Matters of the Heart

Buddy Hendricks

Description

A book of poems about life, love, joy, sorrow and natural wonders from the heart of a romantic who lived in the heart of southern Indiana.
This is a book of 93 poems that come from the heart of one who lived and loved life. The poems run the gamut of subject matter, from deadly serious to utterly whimsical and humorous, even nonsensical. The reader will experience poetically, what it meant to grow up in the 50's and 60's as seen through eyes, aspirations, hopes and dreams of a southern Indiana boy. Most of the poems are written in groups of 4-line verses and attempt to rhyme at the end of the lines. In other words, they share a close similarity to music lyrics. Sometimes, readers will experience sentence structure that reads like Old English but that is one of the hidden gems of the book. Either way, you can't help but experience love, joy and wonder in a unique way as it is penned by this author.

Sujets

• Vie de famille
• Relations familiales
• Poetry
• Poem

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 14 juin 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798823009096
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

MATTERS OF THE HEART
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BUDDY HENDRICKS
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]
 
 
 
 
 
 
© 2023 Buddy Hendricks. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse  06/12/2023
 
ISBN: 979-8-8230-0911-9 (sc)
ISBN: 979-8-8230-0910-2 (hc)
ISBN: 979-8-8230-0909-6 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023910239
 
 
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
CONTENTS
Foreword
 
The Faint Echo
A Gift From God
All Those Loves
The Pine
September’s Welcome
Just Ahead Of The Shadows
The Lighthouse
The Walk
Wings Of Azure
No Wasted Years
Not The Right Day
That Blue-Eyed Girl
Sent The Monkey On
Trees Of My Youth
That Mystique Of You
There’s A Place
To Be Forever In Sight Of Her Graces
To Love Her More
The Grass Of Autumn
Into The New
What Do You Say?
What She Was
Far From Home
Find Those Things
When I Am Gone
Who Knows?
And It Could Get Worse
The Crow And His Curiosity
With You In Mind
You… So Lovely
Autumn Can Never Hide
The Beauty Of The Snow
The Heart Always Knows
I Have Come To Know
The Beauty Of Winter Nights
The Beauty That Will Stay
My Security
Never Say Goodbye
Cherish L’automne
Cottonwood Feathers
Drops In The Ocean
Early Morning Fog
Full Moon Before Dawn
Until Then
What Becomes Of The Heart
Leave Not September
Leaves Of Beauty
Really Big Deal
Becoming A Memory
Just Dream
Say Goodnight
Lost In Those Memories
That Presence
That Summer Rain
Sleigh Ride
All My Aprils
All Those Springs Ago
A Magic Wand
Photographs Of Time
The Scourge
Those Dangerous Eyes
Through Lovers’ Words
Childhood Whispers
Echoes Of Hope
Will You Remember?
Will You?
Just Daydreamin’
Tears
Le Enfant
Those Yesterday Thoughts
Thoughts Gathered
Times Now Gone
When You Heard The News
Where The Dreams?
Memories In The Rain
Whispers Of Secrets
Wind Chimes
Yesterday
The Day Will Begin
Finding Our Way
Finishing The Course
Get A Job
In Memory Of Friends
Curious...
After The Sun
Before The Dawn
Listening To The Radio
Over A Cup Of Tea
Perhaps A Misty Dream
All The Beauty There Is
Christmas Clues
That Clock Of Time
Allure Before The Dawn
 
