A War of Love

About the Book

The first two sections of this book, Poems and Pretty and the Rascals, were written by the author in 1982 and 1983. The Humorous and the Melancholy was written in 2014. The other three works and the additional poems were all written in 2015. I started writing poems in 1982 because of panic attacks and because I wanted to reach out and touch someone, as the saying goes. This publishing effort, which is financed by me, is an additional effort to reach out to people. My poems are pretty poems, humorous poems, and spiritual poems primarily. The original work was compiled into booklets. The six booklets I compiled and had printed out, ten to fifteen poems to a booklet, were as follows: Poems, by William T. Elliott The Pretty and the Rascals, Poems by William T. Elliott The Humorous and the Melancholy, Poems by William T. Elliott A War of Love, Poems by William T. Elliott Peace, Poems by William T. Elliott Reverence, Poems by William T. Elliott Since he had completed the last set, Reverence, the author had finished six more poems, which are in the section "Additional Poems."

About the Author

William Elliot was born on September 23, 1951, in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. During his childhood, he was interested in baseball. He was also interested in science. He won first prize in a science fair for building a Geiger counter. He had a paper route as his first job. He was in junior high school when desegregation took place. He remembers playing baseball in his neighborhood with both African American and Caucasian children. In 1966, William and his family moved to Hot Springs, South Dakota. His family consisted of his mom, dad, three sisters, and one brother. He completed his high school education in Hot Springs. During high school, he was athletic and was involved in track and field. He graduated from high school in 1969. After high school, William took two years of college at Northern State College. Then in 1972 he joined the air force. He was primarily stationed at Altus Air Force Base in Altus, Oklahoma, and Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. He was honorably discharged from the air force in 1975. William completed his BS degree in environmental science in 1977. During college, he met Nancy Rempfer, whom he married in June of 1976. He later completed a master’s in business administration from the University of South Dakota in December of 1984. His work experience includes being a health inspector for the state of South Dakota; a business manager for the Cheyenne River Community College in Eagle Butte South Dakota; a business and computer instructor at Little Hoop Community College in Ft. Totten, North Dakota; taught small business management at National American University in Rapid City, South Dakota; then took a position at Oglala Lakota College teaching computer science and business, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He retired from teaching in 2008. He is currently a night auditor at the Super 8 motel in Hot Springs, South Dakota. William became interested in poetry while experiencing health issues and found it to be therapeutic. After retirement, he took his poetry to the next level. He recently took two first place and one second place awards at the Veterans Creative Arts Festival in the Black Hills Regions. His insight of his surroundings is both humorous and inspiring.