No Apologies Given

By Michael Purcell

This book of poetry is the work of about fifteen years time. The early poems were attempts to make commentaries on society as I saw it. The influence came from my upbringing and the adventures and work I did up until I started writing. There were long periods of no creative activity but during manic episodes of my bipolarism, I would write more than one poem.
I continued to develop my craft and started to read my poems to small groups during poetry nights in the Albany area. I got to hear and meet other talented poets. Within the last two years my output has increased and enough poems were written to be put in this book. They are meant to be provocative, to make the reader think, to inspire, to call to action, and to spread the seeds of love. Share this experience with others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 29, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462864140

Michael Purcell

Michael is a native of upstate New York from the village of Valatie in the Town of Kinderhook, birthplace of the eighth president, Martin Van Buren. While serving in the Air Force from 1982 to 1988 he earned a BS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona in Tucson. His work experience has included working on construction for 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, working on oil rig platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and campaigning for nonprofit environmental groups as a canvasser and canvass director for sixteen years. He currently lives in Albany, New York, close to his mother and family. He considers his greatest accomplishments to include a six-thousand-mile bicycle trip across the U.S. and western Canada when he was twenty, running seven marathons including one in East Berlin about three weeks before the Wall fell, his sixteen years of dedicated work for the environment and serving six years in the U.S. military.

Book preview

Copyright © 2011 by Michael Purcell.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011906589

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4628-6413-3

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4628-6412-6

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4628-6414-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

97957

Contents

Thoughts on Words Vol. 1

Mom

Dad

Jessie’s Day

What a Lovely Young Lady

A Great Person

Red, White, and Blue

Forsaken

What’s the Message?

Ages of Fire

Control

Tired

HATE

Alternative Reality TV

Because I Said So

Caught

DANCE

Heaven and Hell

Hit Me!

I Am the Turtle

Identity Theft

In Search Of

I Won’t Work Anywhere

Is There Anybody in There?

Labels

No Destination

Ode to Dave

Ode to the Frogs

One Night on Lark

Shake Things Up

Starlight

What Species Are You?

Heroes

Your Reward

No Limits

The Original Sin

Dedication

To the three couples that had the greatest

influence on my life,

John and Roseann Purcell,

my Uncle Ron and Aunt Pauline,

and

my Aunt Pete and Uncle Matt

and

to the children of the world,

You are the light of the world.

Preface

You can't solve a problem with the same mind that created it.

—Albert Einstein

This note is written to explain the title No Apologies Given. There are poems that take head on societal ills with a bluntness that may offend some.

Words that are considered by many as profanity are used, but they are not used profanely, merely for emphasis. The really profane word that I hear many use multiple times a day is the title of the poem on page 39. I consider that word to be used profanely in almost every case. The first poem explains the title if you pay attention to the word sorry. If any reader needs a genuine apology after reading the book, I will gladly provide a written apology and advise you not to read any of my future books just to be safe.

All the quotes preceding the poem are mine unless attributed to another source.

Lastly, the picture on the cover of this book, a child of perhaps Mayan or Guatemalan origin, I have possessed for perhaps