I have been invited to submit to a book being written about the various groups that meet in Baltimore as well offer a couple of stories. The only group worth risking life and limb in Baltimore is the Baltimore Poetry Discussion Group which has been meeting over 20 years.

In my case the stories will be, â??Poetry and the Paranormal,â?? where a poetry discussion of a Scottish poet helped me to identify ethereal music that was song in thin air. Amazingly we had a member able to say the poem in Scotts language (Gaelic), but when he talked about the language it created an anti-Semitic ruckus, as he mentioned the language is Germanic in origin. It neither mattered that it was true or that the person was Jewish themselves, but amazingly what I learned was the biggest help in that paranormal investigation.

The second is titled, â??Caught red handed! Inspiration, offended sensibilities and poetry.â?? It is a story how one can feel shame, not by the actual behavior, but the inference that was created. That discussion group topic was about the poetry of Delmore Schwartz and a reading of, â??A Dream Of Whitman Paraphrased, Recognized And Made More Vivid By Renoir.â??

The poem talks about a nude photoshoot of lovely ladies on a beach and a 30 year old millionaire who is watching them from behind the curtains, also referred his dungeon. The they following stanza was read:

â??Where is he going?
Is he going to be among them to splash and to laugh with them?
They did not see him although he saw them and was there among them.
He saw them as he would not have seen them had they been conscious
Of him or conscious of men in complete depravation:
This is his enchantment and impoverishment
As he possesses them in gaze only.â??

I knew the expression that my face just made as well, it didnâ??t escape observation, so I looked at her and smiled, then at the floor and silently laughed to myselfâ?¦ Trying not to cry. I felt nothing but absolute shame, but I wasnâ??t thinking anything bad, but that the poem affected my sensibilities and the thought I might be put into that category.

I penned this poem essentially to show that many men are better than the caricature created for the poem as well having other reasons for not coming forth, making his feeling known. I also wanted to insert the fear that he fears losing what he has come to appreciate, even if it was rather small in proportion to what he would love to have.

It is not easy for me to write attributable poetry because it has had such a punitive effect on my life. My fist poem might be cataloged in the George Bush Presidential Library but every copy was removed from my house and it cost $200.00 to get a copy from the Library of Congress.

My second managed to get my salary cut, and I believe the real purpose was, â??Now you have to cancel going to the poetry convention.â?? Well I starved there, but what a wacky adventure it was. Third time was a charm and I was banned from a museum in Baltimore, and had no feeling of any relationship, but simply wanted to honor a person that touch me. Well it might have saved my life as one of the people that robbed and stabbed me (a simple flesh wound) saw me the week before and I had the feeling that if they saw me again would kill me. A short time later, I IDed them as they were involved in a high profile stabbing murder at Baltimoreâ??s Inner Harbor.

I saw this poem in the form of a sestina, but decided not to be encumbered with all of the word rules and order. I did attempt that with a theme of each line, but not to the extent that it would interfere with the message or mood that I wanted to create.

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