Meet MICHAEL SPEARS of Rhyme and Reason Chapter

          Welcome to Michael Spears new President of Rhyme and Reason Chapter and UTSPS Membership Coodinator. He just joined UTSPS in March 2019 and loves the association with his poet friends. Here's some background on him in his own words. "Early life was spent on the north end of the Portland Peninsula, growing up in a "Stand By Me" environment (in the most literal sense).  When Mom found out her three young sons were hopping freight trains and skinny dipping in Triangle Lake, she packed her five children up and moved to Provo.  I thought my life had ended.  

          Learning to love the imagery, I developed an early love for poetry from the rare visits I had with my father, who could quote poems for hours on end.  Army veteran of Vietnam era, graduate of Weber State University and also the University of Utah.  Enjoy reading, especially history and anything anthropological.  Spring to fall is spent with wife Donna in our varied flower gardens and the vegetable garden (we are both licensed pruners and weed pullers).  We have loved growing pumpkins for the grandchildren and now we have a whole new generation of Bumpkins to share them with (they are quickly outnumbering the grandchildren)."  

          How to Make a Memory —m spears 

Take one grandmother
any size
with a welcoming lap
and smiling eyes;
one granddaughter
short or tall
tightly holding
her favorite doll. 

Add a dozen sheets
of paper
two pairs of
safety scissors
several pencils
(with erasers),
a medium amount
of patience,
one kitchen table
or rocking chair
with lots of love
and hugs to share—

Just start cutting
memories
to hang atop
the fireplace
above the mirror
or frame of door,
it really doesn’t matter where.