I’m very excited to share an example of Harry Gilleland’s poetry. Enjoy!

SAMPLE POETRY from PMOOFM

Rhyming Storoem:

Let Her Be A Weed

A husband and wife stood together

looking out at their fenced backyard. “Our

daughter picked one rose after another…

one day she’ll be a delicate flower.”

So spoke her father. The wife then said,

“I hope she is more weed than flower,

since flowers are frail and too soon dead.

They need constant care, lacking power.

“But a weed…weeds are tough and sturdy.

They meet all life’s challenges head-on.

Sidewalk cracks for weeds offer worthy

places to grow, as well as a mown lawn.

“First to burst forth in Spring, last to die

before Winter, persistent year ‘round,

weeds thrive when flowers won’t even try.

Weeds have the strongest will-to-live found.

“I want her to be self-sufficient,

able to deal with life on her own.”

The father agreed, “A competent

woman our daughter must be when grown.

“Let her be less flower and more weed,

tough and strong-willed — but still with brightly-

colored, pretty blossoms — to succeed

in life, with her roots grounded tightly.”

Free Verse Poem:

My Yesterdays

My yesterdays

stretch out behind me

in a winding path that

disappears over the horizon

beyond my memory.

Some yesterdays were

red-letter days of triumph

and personal joy, days of

some momentous occasion

in my life. Others were black

days of pain and suffering.

Most were merely plain,

unremarkable days

of no particular note.

All have melded together

forming the memories

marking the passage

of my existence on Earth.

I treasure all my yesterdays

since each day was a brick

that contributed to building

the mosaic of my life.

My yesterdays carried me

up the long hill to today,

where I stand looking wistfully

back at them, my yesterdays…

knowing now my yesterdays

outnumber my tomorrows.

I’ve learned I should endeavor

to make each today become

a shining, glorious yesterday,

for my yesterdays are

how my life was spent.

I admire poets. I can write fiction and nonfiction, but poetry is something I’ve never been able to do very well. I enjoy reading it and am glad that people like you, Harry, can write it for the rest of us.

The following links will give our readers and friends a place to purchase this great collection and your other work. Thank you for being my guest.

Lulu Publishing

Amazon.com

Barnes & Nobel