If we are lucky,
facts of life
will force us
to accept the reality
of our desires
our fears
and unleash
our innate need
to express ourselves,
to achieve self-literacy
through self-expression,
though I live in
a world of
painful existential
questions and threats
I do believe
in the world,
I want to live
in this world
I want more
opportunities to
pick blackberries.
Rod Farmer’s first collection of poetry published in book form was Universal Essence (1986). He has two chapbooks available from Finishing Line Press: Red Ships and Fingers Pointing at the Moon. Also, he has had over 90 articles, essays, and book reviews published in such journals as The Humanist, Mind Matters Review, Poet and Art Times. He has been a farm laborer, dump truck driver, grocery store clerk, soldier (14 months in Vietnam via the draft, 1969-70), a high school history and social science teacher, and a college professor of both education and history. He is professor emeritus at the University of Maine at Farmington. He has received three Fulbright-Hays Fellowships to study in India, Israel and Pakistan and two grants to study in Japan. Rod is an independent poet (i.e. he doesn’t belong to cliquish literary circles—-he finds more room outside than inside of any social circles).