Story poems are poems that tell a story in rhythm and rhyme. It is a straightforward, folk-friendly kind of writing without vague allusions to some other writings or with fanciful language that leaves a person wondering what the whole thing was all about. This book contains four different sections: (1) the deeper and more serious poems, (2) just for the fun of it poems, (3) cowboy poetry, and (4) word painting.
A student once wrote about the trip from Oklahoma to California on Route 66, telling about, among other things, dirty diapers strewn along the road. The instructor advised her that it would be more poetic to describe it as bits of white cotton dotting the landscape. What? Did they not pick all the cotton in the field? No wonder people dont like poetry.
I like a clever use of words, but I am not fond of obtuse and rambling descriptions of people or landscapes. I tell a story with what I fondly believe has a humorous twist or has interesting action. I write the kind of stuff that I enjoy reading and that I hope others will enjoy also.
