Jim Boone

Jim Boone Poems

Jim Boone Biography

US Poet Laureate Nominee 2012 - PROOF OF LIFE POET; POINT OF VIEW POETRY, i.e., GAY: Free verse style that has a rhythm, but not a fixed meter. There is something here for all of God's children, and equality is not just for someone who happens to be hetrosexual. 'I Am that I Am.' I was born with the 'writers soul, ' but that never came out in my English classes in any of the schools I attended. I did, however, write everything down and eventually gave myself permission to call my writings 'poetry.' It was not easy being born a homosexual boy-child in the late 1930s, growing up in the 1940s and 1950s, but that's how this life of mine has played out as I navigated the path I was given at birth. Interestingly enough, my two years in the US Army were the two best years of my life. For the first time I had total male acceptance while serving my country and you'll have to read my poems for any more information on that chapter of my life. Yes, this is a poetic autobiography of the life of this Poet and of many a male, like me in the 'Doo-Dah Days' of the 'Sexual Revolution.' Dance with me. My first book of poetry is titled 'Somebody Say Amen! ' and can still be found on Amazon occasionally. In 1993, I began 'The Texas Poetry Project' and began doing public readings for the first time. In 1997, I was invited to participate in the 'Art Now' demonstration for Nat'l Endowment for the Arts increased funding by Congress and the Senate: The politicians who control this. In 2001, I was named a 'Distinguished Poet of Dallas' along with other local poets. In 2011 I received notice that I was being nominated for the title of 'US Poet Laureate' for 2012. 'It's like the lottery, you have to be in it to win it'. The Nomination is everything, especially to an openly Gay Poet 'whose poetry also speaks to other observations of life which all people can relate to'. Many, many thanks to Jake Sitters for that nomination. I love living on Galveston Island off the coast of my native Texas. NOTICE FROM JIM BOONE: When you go to read my poetry, check the box to the left of the poem title. Then click on 'Preview'. Do not (please) click on " Listen To This Poem" . It's computer generated and is as irritating as any other robot. TYVM)

The Best Poem Of Jim Boone

School Violence

OMG, did you watch ‘Glee’
On 4/11/2013? Did you? !
Those of us who did, saw what
Gun shots in a school can do
To teachers and students in
A most profound, unnerving way.

How, at such a young age can
You face ‘the end’ of a life that
Is barely begun – how?

As an educator, how do you
Come to super-hero time to
Save your charges who just
Want to graduate and check
Out this life stuff? How do you?

When you collide with ‘the end’
And escape its finality, celebrate
Each emotion that greets you at
The stage door and turns you
Around to meet those who are
Important in your life, and sing,
And say and do what you need to.

School violence is about the drugged
Times that overpower reason and
The arsenal of opportunities to
Acquire secret ends with malice of
No thought, residing in a brain dead
Before the departure of soul, in a coma
Of life without the touch and guidance
That childhood must receive on the
Road to awareness and graduating
Circumstances. Say and do what
You must to nourish and escape
The outcome of darkness into the
Light of education and continuation.

Each soul in human bondage is in
Need of love and strength.

Acknowledge this with each smile,
Each exchange eye-to-eye.


2013



For the families of those killed by gun
violence and the politics that foster
this in schools, and for the writers and
actors who give voice to life so we all
can understand the basics of ‘right’ and
the variables of the opposites.

Jim Boone Comments