The vibrating strings of the heart resonant the rhythmical cords of emotion that the writer must interpret into the written word. The writer must be sensitive to the orchestrated picture that is being played out and be faithful in the interpretation.
Theodore A. Cline
I am a sixty-two year old farmer who has always enjoyed writing poetry. My first poem was written in the sixth grade. I remember the teacher asking us to write a story about Thanksgiving. For some strange reason, I decided to write a poem instead of the normal story format. I about crawled under my seat when she read it aloud to the class. It was the first of many humbling experiences.
I kept my writing to myself over the years, only sharing with my family. But the desire to write was never completely dormant. My desire would rise and fall as providing for my family would allow. Seeing a story in nature or people would spark my imagination and send my mind off on an adventure. So many times I would run great lines through my head only to forget them and not be able to bring them to mind for writing. I decided to keep a notebook close and take the time to write my thoughts down. This has given me much comfort and material for the book we have put together.
With my wife, four children and five grandchildren close by, life has been very good. Each day on the farm never ceases to amaze me with all the wonder.
I have picked up the nickname, “The Old Farmer” and I wear the handle proudly.
There have been a couple of people over the years that have inspired me to write. One in particular that has had the most impact on me was a Language Arts teacher. I had decided to take a night course in Language Arts when I was in my late thirties. The teacher was an advocate of creative writing. The first assignment was to write a short children’s story and have a moral of the story that applied to your work. We handed in our assignments and the following week we received our stories with her grade on them. I remember her leaning on her desk and addressing the class. She said, “In creative writing I never give an A plus except on very rare occasions. One of you has received that mark on your paper. The person who wrote the story used good imagery and description and probably did not know they were using it. Schooling is not everything; talent is the first ingredient in becoming a great writer”. It was me and she slipped the paper to me when no was looking which suited me very well. What I never told her was that I had forgotten to do my assignment. I sat outside the classroom before class and wrote the story in ten minutes then handed it in. She encouraged me to write as often as I could. That encouragement is what caused me to compile a large amount of poems and ballads. I will always be grateful to her and the interest she showed. The book we self published has many of the poems she graded in it. I hope wherever she is, that one day she comes across the book and recognize some of the poems and realize she had a part in its birthing.
