First Eighty-Five Poems

First Eighty-five Poems is a book of poetry written between January 1, 1959 and August 1, 1963 while the author was in junior high and high school. He shares what he was feeling and thinking when he wrote some of his poems. It is an autobiography in poetry. The author often considered taking his own life, but decided not to do that. The author questioned his Evangelical Protestant upbringing and later chose to be a Christian through his philosophy of life and not through the church. He served as a pastor for a number of years. The poems are presented in the order in which he wrote them and they share the feelings and questions he had during that time in his life. Readers may find his poems and comments helpful as they struggle with their own feelings about the world, their family and friends and their purpose in life.

About the Author :
Dear Reader, I've been writing stories and poems for sixty years. I have a closet full of rejections. In March 2013, I began to e-publish. I have five novels available for adult readers: Summer, Foundling, Clarence or Claire?, Katya and the Solar Wind, My Shotgun Wedding, and two sequels for Katya on the way. I wrote Summer in 1998, but I published it first because it is dedicated to my wife, Carolyn, the love of my life. It is about pain and suffering and the difficult choices people face, and how love can overcome anything. When the Dew Fell on the Okra is my first children's book to be published. It was written in December 1966. When I graduated from Otterbein College in January 1967, I gave it to people who had been a help to me. Thanks to Rebecca Swift, my illustrator, it is now available for you to give to someone you care about. First Eighty-five Poems is my first volume of poetry. All of the poems were written between January 1, 1959 and August 1, 1963. They were written when I was in junior high and in high school. If you are a struggling Christian and have difficulties sorting out your priorities, I had the same kind of problems in my youth. I hope you find my poems meaningful to you. And I suggest that you write your own poetry. Rappers aren't the only people who can express themselves. Everyone can. As a pastor and theologian, I do not separate the sacred and the profane. The difference is in the human mind and not in life itself, just as evil is in the human mind and comes out of the choices people make and not from the devil who made me do it. The devil has nothing to do with it. We are the ones who choose to do evil or good. The whole world is in our hands. Enjoy the books. Paul David Robinson Paul David Robinson, BA, MDiv, Pastor, Retired www.amazon.com/author/pauldavidrobinson http: //pauldavidrobinson.com/index.html