THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD

About the Book

Words, expression and relationships give me the opportunity to connect with someone I will never meet. There are 1,025, 109 words in the English language … I have only used 80,182 of those words, in 14,792 paragraphs in 22,987 lines. Some rhyme and or form prose designed to put forth a different way of looking at my past situation and reflect on truth or dare in living our life. Jerry L. Rhoads, CPA , CEO All-American Care of Muscatine and Washington, 2002 Cedar Street Muscatine, Iowa 52761 Over the years I have contemplated publishing the poems but always put it off due to a lack of time to translate from paper to digital those thoughts of thirty years past. I have found not one poem dated because they reflected words spoken from my head that focuses on the ideas of times and events that never really change … just mature, evolve and reoccur if you are to have memories that mean anything. Love, religion, war, peace, work and play all are never going to age just the mode of expression. Today I still have those in 12 three ring binders on yellowing stock and use them to trigger my editing and writing skills into this book. The material is overwhelming since there are about 2,500 poems. Every conceivable word that I saw along the road on billboards, road signs, advertisements, business signs, or heard, etc. triggered a poem onto tape then onto paper. Today I am to converting these to a digital format so I can capture the thoughts and evolve these rough drafts into many more books. I have tried to make the organization somewhat topical focusing on the better material, in my artistic opinion … yours will by nature be different and that is the power of the written word. My intention in triggering topics and titles is not unconventional but does challenge the reader to believe I know that much about words and very little about conventional poetry. So if you like or dislike the ideas and use of the English language that kept me occupied over 1 million miles in my car so be it.

About the Author

My love of writing comes from my mother Velma Rhoads. She only had an eighth grade education and was a product of Missouri poverty, similar to Appalachia. From that came a neurosis stemming from sexual abuse as child and fear of close relationships. I am speculating since she never opened up to anyone. Under her skin and beyond her frown was sensitivity only revealed in her poetry and drawings. Her influence is reflected in my sister and myself. Kay is a playwright and has always had a way with the pen. Shari, my wife says Kay’s letters were so interesting that she should be a novelist and later in her life she began to express her feelings in her plays. Hers are more in dialogue than in poetic pentameter. My first poem was in the eighth grade when Georgi Malenkov became the Russian Premier, and (in my late 20’s and early30’s) I began to write poems about my photographs. This form of artistic expression captured my family’s attention and I became the photographer/poet for all our functions. M y obsession grew to the point that any time I was in the car by myself with my tape recorder I would recite a poem from a word. During a period when I started my own business and I was on the road for hours, the tapes filled up and Jane my secretary would put them to paper. My love for life is from my wife Shari of 55 years, our four children Christie, Kimber, Kip and Kelli, twelve grandchildren Alec, Celena, Blake, Nick, Derek, Chad, Tyler, Leah, Paris, Fallon, Nathan, Troy, and now a great grandson Carter. Shari and I have a goal to live to the ripe age of 120 and celebrate our 100th wedding anniversary by being healthy, happy and prosperous. This is reflected in my poems, business and faith.