Twenty Things About Me

Twenty Things about Me

© Olan L. Smith, 2014

1. I live life one day at a time, and never believed I would live to the age of 20; I am now 61.

2. I enjoy almost everyone I meet, until they divorce me; that is humor here people.

3. I weep for the human race, although I am an optimist I have seen the future and it "ain't" pretty folks, please prove my visions wrong.

4. Aging is great for gaining wisdom, and terrible on the body.

5. I enjoy Science Fiction movies even if they are poorly written, and rejoice when they are well written. The first book I enjoyed reading was The Yearling by Marjorie Rawlings, and I have read every Perry Mason book ever written by Erle Stanley Gardner that was in my hometown library, when I was a child.

6. I was in an automobile accident at the age of 18 that nearly killed me by fracturing my skull in two places that almost made No. 1 come true.

7. I dislike injustice, but at the same time realize this is an imperfect world filled with imperfect cultures, filled with imperfect ideologies, filled with imperfect nations, filled with imperfect institution, fill with imperfect religions, imperfect atheists, filled with imperfections within an illusion encompassed by a delusion.

8. I am a survivor, and many of those that were around me are no more, and tomorrow I may be no more, but I have left a mark on this world, albeit small, I have tagged it.

9. I am allergic to beef, haven't eaten it in 12 years, and the same goes for pork and milk, although I still eat both ice cream and cheese. I became allergic to meat because of a tick bite, and I am a survivor of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

10. I have found a home in the poetry world, making friends with some of the most creative and talented contemporary poets living. I am an artist as well, and have made artist friends on several continents; ...isn't the internet wonderful? I often dreamed of living in an artist/poet commune where like minds indulge each other over breakfast, and talk about anything that comes to mind.

11. War is evil but inevitable. It is the equalizer of opposing ideologies, war will continue as long as we allow small minded people to rule over us, and allow institutions and religions to divide us.

12. I love the desert, mountains, oceans, rains, snow, stars, planets, spaceships, galaxies, quantum physics, philosophies, and histories; I do not like people who bicker all the time, who speak all the time and never say anything, people who are clingy, and those who insist on doing it their way, and their way only. I like people who are open minded, intelligent, loving and kind, know who they are, are creative, and walk humbly among the people.

13. Don't come to me for answers; I will only give you more questions. I am not an authority on anything; I am a student of everything. I will mentor you, but I make mistakes and am open to admitting my mistakes. I sometimes come down on a matter as this is the way it is, but most of the time I qualify it.

14. If I know you well and you ask me my opinion on your writing, hold on for I will not spare your feelings. If you are a stranger, I will most likely beg off giving my opinion, because many writers are fragile and I would never want to discourage anyone from writing.