I am a great lover of poetry and have been since elementary school. My earliest poetry describes holidays and school-related topics, like Halloween, the Pilgrims, and Alexander the Great. Later, I moved on to more serious explorations of friendship, faith, family, and philosophy. Many of my high school poems served as cathartic outpourings on my various loves and losses – which, on looking back, seemed to take up far too much of my time and focus. Ah, the teenage heart and mind!

            Poetry certainly helped me through many a difficult time in high school, as well as helped me express my joys, successes, and discoveries. One class stood out in high school for helping to cultivate my poetry and creativity: Creative Writing at Antioch High School, taught by Mr. Eichelbaugh. He was definitely a quirky teacher, but he nurtured my writing skills – and he made me feel like I had some talent when he wrote on one of my favorite poems, “The Sun Will Shine Again,” the comment – “Yes, you’re a poet!”

            Mr. Eichelbaugh also encouraged me to enter my poetry in a local competition, which I did. I typed up my poems, added some drawings (with my very limited artistic ability), and bound them all up in a handmade hardcover (using decorated cardboard). I was ultimately awarded the Grand Prize in the 1984 East Contra Costa County Young Author’s Project competition, with copies of my book being put into all the school libraries. This only made me more determined to keep writing.

            I was excited when our local newspaper, Antioch’s Daily Ledger, began publishing poetry once a week in a celebration of the arts. Many of my poems appeared on the Daily Ledger’s pages – and many also appeared, cut out, on our refrigerator, taped there by my mother.

            In college I did minimal poetry writing, focusing instead on journalism – but poetry never completely disappeared. A few college poems are part of this collection – most written when I will still in my “teens” (except the UCSB graduation poem – for that, I was 21). In the years after my college graduation, poetry – as well as songs – came in fits and bursts, with long lapses between scribblings. It’s only in recent years that it has become a regular part of my life once again, and I look forward to publishing some of those more recent poems in the future.

            One thing that has been consistent for the past 30+ years, though, is my desire to pass on an appreciation of poetry to my students. Poetry has always been a big part of my classroom English teaching at Los Gatos High School – both reading and writing poetry. It was there, at LGHS, that I got involved in a collaborative project with the independent Ebook publisher Smashwords and the Los Gatos Library to help my students publish a poetry Ebook. I kept up this project for six years, helping hundreds of students to become published authors. I also created my own poetry Ebook in 2015 as practice so that I could better help my students. That’s how this poetry collection originally came together – but then, I let it “sit” on the Smashwords “bookshelf” without any sort of promotion on my part for many years.

            Now, I decided to put together a print edition of Time Capsule: My Teenage Self. Hopefully, I can share the book with a wider audience this time around. I have to admit, some of my “teenage” poems seem a bit corny looking back on them 40+ years later, but others still make me feel really proud, and their messages still resonate with me. The first poem in this collection, “Outer Shells,” is the one that was read when they announced I was the grand prize winner. I’m glad, reading through that poem as well as others, that I cared as much as I did back then about issues related to prejudice, poverty, and the environment – issues I still care about deeply.

            Writing poetry allows me to process my thoughts, reflect on my circumstances, express my views, share my feelings, celebrate my family and friends, describe my travels, ponder the news, philosophize on life, meditate on my faith, and so much more. Reading poetry gives me insights into others’ thoughts, experiences, and perspectives and helps me to know I’m not alone. I’m glad I discovered the value of poetry early on … and I hope these poems – this “time capsule” into my teenage self – will speak to someone who needs to hear their message.