A Little Twist of the Pen: A Poetic Collective of the Unexpected by William Harger

An earlier publisher begged me to collect all of my “kickers”, as he called them, in a separate volume because of the expressed enjoyment of my readers. I never got around to it until now, decades later. The majority of these offerings have never seen print although some have been published in few prior collections. I include all because this printing would not be complete without them. The “twists” at the end of these stories (lyric free verse is a “story form” of poetry) snap the reader to a different meaning than the body of the poem at first suggests, and often beckons to reread the effort. Of course, not all are stories…some express an obtuse view of some presumed truths. The ring of twisted honesty is sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes downright mean, sometimes enlightening, or sometimes just whimsical but each poem was inspired by occurrences, musings, or observations of relationships which have happened around me through the years. Enjoy! You are most probably going to giggle a lot.

William Harger holds a BS in Aeronautical Engineering and an MA in the Social Sciences. He cofounded the National Environmental Educational Development in Shasta County, California, at Whiskeytown Lake in 1970 which continues to this day to enlighten and 5th and 6th graders. Prior to 1970 he was employed by Northrop Aircraft, FMC Corporation, and as an inventor for IBM. His 39 years of teaching include such subject matter as Effective Problem Solving, Poetry/Creative Expression, Sociology, Social Problems, Human Integration, Environmental Ethics, and many young writers work shops. He is married and lives way out “beyond the grid” in the wilderness of his beloved Trinity County in Northern California with his dog and cat where he writes, gardens, and messes with boulders, “water things” and recycled found objects.