For Better or Verse: Rhymes Without Reason

By Dennis Glaser

Rhymes Without Reason: For Better or Verse is a collection of poetry compiled from a lifelong habit of scribbling down rhymes without a reasonexcept to preserve an emotion, or retain a memory, or expose the funny side of life, love, and all that stuff. Dennis Glaser has also authored a memoirA Geezers Guide to the Universeand a journal of his travels in EuropeSeeing Europe as a Traveler; not a Touristboth published by Xlibris. And he has two more books in processa collection of original short stories and his memories of his years in Nashvilles music scene.

But it is his poetry that has always been his emotional escape valve. He first began giving into his inner urge to write poetry when he encountered the songs of Kris Kristofferson. He was in the audience at the Ryman Theatre the night Kris won the Country Music Associations songwriter of the year award. And the next night, he was part of a small audience who saw Kris and his Band of Thieves perform in a tent show on the plaza of Nashvilles Municipal Auditorium.

I never met the man, Glaser recalls. But I did meet many of the friends hed left behind when he left Nashville for Hollywood and a movie career. And, he added, I had the beer license for the Music City Row beer bar, Kountry Korner, which was the scene for Kristoffersons song, Talley Ho Tavern, and where Kris once tended bar.

My next poetic influence was the late Shel Silverstein, who was hanging out at the Glaser Sound Studios (owned by my cousins, Tompall, Chuck and Jim Glaser). Shel was not only a poet, a cartoonist, playwright, screen writer and author of three best-selling childrens bookshe also was of course a prolific songwriter. For example: A Boy Named Sue (Johnny Cash), Put Another Log on the Fire (Tompall), nearly all of the Dr. Hook catalog (The Cover of Rolling Stone, Sylvias Mother), several albums sung by Bobby Bare (Rosalies Good Eats Caf, The Winner). Shel recorded several comedy songs which were popular on the Dr. Demento radio show.

Theres much morein fact, his biography on Wikipedia covers 10 pages. Suffice to say that merely being around the guy inspired anyone with any talent at all to begin putting his words on paper, or his music on tape. This quote captures something of Shels view of the creative process:

I want to be articulate, to communicate but in my own way. People who say they create only for themselves and dont care if they are published . . . I hate to hear talk like that. If its good, its too good not to share . . . His website is well worth a visit: http://shelsilverstein.com/indexSite.html:

So thats the story behind this book. I hope youll read itand if you are a poet, I hope you continue to create your verse. Certainly, there are worse things you could do with your time!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 2, 2009
• ISBN: 9781462827206

Dennis Glaser

During Nashville’s seminal ’seventies--but not all at the same time--Dennis Glaser was an artist’s professional manager, music magazine journalist, record company vice-president of public relations, owner of a record-pressing plant, and mid-level advertising executive in Nashville. And managed a Music Row tavern in his spare time. A cousin of award-winning Tompall & the Glaser Brothers, Glaser had a first row seat to the origin of the Outlaws, the influx of the “street writers,” and the eventual evolution from “hillbilly” to today’s corporate culture

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Copyright © 2009 by Dennis Glaser.

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Contents

Foreword

Introduction

I Write Some Songs

Love: The Beginning

Love: The Flowering

7Love: Good Things Must End

The Lighter Side

Et Cetera

Foreword

I have written many poems, I guess you’d call them, about love, life, memories—and some just for fun. But most started out to be songs to which I also composed the melodies. While some reflect actual experiences, others are totally from imagination’s endless resources.

And so I wish to dedicate this volume to Linda Sue Deems, who has shared her life and her home with me since I returned from living in France, and who likewise shares my passions for ocean cruises, casino gambling and for traveling to old and new destinations. It is in her home’s backyard that I have space for my passion for gardening, expanded now to include a half-dozen fruit trees. And it is her painting that graces the cover of this book.

Others—women and men—unnamed here, also shared life experiences that are reflected in some of these poems. But you know who you are!

Introduction

Sinatra sang it like this in That’s Life:

"I’ve been a puppet, pauper, a pirate

A poet, a pawn and a king

I’ve been up and down and over and out

And I know one thing:

Each time I find myself, flat on my face,

I pick myself up and get back in the race"

All of us need windows into our lives. For me, poetry—and prose—provides those windows. A window to look ahead, to look back, and to see today’s realities.

Sometimes, the panes are distorted by the glare of sunshine from days gone past. Or by the strength of the energy from that life-giving star. And from the accumulations from too-often receiving and not enough giving that energy.

Or, the glass may be distorted by rains—yesterday’s downpours and even today’s brief shower.

Yes, at times, a ray of half-forgotten sunshine finds its way through to me or to you, and we know the happiness that comes from memories of the good times.

So, do not open your shutters cautiously; fling them wide and let life enter. There is so much to give, and so much to receive. And, on the scale of eternity, the transactional moment is but a blink of the supernatural eye.

I do not want to die inside, dreaming of the outdoor world. Nor should you.