A Book of Poetry

By Jerry Nodine

This book comprises of six chapters, categorized by years, beginning with 1965. From January 1970 through February 1971, there were no poems written. And, December 1971 through January 2000, the only poems I wrote were for Darlene, my wife. Most all of them, she kept. This young lady, I was truly and deeply in love with. She passed away in 1998. Here, again, between January 1998 and through January 2000, I wrote nothing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514456804

Jerry Nodine

Jerry Nodine was born in Lake Preston, South Dakota. At the age of three, his parents (thankfully) relocated to a quiet neighborhood in North Portland, Oregon, where he spent his youth. He could be found fishing, riding bikes with friends, and spending time with his family. He was also very opinionated as a boy, and commonly corrected mistakes he found in text books. In 1969, after high school, he was drafted into the Vietnam War. After two years of service, he returned home to marry the love of his life, Darlene, whom he had met five years earlier. They spent 26 wonderful years together, during which they had two children, named Samantha and Vincent. His wife passed away in February of 1998, before she could meet their four beautiful grandchildren, whom he is very proud of. The same year he returned from the war, he started a career in marine construction. He started out as a deck hand, and three years later, worked his way up to becoming a crane operator. He loved his job, and spent thirty two years sailing on the rivers of the Pacific Northwest. These rivers included The Snake, The Columbia, and The Willamette. During his last few years on the river, he moved around quite a bit, making many friends along the way, until he retired in 2005. He now lives in a Vancouver, WA, where he enjoys writing poetry and novels, playing croquet, and spending time with family and friends.

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Copyright © 2016 by Jerry Nodine.

ISBN:      Softcover              978-1-5144-5681-1

                eBook                   978-1-5144-5680-4

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.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Rev. date: 02/05/2016

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Contents

Introduction

A Dedication

Chapter I

Is Gone, With You

Morning

Rhyme

Before Dark

Whether Or Not, Always

What?

They Know

Man

The Way

On The Shore

Of What

Day Into Night

Senses

Time

Daffodils Bloom

The Brain

Clouds

What Happened

In April

At The Waterfall

Chapter II

Now You See

Peace

From Here To There

Are We?

From Earth To Life

Time Goes Too Fast

The Darkness In October

One Day

You Could Be Lost

Today

Trouble

The Pit

The Life

Someday I’ll Leave

You Have To Look

A Land Never Changed

I’m Here And There

She Left

Worry

Sense It

Death

Think About It

A Word We Live In

Of Course It’s All Right

Color Through Time

See The Light

I’ll Never Know It

Music

Unless

This Thing

The Trap

Are They?

On The Scene

The Sound

The Early Day

I’ll Have To Wait

Chapter III

Over There

A White Beard

Ask The Dummy Behind The Bars

Reaching For That Star

Heart

Tree

The Cactus

Only The Elephant

No Title #1

And Then Down

Onto The Hill

William’s House

Your Friend

Through Number Six

The Wind

As I Gaze

Sonnet: To Find A Star

No Title #2

Gone, But Not Solved

No Title #3

To You, But Not Me

On The Morning One Day

Just The Ocean

Away Together

After The Beauty

Or, Around The Corner

In My Head

Along The Path

Only, It’s Over

Green

Only To The Beach

A Morning When I Awoke

No Title #4

Quickies

Although I Have More To State, I Won’t

Number

Then

Middle Earth

The Morning I Awoke

The Lowly Hunter

A Sand Box

What If I Didn’t Arrive

Our Beach

A Poet Doomed

A Poet

No, It’s Not Their Eyes

No Title #5

No Title #6

No Title #7

Chapter IV

From Earth

From The Worse

Still Doubt

No Title #8

No Title #9

A Roaming Cloud

No Title #10

Beauty And The Beast

Not Too Long, Then

You Were Before Them

The Mare

Armadillo Way

No Title #11

The Land Across The Way

To Tell The Truth

Your Town

At Dusk

Thoughts, In Morning Dew

Alligator Row

It’s Late

The Laugh

See Him Fall

A Face

Travel

The Sounds Of The End

Slow, To Fast, To Slow

Will It Wait?

What To Do?

The Beginning And The End

What About?

There You Go

Walking Through

Helping, Helps

I’ll Call… And Wait

To An Idea, Some One

Birds Will Sing

The Year 2000

No Title #12

No Title #13

We Will Be Free

The Cry Of The Human

Ah, For The Modern

Memory, Again Back

A Tunnel

An Enchanting Prelude

Down Stream

Poem In March

My Window

The Elements

The Looking Glass

A P Will Fly Away

The Night Brings Trouble

Out In Space

In A Log

In A Log Cont’d

Your Last Sound

A Sea Gull Poem

From The Emperor, Czar, Ruler, Or…

Stop And Converse

In My Home

A Question, In The Know

The Blue Ship

A Conversation With My Toenail

Early, Hah! Too Late

In The Arena

Down Under

A Conversation

Conversation Ended

Nothing

Must

Clouds

A Lie

The Chariot, On The Beach

Wart Hog Hole

I’ll Dream

Sitting In A Hole

Your Neighbor

You

Where I Wait For Eternity

Exercise

Ours To Seek

Waiting

Stepping From Home

Deep Down And Far Under

To Diana

Waiting For Itself

Sir Thomas Of Baltimore

A Wayward Road

The Stranger

Chapter V

It’s Time, Not You

From Atop A Hilltop

Endless Death

Society

No Lies

Morning Birth

Our Freedom

The Most Dangerous Game

Minute Pumpkin Row

The Broken Hearted

Tomorrow, With You

Chapter VI

To Who Ever Happens To Be Here

Remember Forever

A Thought

To Christy

Always Hope

To You, Whom ‘I Haven’t Met

In Your Mind

Dream

Tonya

Diane

Introduction

Welcome to the early writings of Jerry Nodine. I started writing when I was 14 and received such support, I simply continued. As one day led to the next, I enjoyed it more and more. I’ve always had a love for literature, almost to a failing.

This book comprises of six chapters, categorized by years, beginning with 1965. From January 1970 through February 1971, there were no poems written. And, December 1971 through January 2000, the only poems I wrote were for Darlene, my wife. Most all of them, she kept. This young lady, I was truly and deeply in love with. She passed away in 1998. Here, again, between January 1998 and through January 2000, I wrote nothing.

The following poems in this book, contain thoughts on war protests, end of world, loneliness, love and nature. And, a few that will really make you think.

I hope you enjoy them.

A Dedication

This book is dedicated to the people that inspired me to write it, and to the ones who helped me get it ready for publication.

I would first like to thank my mother, Evelyn Nodine, who saved a copy of my poetry manuscript, that I thought was lost forever to a house fire, back in 2012. Without her, none of this would be possible.

To my best friend, Rachel Blake, the person that helped me learn how to use the internet, and helped me with the task of getting my book ready for publication. She is an excellent teacher, and without her help, I would not have come as far as I have.

Also, to my son, Vince Nodine and to my friend, Jon Maxwell, for their help on the computer and teaching me how to safely, save all my work.

I was always deeply influenced by Edgar Allen Poe’s work, which prompted me to start writing poetry at an early age. I wish I could thank him personally. Instead, that will go to all of the people that I grew up with, during the years I did most of my writing.

I also wish to deeply thank the publishing company. Their expertise in this field definitely had