About The Author
FOREWORD
According to the strictest rules, Forewords should be written by someone, other than the author, one who is an expert in the field of which he/she is writing about. Someone of note, who is reasonably well-known for their knowledge, insight and experience in the same or similar area as the author. Someone who’s made a name for themselves by becoming successful and regarded by society at large as a person uniquely qualified to write a Forward at the beginning of a book of poems. None of this is true about me. I am simply a friend attempting to fulfill one last request from my good friend, Buddy.
Buddy Hendricks was a hopeless, incurable romantic. Generally defined, a romantic is a person who often takes an idealized or old-fashioned view towards life and love. Of course, he was a realist when he had to be. Having a career in the military, forces you to deal with the ugly realities of life before you’re ready for them. The same goes, more or less, for teaching public school or being a parent. But I noticed over the years that at the end of the day, Buddy would retreat into his romantic world and imagine a universe where everybody got along with each other. A magical, happy place. I can totally relate... because I am also a hopeless romantic. And maybe that gives me barely enough credibility to write this about my friend and his poetry.
We romantics are idealists to the core. So when the world doesn’t fit our notion of peace and tranquility, we write poetry, plays, stories or songs. When adversity threatens, we have a tendency to sing, dance or compose our way to that place in our minds where love reigns, where life resolves itself and for a little while, heaven comes to earth. Because of that quirk or kink in our make-up, we romantics make lots and lots of mistakes. Very likely many more than realists, perfectionists or people who do life by the numbers. We’re far from perfect and we freely own it. But we’re also the oil in the machinery of life to keep it running. We use our abilities to encourage and make people happy. Sometimes we fail miserably but we keep trying.
I first met Buddy in the front lobby of Mitchell High School, Mitchell, Indiana in the fall of 1974. We were fresh out of college with new teaching degrees, his in elementary education and mine in elementary arts and crafts. The sparkle in his eyes and big toothy grin captivated me and I knew in that moment that Buddy and I would enjoy a lifelong friendship. We shared a lot in common. We loved music and the arts but most of all, we loved to laugh. And that single attribute of his character, more than any other, bonded us together forever. We shared many, many interests but laughter, music and a playful mischievousness characterized our early years together. Yeah, we acted like a couple of kids sometimes but we had loads of fun!
In the early days, Buddy always had a new joke for me every time we’d get together. And conversely, when I heard a good one, my first thought was, “That’s a good one, I can’t wait to tell Buddy!” We also loved music, especially from the sixties. We sang together almost every year at Christmas for the elementary schools and also did a few community music programs. The euphoric feelings I had when we sang together will never be forgotten. We shared bits and pieces of our lives with each other, sometimes going into crazy detail.
Then, in 1983, I left Mitchell with my family and moved to northern Indiana. One of the hardest things for me to leave behind was Buddy and our wonderful friendship. After the turn of the new millennium, we reconnected over email and I found out two new things about my good friend. He loved animals and he wrote poetry. My love for animals and poetry never went as deep as his but for the first time in my life, I began to understand my friend on a much deeper, intellectual level, almost to the place where I wondered if I really knew him at all before. We both loved dogs but when it came to poetry, he wrote it and I began to read it, appreciate it and comment on it.
So gradually, over the last 20 years of Buddy’s life, we communicated by email or phone. And on rare occasions, my wife and I would make the five-hour trip back to Mitchell and visit with him. But you don’t just stop and visit with Buddy for a mere few minutes. With him, you sit and linger over a meal and share your lives together for hours. On one visit, Buddy and I went to a local restaurant for lunch and we talked the afternoon away until the waitress came around and asked us if we’d like to see the supper menu!
We’d type emails to each other until our fingers fell off. When we talked on the phone, I lost count of how many times either of us said, “Well, I’ve gotta go but let me just say this...” And “this...” always turned into another hour of animated conversation. That’s the kind of relationship we had. We’d been separated by a five- hour drive since 1983 and were making up for it with every email and phone call.
Shortly after we reconnected, he started sending me poems to read and critique. Many of them would be inspired by a song, the title of which he always included so I would dial it up on YouTube and listen to it as I read his words. I can truthfully say, of all his poetry, I’ve never read a bad one. Some were rather cryptic and, on occasion, I’ve had to ask for an explanation but all 500 of them were good. Some made me laugh out loud, others caused me to shed tears of grief and sorrow. Still others helped me to remember my past and took me to places that were romantic and magical. He wrote of love, nature, animals, life in and around Mitchell, Indiana, music and occasional humorous musings. But he never failed to captivate my interest and I came to know my good friend to the very depths of his soul.
I’ve had many, many friends over the years but none as close as Buddy. I’ve never had a big brother because I was the eldest in my family. Buddy became that big brother and there’s no way to thank God enough for bringing us together. I love you my friend, to the extreme, bottom of my heart and I miss you terribly. It’s my fervent hope and prayer that as your readers read this volume, they will experience something of the man we’ve all come to know, love and appreciate for now and eternity.
J. D. Woods
Warsaw, IN
2023
THE FAINT ECHO
He drifted, from everything he ever was, to everything he would never be.
From t