Hi, people in Poetry Circle.  I'm starting to get the hang of things here, found the Introductions page and figured I should introduce myself. 

I am 67 years old, started writing poetry five years ago.  It has changed my life.  I spent most of my adult life as an educator---seven years teaching high school English, 23 years as a high school principal (in Rumford, Maine for 13 years and in Yarmouth, Maine for ten).  The last twelve years of my career I was a professor of educational leadership at the University of Southern Maine, in Portland and Gorham. I was good at what I did and am proud of my reputation as a teacher and leader. I thought when I retired I would just sit back and admire the placques and testimonials on my wall that tell the world how great I was.   And if someone had told me six years ago that I would be writing poetry, putting it in books, (selling lots of them), traveling around the state giving poetry readings, I would have asked that person how recently he was released.  The first poetry reading I ever went to in my life, I was the poet.  But I am having a grand time.

I have to let you know that some people question whether or not my stuff is actually "poetry."  It is very prose-like. It is often quite story-like. And it is also very personal.  The first poem that I wrote five years ago was for my wife of 47 years in which I tried to tell her how much and the ways in which she had become a part of my soul. I  am a father, a grandfather, a lover of dogs, an outdoorsman, an ex-athlete, and I have Parkinson's disease, and many of my poems come from these and other various roles that I play in life. I live in Maine and have been in the Maine woods a lot in the 38 years that we've been here, and many of my poems deal with the  natural  world of Maine as well.  My literary idol is William Wordsworth. (I can hear people groaning when when they read that.  "Oh,my god.  This guy is from the Dark Ages.") Wordsworth was a philosopher-poet, and I have a tendency to head off into poetic dissertations that are a turn-off for many readers. He was also a story-teller, and I think the majority of my poems are stories that are intended to get the reader's brain working.

Because of Parkinson's, it takes me longer now to type things.  (I'm trying to come up with reasons why I'm a lousy reviewer.) I am a lousy reviewer, rarely giving suggestions on how to improve a poem, because I am not strong at all with rhyme and rhythm, and I oftentimes have a hard time understanding what other poets are trying to say in their poems that other reviewers have raved about.  But I will offer my overall reaction to a poem.

My postings will be relatively few and far between.  I am not at all as prolific as I was when I first started writing.

I look forward to getting to know some of you through your peotry and your revierws.

Ken Nye

Welcome, Ken! Hope you enjoy yourself here, I'm sure we'll enjoy your company. Tom

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