Look and Listen

Biography

What is there to say? I am an impetuous, pertinacious, and persnickety bloke who has tuppence to toss in every direction; much to the chagrin of my friends & relations. I am a pedant in Fowler's tradition, in that I apply the title as a moniker but believe the meaning a relative one: "my pedantry is your scholarship, his reasonable accuracy, her irreducible minimum of education and someone else’s ignorance." I love good clean air, a well-tilled countryside, bits of unmolested wood to walk in and the presence of a body of water larger than a fishing pond and smaller than a sea. I am an amateur gourmet and a passable home cook. I am an idle scrivener, writing prose and poetry in a dated vein. I am an avid sketch artist - employing graphite, charcoal, and ink with an occasional foray into the realms of linseed oil. I can whistle several symphonies and a few dozen popular songs, but no more. I enjoy the art of typography, typesetting, printing, and bookbinding. I relish the chance to carpenter with hand tools - such as planes, chisels, and handsaws. I potter about in the garden on occasion and can be found lounging in a hammock when not playing in the dirt. I enjoy fine drink and good tobacco and am ashamed of neither, believing firmly in the "the dose is the poison" rule. I am married to a remarkable woman, for whom many heart-strings were plucked in the penning of my poetry. I am also father to a son, who never ceases to amaze with the marvels of innocence. I live in Allentown, Pennsylvania. I am not yet dead.

Inspiration

I have been variously inspired by Dr Samuel Johnson, Jonathan Swift, Oliver Goldsmith, Charles Dickens, J. R. R. Tolkien, G. K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, Rudyard Kipling, and a handful of others. I also look to Nature, both Physical and Psychological, for a muse; not to mention, my lovely wife and son provide an endless pool of material. Many of my poems were written with friends or relatives in mind, and it is inescapable that I write for a very specific audience. None of my verse was ever intended to be read by a general audience, but I hope they will not begrudge me that.