I am a 52 year old horse trainer from California. I have been doing this work for 27 years. I met my wife (the horse trainer) when I was teaching dance at Arthur Murray's International. She was a student until I quit from the stress of a job where I had to be pleasant all the time. Though I have written in some form or another all my life, it was seven years ago that I began seriously to work on an unfinished epic poem entitled "Caco, Man of the Morning Star". When I began the poem I had little understanding of poetic forms, I simply wanted to write a very large romantic, fantasy adventure in verse. Over the years I have gleaned what knowledge I can from innumerable sources until I feel now that I am writing in a vacuum. No feedback on my poem means my poem need only please my limited sensibilities to remain acceptable to me. A year ago I looked for an online forum in hopes of gaining that feedback. I spent twelve very fruitful months at Algonquin's Table and much of what I learned there has been incorporated into my poem. However, AT's population is not geared very strongly toward critique and I look elsewhere. A friend sent me here. I hope that I will be able to post my very large poem and discuss it with the forum as well as a number of smaller pieces for the sole purpose of improving my poetry in general.
wesley