The Special Spotlighted Member For Thanksgiving Is :
Congrats !!!!
All about Instar Poet :
1. Where did you grow up?
I was born in New York City,(New York City?) Kings County. Big baby, 9lb 6oz. Not only did I give my mother trouble delivering me, but I was born cross-eyed as well.
That fact, being cross-eyed, would have made me a big hit among the Mayan Indians, but Mom and Dad had a very low threshold for it and had me operated on just before my second birthday. Been wearing glasses ever since. Oh, I lived in New York for thirty years before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1978.
2.What is the first thing you remember that perked your interest in writing?
I'd always liked poetry. I'd always had the feeling that poets were,
well, on my side. But something did happen to me that exposed me just a tad closer.
When I was studying for my GED in high school, I had the notion that if I could save to memory a bit of text, it would go a long way to help me remembering some school-work. So I saved to memory one of
Robert Browning's poems, "The Incident of the French Camp". I'll write it here...no I won't!
As time went on it remained with me, and when I came upon this site, I felt a natural inclination since I had so much of it in my head already.LOL
3. Did you go to college/university?
Sorry to say, I've never gone to college or university. I'd missed so much schooling previous, that I probably would not have done well. But, I will tell you this, that if I had gone, they would have had to get the National Guard to get me out.
4. If so, what was your major? N/A
5. Outside of college, how have you educated yourself beyond secondary school?
I've got a fair-to-midlin interest in books and have read some very interesting people such as Mario Benedetti, Pablo Neruda, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, John Steinbeck, and my all-time favorite american Samuel Clemmons, who answers to the name Sam.
I've got a fairly decent knowledge of the Spanish language, and use it whenever I have the opportunity to make a fool of myself. LOL
Likes/dislikes-
Like-Walks by myself without anyone paying me to do it; Like to believe that the little boy next door is inheriting a better place to live because of the things we've done right in our time.
6.What’s your favorite color?
I like... the pink in a little boy's or girl's cheeks;
The red in the sands of the Mojave Desert;
The blue-green translucence of the ocean off Key West.
7. Food?
There is a "Chinatown Mall" here, and I like to go there with a friend
whenever we can. I epecially like Szechuan or Hunan cooking for the spicy-ness.
8. Pastime?
I am still hooked on bowling and do so in a league every Sunday evening.
9. Music?
I have a lot of cd's by many latino singers and bands; Love salsa and meringue music from the Caribbean. Also like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell; (am I dating myself ?); Simon and Garfunkel. I have more recently been exposing myself to country and western. Go to karaoke where a lot of the people sing country and I really like it!
10. Poet?
I saw "The Belle of Amherst" on Public TV with Julie Harris in the role of Emily Dickinson. I was greatly moved by that.
Paul Dunbar is right up there too!
11. TV show?
Didn't think I'd be able to settle in and enjoy Saturday Night Live
without the Belushis, Gilda Ratner and the others, but I'm beginning to like it again.
12. Movie?
Most recent-The Martian Child
All time-Dances With Wolves
Life on all poetry :
1. When did you first begin to write?
I guess it was in 2001 when I was recovering from an illness
and confined to the house for a while. I was a member of another
site but soon abandoned it because of the many constraints imposed upon the members such as limiting your things to less than twenty lines.
2. What kind of poetry do you write the most?
I wrote a dark poem one time concerning the actual deaths of three people I knew who died by either murder, suicide or accident. It went over so well that it actually scared me. I never wrote like that again!
Most of my things, and there are not a terribbly large quantity of them, I write in rhyme and they treat of either places I've been, people I've known or everyday happenings, not much more.
3. Who are your influences?
I would be remiss if I did not mention my own family members,
namely, and first, my Mom. Do you remember in Kipling's "IF" its saying something to the effect, "...and treat these two imposters just the same"? Well, Mom had a Ph.d in that. A voracious reader and sage.
I'm also of the opinion that the world needs more good, honest men and women and not necessarily more good poetry. So, a great deal of my influences have to do with how I think and live, and not so much of how I write.
4. What feeds your desire to continue writing poetry?
I like writing because it is a bit of a challenge. We usually hear the
word pathos when it comes to defining a movie or a longer manuscript,
but it can be done in short forms as well. I try, not always successfully
mind you, to stir up at least a little something in my poems. It will, at the very least, tell the reader that I'm telling the truth. There are very few things that are not interesting.
General stuff :
1. Hobbies?
As I've said, I go bowling once a week. I have two guitars which I stumble around on, one spanish guitar and a Gibson Epiphone. And of course, I feel a sense of connection to this site as well.
2. Pets?
At present I have no pets. The last time I had pets I had five cats.
One was my own, and four kittens I found near the dumpster in an empty Coors Silver bullet 12 pack carton. I got them big and I got them adopted. I daresay I paid for a lot of my life's sins during those six months!LOL
3. Talents?
I rather doubt that using the bathroom and playing the guitar at the same time constitutes talent. You decide!LOL
4. Jobs?
I live in Las Vegas and have been working for one of the larger hotels
for the last twenty-four years as a receiving clerk. Hopeful to retire in a year.
5. What advice would you give to growing poets?
One of the gals on this site has a motto just like we all have.
It says "Love what you do, and you'll never work a day in your life."
It is the same with writing. At least it is for me.
"If the subject of a poem or story is of worth and import to the writer
of that poem or story, it will practically write itself."
Poem That He Wrote :
© John F Johnson
"If we do not learn to live together as brothers, we shall perish together as fools".
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Let us all take pause, and all observe,
The memory of a nation's son;
So faithfully his dream did serve,
That he might see the battle won.
Before obdurate hearts, by nature collective,
He stooped to straighten a crooked road;
And suffered much the throng's invective,
Which only seemed to Martin goad.
He did much travail upon his shoulder carry,
As he struggled forward and beyond;
Nor did he at any crossroad tarry,
The work so great that was left undone.
He envisaged a country where ALL are free,
A people, and an exemplary land;
And sought out freedom from sea to sea,
The Constitution grasped tightly in his hand.
A land of promise only detractors spurn,
But children of good will engage;
And hoping to God's blessing earn,
Pass goodness on to the coming age.
© 2004 J F Johnson
If You have any suggestions for member of the month please feel free and Im me with the link to their bio.
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