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This poetry and prose offers the reader an opportunity to see life, history and events, and standards from the author's personal experiences.
These events were experienced directly as a participant, as an observer, and as a vessel into which prior generations passed their historical events and served to shape not only him, but previous, current and future generations.
To ignore our History, good or bad, pleasant or distasteful, is to sentence our posterity to repeat those aspects which we would intend them to bypass.
As a reader, let the words and situations provide pictures and emotions, and you too will feel both the happiness and torment of the author as he penned the words. Hopefully, you will also see the beauty.
Proceeds Donated to Breast Cancer Research
2006 was the "Best Difficult Year": My mother, Mildred, age 90, and my cousin, Suzanne, were both diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Each, with the help of God and Science, endured surgery, radiation and chemo-therapy and survived. Both are once again leading an active productive life.
To Honor their Victory, and to aid Science, in the hope that some day Breast Cancer will be eradicated, I make this solemn Pledge:
ALL PROFITS, DUE ME, FROM THE ON-LINE SALE OF THIS BOOK, WILL BE DONATED TO BREAST CANCER RESEARCH. SUCH DONATION AGREEMENT WILL BE IN EFFECT UNTIL THAT HORRIBLE EVIL IS ERADICATED FROM THIS EARTH, SO THAT NO GIRL/WOMAN ANYWHERE, MIGHT HAVE TO ENDURE SUCH TRAUMA.
My dear friend, Margo lost her battle, many years ago. Please help.
Thank you, in advance, for your support.
D.Risdon Westen
Sample Poems:
Within A Single Vessel
Peaches,
Soft as satin,
Dipped in pale colors,
With a sweetness,
That is all their own.
Oranges,
Strong in texture,
Reflecting Summer's Sun,
Complex within,
But necessary for our good.
Strawberries,
Vibrant and scented,
With each caressing,
Yielding nourishment and flavor.
Kiwi, Mango;
A salad of diversity.
Contained within,
A single vessel,
Which is her.
D. Risdon Westen
THE NATURE OF SILENCE
The Earth quivered.
Men screamed.
The Living, transitioned to a different plain.
He was silent; at least he could not hear himself.
What hath God wrought?
No, not God, but Nature;
or maybe the nature of man.
D. Risdon Westen
REAP
We reap in Winter;
not, that which was sown in Spring;
but that, which was nurtured in Summer.
D. Risdon Westen
The GREAT UNRAVELING
I had a dream;
To preserve this Great Land,
for future generations.
I had a great dream;
To become a part,
of preserving Nature,
and all it has to offer.
Creatures and plants;
of which we understand,
and do not.
We had a great day!
I bought the last flower
for my great-grand-daughter.
D. Risdon Westen
Reader Reviews:
Dave,
Thank you for sharing your poetry with me. I've just read them for the
third time. Poetry needs to be caressed and dissected. It needs to lie
fallow for a while to see what grows from it.
I am exceedingly impressed. I find your works to be tender at times,
cynical at times and always evocative. My favorites are Autopsy, Thank you
God and Horizon. Each made me think about my own life perspectives as well
as yours. That's what good poetry does.
-- Nancy
Dave, your poems are beautiful.
-- Lucy
About the Author:
Born in Des Moines, Iowa, he grew up in small rural farming and ranch communities: Granger, Iowa, Gruver, Texas, and Gallatin, Missouri, to name a few.
The son of a preacher; a family believing that hard work was the only way to get ahead. He filled in at the pulpit, bucked bails, hunted, fished and picked berries. Planting, the enlightenment of seeing things grow, was bred into him; along with a respect for all living things.
He graduated from Marshalltown High School, Marshalltown, Iowa, in 1964, and attended college there, continuing to pursue his work in theatre and as an area soloist.
In 1966, he entered military service; first as a Personnel Specialist, then Technical Instructor and finally as a Special Agent, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, retiring in 1991.
Life's journey has taken him to most states; except, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, and afforded him the opportunity to live nine years in Germany, traveling extensively to Holland, Belgium, and Luxemburg; with one tour of duty in Korea.
He graduated from the Defense Language Institute, Monterey, California, in 1986 and graduated, Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache, from the Goethe-Institut, Frankfurt, Germany, in 1987. Though he possesses over 160 semester hours of college credit, he’s earned only an Associate Degree from the Community College of the Air Force. In his words: "I studied things that interested me and that I found could be put to good use".
Mr. Westen earned his livelihood, before, during and after military service, through operating a Lawn Care business, babysitting, shoe salesman, as a Hospital Orderly, selling Amway products, janitorial work, as a Fuller Brush salesman, Jailer, Tournament Supervisor for a 36 hole Golf Course, as a Kirby salesman, teaching C&W dancing, selling cookware and sewing machines, operating a Driving Range, selling household appliances and televisions, Deputy Sheriff, a
Chevrolet salesman, as a "cowhand" on a Dairy Farm, Golf Instructor, exterior house painter, Bowling Alley night manager; and now, published author. He is currently a Deputy City Marshal.
His past community service activities include: Chief, Police Reserve, Ocean Springs, Mississippi, umpiring for Little League Baseball, coaching Youth Basketball and Baseball, serving the community of Wichita Falls, Texas, as a member of the Traffic Safety Commission and as Girl Scout Neighborhood Chairperson, Wiesbaden, Germany.
His primary hobbies are golf, cooking and target shooting.
Awards most valued: USAF Humanitarian Service Medal, OSPR Motorcycle Wings and the "Thank You Medal" he received from Moshe Arens, Minister of Defense, Israel.
"There's nothing more important than Family."; his favorite phrase.
He writes, because he enjoys it.
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Requiem To Another Time
D. Risdon Westen
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