Sometimes I think that the most important thing we do in our lives is to create - whether poems, stories, artwork, music, children or love. 44 years ago, Mr. Kerr, my junior year high school English teacher, encouraged me to write my first poem. I haven't stopped since. In 1994 I quit the other work (selling wine)and since that time I have made a living as a poet, publisher, oral memoirist and encourager. My only regret is that it took me that long to make the change. From our 50 acre homestead on Wheeler Hill I go out into the "dust of the world," as the old Chinese poets would say, doing the work of a poet and oral memoirist. I travel down the road and then settle back in on quiet, peaceful Wheeler Hill amongst my old-order Amish neighbors. The best of two worlds.

Zoo Haiku (Paper Kite Press, 2004)