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a midlife look at childhood sanity
poems, letters and short stories
 Jacob Oreshan, III
 
 I sat cleaning out my closets for a garage sale, and I stumbled across a box of old sketchbooks and paintings I had done many years ago. And in the bottom of the box was a binder I hadthought was gone forever. In that binder was poems and stories I had written in that long agotime. Most were made up, a story for sorts. But some were real. They were all from the heart.Deep inside the heart. Where the light of day is never seen, but the heat of passion rages with avengeance. The first part of this book tells a story. I won’t ruin the story by trying to explain itother than to say, much of it is true. This was a very dark period of my life. My paintings echoedthe pain of my poems. And my poems, they were the body of my paintings. Most of thosepaintings are long gone. Some were sold, but may were forgotten or destroyed. But the poemsand the stories they tell, somehow they managed to survive. The tale is a dark one, oftenteetering on the fine line between sanity and insanity. I had one light during these times. Nowlong forgotten, but yet, always in the back of my mind somewhere. When I started writing thisbook, memories, both good and dark, came flooding back. And so did she. I search the internetand found her. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. But there she was, on the screen of mycomputer, staring back. She was never more than a good friend, but that was all she needed tobe. We both had struggles back then, trying our damnedest to get through, and put it all in adark closet in our minds. Most all of what is written here was originally written between 1988 and1989. I open this book with one of my favorite poems, by Mary Mackey. It is a poem, that whilewritten a long time ago, it still has deep meaning in today’s society. I hope this story envelopesyou, dearest reader, and makes you think back, way back. This time was real for all of us, atsome point or another, growing up was not so easy. Jake OreshanMay 2008
Cover photo by Tracie Cochran
 
The poem ”When I was a Child I Played with the Boys” appeared in "Split Ends" published by Mama's Press, Oakland, CA. and has been reprinted withthe express written permission of the author.
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duponthumanite

And I also like "Untitled" because it is a powerful poem.

reply02 / 20 / 2010
duponthumanite

I enjoyed "Evil", "Time" and "Contact". Also "An Ending" is great, where the boy and girl come together.

reply02 / 20 / 2010
Al

when is midlife?

reply02 / 20 / 2010
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