Tag: Inspiration

God’s Grace

On By Jerry BrothertonIn Poetry, Rhyming2 Comments

When the light seems to be fading away

And you’re not sure anymore where you stand

No matter how far from home you might stray

He will always be there to hold your hand

Whenever your road was rough to travel

Or those many times you had felt denied

All the times you watched your dreams unravel

He was there with you standing by your side

The evolution of a story!

On By Jerry BrothertonIn Non Fiction, Short Stories13 Comments

A while back, I was asked by some friends how I came up with the stories I tell. So I thought I would put this out in cyberspace to let anyone, who might be interested, into my mind for a little visit. This is my seat of the pants process. It works for me. I’m curious to know how do other writers come up with their ideas?

First, I start off with an object.

A table

I just keep asking myself, Who, What, When, Where, and Why and keep expanding.

*There was a table in the corner

*There was a table in the corner with red Formica top and chrome edges.

*The bright afternoon sunlight slanted in through the dirt streaked window. It reflected off the red Formica and exposed the scratches and dents left by thousands of customers in the ancient table in the corner.

*The bright afternoon sunlight slanted in through the dirt streaked window. It reflected off the red Formica and exposed the scratches and dents left by thousands of customers in the ancient table in the corner. One mark, right on the edge closest to the window drew Jerry’s attention. It was a heart with the words Jerry + Deb inside it.

*The bright afternoon sunlight slanted in through the dirt streaked window. It reflected off the red Formica and exposed the scratches and dents left by thousands of customers in the ancient table in the corner. One mark, near the edge closest to the window drew Jerry’s attention. It was a heart with the words Jerry + Deb inside it. Jerry chuckled and a smile creased his face. He remembered the night that Deb scratched that into the table. Everyone called her Debbie goody-two-shoes because she was always so prim and proper. Jerry was probably the only person on earth that really knew her.

So there are many places you can take the story from here. Perhaps I will go this way.

So it was no surprise to him when Sheriff Johnson announced that Debbie had embezzled money from her bank and fled to Mexico. This too made Jerry smile. He looked at his phone again. The text read “Please call me. I am in trouble and need your help…Deb”

Or maybe this way,

It had ripped the heart from Jerry’s chest when Sheriff Johnson knocked on the door that evening twenty years ago. Those words still echo in his mind. “I’m sorry Jerry. On her way home from work, Deb was hit by a drunk driver. She was killed instantly.” Tears rolled down Jerry’s cheek.

Or,

Memories of the past twenty years flooded his mind. It had certainly been a roller coaster ride of emotions for him. Jerry was still lost in his thoughts when the little bell above the door dinged. It startled him back to reality and he looked up at the door to see Deb walk in. She was as beautiful now as she was the day she scratched their names into this table. His heart skipped a few beats as he watched her walk toward him.

“Happy Anniversary!” she whispered as she kissed his cheek.

A wide smile broke across Jerry’s face.

Sunflowers

On By Jerry BrothertonIn Poetry, Rhyming14 Comments

I journeyed deep along mountain paths

Contemplating life’s complexities

By chance, a wondrous meadow did pass

Its perfume afloat a restful breeze

 

Widely I gazed yet could see no end

Swaying and moving to nature’s strain

Wildflowers surfing on summer’s wind

Their brown faces crowned in yellow reign

 

With poet’s hand I devoured the scene

But words to their song I could not lend

Yet I watched them dance upon the green

My saddened heart rose and I did mend

 

Though I could not capture the repose

With failing words I sadly moved on

My tablet filled with half-written prose

And pen eager to sing unheard songs

 

Book of Life

On By Jerry BrothertonIn Poetry, Rhyming8 Comments

Tuesdays will be poem of the week blogs. Some of the poems might be previously posted or from my current book – Incoherant Ramblings of an Old Man https://www.amazon.com/dp/1544222947

Others will be from my upcoming book ( Book of Life- More Ramblings from an Old Man)

This weeks poem, is the pilot piece for that book as I attempt to take you on my journey through my Life..

I am still trying to find the voice of the Backyard Poet as I move along my path. Please feel free to comment and let me know how I am doing.

Book of Life

My book of life lies open

Its final chapter waiting to be exposed

Some of my pages are torn or faded

The story has taken long so long to compose

Many who read the early lines

Moved on and shelved my book

Others were merely passing by

Sometimes to stop and take a look

Some would begin in the middle

They do not know the start

That does not mean they’re less important

Or have a smaller place in my heart

Some have found me quite by accident

While dusting off their shelves

Some stuck around and began to read

Others moved on by themselves

But you have been there since page one

My true and faithful friend

Despite all my mistakes and faults

You will read me until…THE END

Defining Success

On By Jerry BrothertonIn flash, Short Stories10 Comments

There’s only one reason I post on the internet. It’s just to let my ego come out and play for a bit.

I don’t do it for money. In 2006, Publisher’s Weekly reported that the average book sold less than 500 copies. That means that in order to make $30000, a person would have to charge $60 per book. Or in most cases where a book does good to sell 100 copies, $600 per book.

I don’t do it for fame. WordPress, the host of this blog reports that there are 84.3 million new posts on the internet every month. Each month, people view more than 23.3 billion pages (that’s billion with a bold, upper case, hi-lighted in yellow, B). So the odds of even getting read by a total stranger is .1652% or 1 in 4,956,000 people on the internet. That is mind boggling. All I can say is that 1 person that stumbled onto my site will be one lucky dude.

So why do I keep putting my words out there for the world to scrutinize? It’s the thrill of that instant endorphin rush. When I say  that I’m a comment junkie, it’s true. I  admit it, each time I open my Facebook page, or my blog site www.thebackyardpoet.com my heart leaps a bit. I’m an instant gratification poet. I write my words, put them out into the world through the network of social media and wait impatiently. I am not a patient man. If you don’t believe me, just ask my wife.

I tend to post most things at midnight so sometimes I have also have to spend a sleepless night waiting for you guys to send me some love.

Hopefully, you will give me some likes… maybe even a few of those heart shaped emoji’s. I break out into my happy dance each time I have a comment (it’s not something you would want to see but it makes my wife smile). But the ultimate Nirvana is when (lo and behold), someone has cared enough to share my creation with their friends. To see there was at least one person that ‘got’ what I had to say is as good as it’s ever going to get.

I’ve thought about this a lot… I believe the greatest honor I could receive as an artist (and I use that term loosely) is to have someone know a piece of my work by heart. Or that someone might tell their children about a story I shared. Or I hear a group of friends sharing coffee at their local coffee shop and discussing some piece of my work.

We (the people who push our words out into the world to be criticized, analyzed and dissected) imagine these things even if they don’t really happen. In my imagination, I see a teenager sitting alone in the park reading my poetry and understanding that life is worth it after all. Sometimes, my mind dreams of two young lovers lying on a hillside in the bright afternoon sun, quoting my words to each other as they fall in love. Images like that are what I see with each comment, each like and each share.

So that is what keeps me going. For me, a small group of devoted fans is worth far more than selling a million books. Because fortunes fade, fame is fleeting, but good friendship will last forever.

Jerry Brotherton

The Backyard Poet

http://www.thebackyardpoet.com

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