Guest Poetry

Welcome to the Guest Poet's Corner. A place for all our guests to post their poetry. Also a fun place for visitors to read other people's poetry.

Please be kind, enjoy the work and post poetry that even children can read. I often have young people come to my website to do research projects on poetry. So as much as I don't mind adult - explict work - please keep in mind that many younger people visit this website.

Thanks for visiting and please post your work often.

Patricia Walter

Tama, the Wonder Cat

by Len Bourret(Copyright 2008)

When outside of the train stationmaster's office,
Tama, the Wonder Cat, can be seen at the
ticketgate, in the city of Kinokawa, Japan.
Tama, a nine-year-young super stationmaster,
a tortoise-shell-colored feline, the only female
in a Wakayama Electric Railway's fifth-highest
managerial position, wears a brightly-colored
company cap, works 9-to-5 six days a week,
and takes Sundays off, on the provincial 10-
station, 14.3 kilometer (8.9 mile) Kishigawa
line, a dedicated and diligent workier, she
wags her tail and says hello, while calmly
watching passengers who greet her, and
boosting the number of train travelers from a
handful of passengers to an incredible 2.1
million human adventurers.
If you ask Tama how her job is going, she'll 
meow or purr and say, "just fine."
Tama's curiousity and her 9 lives, helps the
humans save on gas, and they don't drive. 
Although flying and sailing are mighty grand,
Aircrafts don't usually fly down Main Street,
Spaceships don't soar in inner space,
Seacrafts don't sail well on land,
Buses do travel on the roadways,
They have a local or regional station base,
Unless one travels by express,
Cars do travel on the byways,
They are expensive to rent, own, and operate,
Cars gas guzzle and pollute the highways,
There are enviironmental issues to address,
Yet, clickety-clacking rails are quite a treat,
A train ride to soothe one's heart and soul,
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, all aboard!
A way to travel that can't be beat,
At a saving-the-world's cost we can afford,
If global cooling gets front row, front seat,
Our actions and thoughts are of one accord.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080525/od_afp/japantourismanimalcatoffbeat

Leaves

Floating feathers

finely framed

tumbling twirling

timely tamed

slowly setting

silent sleuths

resting regal

rainy roofs

Patricia Walter 6/6/07

Great big eyes

almost looks wise.

Flopping ears

brings on cheers.

Great big bark

makes him sound smart.

Sloppy wet kisses

good doggie wishes.

Dedicated to Charlie my Springer Spaniel

Patricia Walter 2002

With great long limbs

the trees reach out

touch the sky

no need to shout.

The seasons come

the seasons go

trees keeps growing

nice and slow.

Patricia Walter 5/5/07

People always ask me - "Have you done this all your life"? It didn't make any difference what stage of life I was at, it is always the same question. If you are wondering, "Have I Done This All My Life", I will tell you if you have a little time. I have tried many endeavors during my sixty years of life, as most people have. My interests have usually been in the arts, so they show more openly than other peoples hobbies and passions. People always tell me how talented I am. I thank them and remind them that we all have talents. It's just that most people don't display their passions through art, poetry and music. They are just as gifted, but in less visible areas. So never feel intimated by another's work, just enjoy and remember that you are also gifted in areas that may not be as easily displayed. You can just be a great Mom, a good friend, or a wonderful husband and contribute and share with the world just as much as any famous artist!

Without my husband's wonderful support, I would never have had the time and opportunity to develop my art and poetry. He really goes out and slays the dragons everyday, for me, so I can stay at home and paint, and draw, and write, and develop web sites. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! Unfortunately, it is very difficult to make a living as an artist, poet or musician. Thank You to the hard working husbands and friends of the world, who allow us artist to indulge ourselves.

I have always enjoyed music and wondered what made things work when I was young. I loved to build things out of scraps of wood and take things apart. Unfortunately, I didn't always get them put back together correctly! I began music lessons, when I was six, on the piano and accordion. Later, I learned to play alto saxophone and clarinet. I never had a great interest in drawing or art in my early years. I liked math and was still wondering how things worked, so I became a mechanical engineer. I graduated from Carnegie Tech (before it became a Mellon) in l966. I worked as an engineer for the next 15 years. It was after I married Ted, in 1979, that my first creative dream came true. I had always wanted to learn how to do woodturning. So he bought me a Shopsmith. The wood chips flew and I took some workshops. I had dreams of making a living as a woodturner. So we decided, to leave the big city, and our good jobs, and move to Marietta on the family farm. A simple life where I could do woodturning. 

