This is getting tiresome to write. Because of computer glitches, it will be the third attempt at this post. It changes a little each time, hopefully, you will like this version.
Back when I was a young man, about 45 years ago, while I was 15, a freshman in high school, and my future was still unwritten. I dreamed that I’d be the next Hemingway, only younger. So I took a creative writing course, sure to get an A.
I remember that I got a B. Not bad, but not the A I hoped for. For some reason, I remember a particular poem I wrote. This is that poem::
I’m not insane as some have said
There’s nothing wrong inside my head
It’s all up there, it’s all intact
I’m not insane, and that’s a fact
I’m not insane, but they don’t hear
I’m not insane
It’s that they fear
So when the doctor comes back in
Would you please explain to him
And speak to him, as you did I
And tell him your no common fly
Obviously no Elizabeth Barrett Browning or William Shakespeare, but pretty clever for a 15-year-old high school kid, wouldn’t you say?
While I was in the Army, stationed at Fort Polk, Louisiana, I wrote a love song. A buddy of mine, by the name of Dave Botz, put it to music, and we recorded it in a bathroom ( better acoustics you know ).
That song actually got played one late night, at a small radio station, in some small town in Minnesota. How many people do you know that can claim that?
And recently, when I was in one of my dark moods, I penned another poem, which I’m going to share with you now:
IN JUST A LITTLE WHILE
by Bob Layton
Each day more precious than the last, you wouldn’t understand.
For soon I’ll leave, and won’t return, a memory Left to stand.
I’ll be with you each time you turn, you’ll swear you saw me there,
But I’ll but be a memory, a whisper if you dare.
So close your eyes and think of me, My laughter, and my smile.
And know that we will meet again, in just a little while.
Through the years, I have been a writer, in one way or the other. Not a household name, but a writer on my terms. I have written poetry, love songs, and finally this BLOG. In the end, it has been my form of therapy.
I’m not insane. Although, you would probably get an argument from my wife!
