections in landscape mode, especially if you are using a tablet or other device that is of limited width. In any case, if you find the appearance of a selection looking rather unbecoming, please view it in landscape mode. Of course, line wrapping can be avoided by using a smaller font, but mini-fonts can be challenging to many readers, including the author.

Some of My Best Friends

Our lives entwine with children born

Of college days and dated songs

And photographs of memories

Sweet friends forever we will be

In time to hold and cherish dear

No mark upon sweet life can tear

A love to last eternally

Lost

A quiet chair screams every evening for a place,

by an answering machine with a greeting without voice,

and a memory laden closet waiting to be worn,