2003, Year in Verse

Perhaps I could say that I started my poem blog in 2003. Right before the new year a friend suggested I try keeping a poetic journal for just one year — and I did. Until recently I saw this as an independent work — but as I think about it this blog continues where I left off.

I have provided the book as a PDF — however as it is in essence a blog, printed on paper… I am starting the process of adding that chapter of my life to to this blog. Right now, I have added the first week of January. I will continue to add until I’ve finished the year.

It will be a fun memory for me as well — as 2003 was a very eventful year, but not overwhelmingly so as 2004 turned out to be. A brief summery of 2003 would be — I lost my meat packing job and was reduced to day labor. I worked for the Salvation army at a youth camp. I taught English at a Chinese middle school.

The poems are largely reactions to the world around me. Often I needed the news to tell me what was happening — so many of the reactions are 2nd and 3rd hand. Right now, reactions to the news in 2003 are quite relevant. The war in Iraq started in 2003, and today much of the talk is rethinking and second guessing old choices. I leave my 2003 views unedited — if any are interested in my thoughts.

For those who are interested — it can be found by going to the archives of 2003. Hopefully this effort will make the old poems somewhat more accessible than they were all tied together in a single PDF. I still consider 2003 to be a unified work, however I admit that perhaps if I split it up, people who would not download the PDF might read the individual poems. Perhaps, people may even Google a single poem, and find the collection.

I offer a formal invitation to explore the past — as I thank God we survived it.