I consider myself a poet. Obviously there are some poetry publications, both online and in hard cover, who agree with me to some extent. I've had some of my poetry published and have even gotten small monetary stipends.
I've been writing poetry since 1964 and most of you have never heard of me. So, obviously, I spent my life working a so called "middle class" job within a middle class life story. I worked for a Fortune 500 multinational corporation for twenty-five years. After receiving bonus after bonus after bonus for exemplary work, I was "delayered" (Orwell was a genius) in 1997. This was three years before I could have officially retired and enjoyed the health benefits of an "official" retiree.
During my working years, I took a sabbatical from writing. In fact, I was treated so well, and deservedly so, by the corporation, that I lost touch with what was important in the world. Believe it or not, I was so disinterested in this "thing called NAFTA", that I didn't even know what it really was, let alone what it meant sociologically.
When I found I had some time on my hands, I began writing again. This may be more a critique of my writing than anything else, but, for me, when I found the right inspiration, writing poetry (and music) was like getting right back on the horse or bike after taking a spill. I didn't seem to notice the huge gap.
I was a disgruntled ex-employee, but, after I left the corporation, I became aware of a crime which it had committed. I tried to pass this on to the local newspapers both in Connecticut, where I was raised and born (not necessarily in that order) and in California, where I moved in 2001. I started this paragraph by saying I was a disgruntled ex-employee and that's exactly how the newspapers accepted my "gossip". Unfortunately for them and for citizens in a specific part of the nation, they missed out on breaking what would have been a huge story about a corporation, who, in cahoots with Connecticut's Department of Environmental Protection, covered up a crime of significant importance. Criminals-1, the rest of us-0.
As reporting that crime got me nowhere, I turned to the internet to find forums which focused on writing and, more specifically, poetry.
The first community I found was a wonderful place called the Arcanum Cafà ©. What I learned at AC augmented what I already knew about writing and poetry. The people were, and still are, talented and helpful.
Most of the forums dealt with different subject matter to which poems were posted. However, there were a couple of forums that didn't concentrate as much on poetry.
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