After doing a lot of fancy turning and art & craft shows, I learned how to make cedar eggs. They sound simple, but they really took a lot of skill to make. We would start with 2 1/2" by 2 1/2" by 5" blocks of aromatic, red cedar. Then screw the block onto the lathe and start turning. The completed egg would be finished with a fine burnishing cut with a gouge, then have the ends cut off with a skew and it would drop into your hand finished. My husband also learned how to make eggs. We ran a wholesale business making and selling cedar eggs to stores and galleries. We often made more than 30,000 eggs a year. We made cedar eggs until 1989. Finally, even though we made good money, we got BORED. I sold the company and we both went back to real jobs. 

We also moved from the farm in the country to a nice house in the city of Marietta. Mind you, Marietta, is a city of 15,000, so it is not like a big city. A charming, wonderful town with brick streets and nicely kept historic buildings. Lots of friendly folk, too!

Your can't keep a budding artist down, so I quit my engineering type job, again, and opened a store demonstrating and selling my handmade cedar eggs and ornaments. Fortunately, Ted, has kept working. Marietta is a beautiful town with lots of tourist in the summer, but the winters are long. Not very cold or snowy, but long. So what little money that is made in the summer, is lost from lack of business during the long, cold months. So, after four years, I closed my store. 

Before I closed my store, I started to learn how to blow glass over a torch. This process is call lampglass work. Glass rods are melted over a torch and the molten glass is shaped while the glass is still soft and workable. I had fun making lots of animals. I finally felt that I was truly being creative.

Life always has a few surprises in store for you. Just as I was starting to do art shows and wholesaling my glass work, I found out that the bright light and heat from the torch was bothering my eyes. The eye doctor said he saw white blisters in my eyes - "What are you doing?" "Blowing Glass" , said I. Well, if you don't stop, you are going to start loosing your sight. Well, isn't that the way. You find something you really like to do and have to quit. I wore the proper glasses and took all the precautions, but for some reason it still bothered my eyes. Oh, well. Here comes the art part. I always had a thought that I would like to learn how to paint. Well, at fifty years old, I started on the path to becoming an artist.

I took my first oil painting class, like all aspiring artist do, in the winter of '95. Then took private watercolor lessons, for one and one half years, from a very talented artist, Lee Fritch, in West Virginia. Thanks to him, I almost received a college education in art . He is an extremely educated artist who is able to explain and teach his craft. Many, many thanks to Lee. I certainly would be back in the early stages of learning if it hadn't been for him.  
Since then I have painted a lot of animals, dogs and landscapes. I love to go outside and paint on location. It's also great fun to go to the zoo to sketch and paint. I find the animals have a lot to say.

I had painted close to 400 paintings and I have found some of them really had a lot to say. So I began writing poetry to go with the paintings. I have found the two to be very complimentary. Now I spend my time, thanks again to my husband, painting, writing and web building.  

I have written several hundreds poems and love to paint or make a graphic to showcase the poetry. I started by having the paintings talk to me and writing poetry, but now I most often write a poem and then do a painting to match it. I really enjoy digital photography and take tons of photos that I often turn into paintings via the magic of the computer.

It seems we never know what life has in store for us. I have told my story to help inspire those of you who have a dream, but never acted on it. It is amazing how much talent is hidden in all of us. We just need to let go a little, be bold, be a little creative and let the talent out. Find your passion and enjoy it. It's never too late. 

I feel a kinship
with most dogs I meet
they look in your eye
and want to greet.
Wag their tail
wiggle their butt
doesn't matter
purebred or mutt.
Dogs share our lives
a wonderful gift
put on earth
to give man a lift.

Original Poetry by Patricia Walter 2002

What Are Friends For?

What are friends for?
To laugh with
To giggle with
to share your little corner
of the world with.
The joy to visit
over lunch, over tea,
to share little secrets
discuss life's problems.
The freedom, the closeness
the bond of friendship.
Open hearts, open minds
just kind sharing.
That's what friends are for!


Original Poetry by Patricia Walter 1999©