Ever since I was a child I have had a connection with pad and pen. I can remember as a toddler, not quite 4 years old, grabbing a black felt pen and a yellow legal pad and mimicking my mother’s cursive writing. Some parents used the TV or toys to distract their children and keep them occupied, mine simply allowed me to scribble. I guess for that reason alone, it’s no surprise I have always kept notebooks nearby – no matter where I am. I have them by my bedside, in the living room, car, I take them with me when I travel and if I see them on sale, I buy them.
When I was 19, I was in college, and it was during that time I was introduced to poets and authors that caught my interest – Dylan Thomas, Joyce Carol Oates, Oscar Wilde, D.H. Lawrence and more importantly, Robert Frost. It was his poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ that did it for me. I was hooked. I started breaking down each piece of poetry I could find, deciphering my own analogies and really trying my best to understand the hidden meanings the poets were spilling onto the page. Needless to say, I nearly failed that class, not for lack of understanding but because of a disagreement I had with the professor and called in to question her translation of a poem titled ‘She Had Some Horses’ by Joy Harjo. Mine was simple – ‘SHE’ was mother Earth, to which the class all agreed once I gave my take on it. This, of course, was completely off target according to the professor. Which I found funny, since the beauty of poetry is its subjectivity with the one reading it.
25 years later, in November of 2015, I released my first book of poetry as a signed hardcover limited number edition. A year later I am proud to say, Timeless Chatter Between the Heart and Mind was released as a soft cover on November 1, 2016, and is available through retailers and online bookstores like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Signed copies are also available by visiting the SHOP page on Jay Long Writes. I am forever grateful for the ‘D’ I received in English 102 and will always be humbled by the fact my words connect with so many and cause them to relate their own lives to my stories.
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