I started writing poetry when I attended Delbrook High School in North Vancouver in 1962-3. My English-40 teachers, whose name I cannot recall, encouraged it. At the same time, I frequented the Inquisition Coffee House on Seymour Street in Vancouver, B.C. and run by Howie Bateman. There I met a poet, whose name has gone too, and he was a great motivator. He read my poems and commented. He wrote the following:
“One day I will take my cobwebs down and have them drycleaned”
There is a section with some of my HS poems, immature of course, but clearly, I am trying out styles and learning from Romantic lyricists, E. E. Cummings, Robert Service, and others.
I wrote three poems while I was working in a logging camp for summer jobs in 1963-4.
I wrote only a few poems from ’65 to 71, when I got my PhD. I will also give two poems by my friend called Nela. I recall her last name as Leya, but it could be Leigh, or something similar.
I did my postdoc in Leiden, Holland, 1972-74. This was an idyllic time for me and my wife. We had two sons born. These poems capture my feelings during that time.
After leaving Holland, I wrote only one poem in the 1980’s.
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