I do not intend the verses below to aspire to, or imitate great or even good poetry. If the reader approaches verse from a literary perspective, I suggest they not bother proceeding further. As the sub-title says, these are the margin notes to my life. I have recorded my thoughts and feelings at various times and from an early age have expressed them in crude verse and rhyme. The quality will be uneven. I have included things here that evoke something in me. Re-reading these makes me re-examine my thoughts, feelings and attitudes and give me a sense of change, if not progress. There is no definite chronology here. The verses are not in rigid order from youth to now.
Some of the thoughts, attitudes and feelings may not apply now to my thinking. Notes, after all, exist as mere reminders of a special place in a story. We grow and learn as a story develops. In the same way, the male-centric nature of some of this reflects both the times when entitled males were generally ignorant of gender bias and the reality that I intend the male in much of this to be the writer.
My reactions to reading these records will likely escape the reader. Those might become the subject of another verse or two some night when I immerse myself in these and feel melancholy. For now, they remind me of people, places and circumstance that are important.
I hope that you find these interesting and perhaps, if good at all, they will raise a smile, a thought or a tear.
