Thanks to Kathy Reinhart and Ink Drop for reproduction rights to this article. Original is here >>>

I have a special treat this week, but before I introduce my guest, I have a confession to make.I hate the word hate so escort bayan konya I rarely use it, but, I’ve always h-a-t-e-d poetry. It’s true. I never could figure out why some poems rhyme and some don’t, structure or even sentence length. I always found myself having to read it over and over and over again to get the jist of what the piece was trying to say. It just wasn’t my bag of candy.

Wasn’t…

But, a couple of years ago I wandered onto a writer’s site (Writer’sCafe.org) and was almost immediately befriended by a poet from the midwest. He sent me a request to read AND review one of his poems. I cringed on the inside. Did I mention I hate poetry? Well, you can’t very well join a site such as that and post your own work for review without reciprocating, can you? So, I read his poem. I enjoyed his poem. I only had to read it once! It was wonderful. Since that day I have read dozens upon dozens of his poems and can honestly say, I’ve liked them all. His style is much different from the dreaded required reading poems from my school days. He has a style all his own and you can’t help but feel as though you are standing in the middle of it while he writes.

So now, I can no longer say I hate poetry. I still hate some, but, if you get a chance to read any of his work, maybe you’ll understand why I have changed my way of thinking. And now, let me introduce you to the extremely talented - Tate Morgan.

IDI – Tate, I always ask fiction writers where they get their ideas and rarely get the same answer twice. Where do you find most of yours coming from?

TM – My inspirations come from my own life experience. I left home at 18 with fifty dollars to my name. Little did I realize I was beginning an adventure Ali Baba would envy.

IDI – Who is your favorite author, novelist or poet, and why?

TM – Sara Teasedale. She embodies the lost longing of childhood. The life led by emotion yet lived by logic.

IDI – Who is your target audience? What aspect of your writing do you feel targets that audience?

TM – My works are about real life and the hopes and dreams of us all. I am driven by a need to leave a piece of myself to the collective worth of humanity.

IDI – Everyone has their own dream. What’s yours?

TM – My life’s dreams were both realized in the birth of my son and marriage to my wife.

IDI – Online cafe’s or writer’s groups (aside from social networking). Do you belong to any and if so, do you find them to be more help or harm?

TM – Personally I detest most. Facebook to me is a gaming channel to keep you busy playing games telling advertisers what you like. I love only one, WritersCafe.org.

IDI – As a writer, what is the one thing you would most like people to know about you?

TM – I write with emotion and my great hope is that I touch another’s soul in the way the experiences that I write of have touched mine.

IDI – Everyone has visions of where they see themselves in the future, be it a year or five. Where do you see yourself in five years? Where did you see yourself five years ago? Did you make it there?

TM – I see myself a father and grandfather who is loved as a good husband. Five years ago I thought my life was over and my usefulness to the world was at an end.

IDI – I’ve heard it said that you have to know the rules inside and out before you can break them with success. Which ones do you find yourself breaking the most and does it work in your writing?

TM – I use very little punctuation. Both my books are printed in the way. I find it strange but people read my work and rarely if ever do they say I missed the punctuation you left out. Instead, they laugh, cry or cheer.

IDI – How do you balance – your son, household chores, work, social obligations – and still find the time to write?

TM – I sit and write when I can. I would rather go to my son’s baseball game and jot thoughts down on a pad as I go. I never mistake life for writing.

IDI – Do you have a favorite book?

TM – I don’t have a single book but my favorite experience came in watching the mini series, Lonesome Dove. Where single-minded Captain Call who fathered an illegitimate child named Newt. Finally deciding to face his own failing, he turns to Newt and says, “Newt, the name Call is Scottish, I think. It is a good name and has suffered no disgrace I’m aware of”. To which Newt, now a man, rides off having earned the respect and name of his father. It is an awesome thing the love of a man for his son.

IDI – What advice would you give to new/unpublished authors?

TM – Publishing does one thing. It allows you to leave behind a record for future generations to reference you in the lives. If you write simply with an intent to become published, you will fail. Commercialism removes individualism. I wrote my two books with the thought that one day my son would dust them off and proudly tell my grandchildren from where they came.

IDI – I love that answer and I couldn’t agree more. What was the best advice ever given to you, and by whom?

TM – An honest mans life will be blessed despite his fortunes at birth. Because from the moment of birth, that child watches and learns from you. Your needs never come before theirs. I think my friend George Persinger taught me that.

IDI – Tell us, what would you say was the nexus of your creativity?

TM – I am a product of the Midwest, raised on the plain states of North America. I was nurtured on an ideal akin to Mayberry. I grew to manhood under the Midwest sun. Playing baseball and running the streets of my little town where friends were lifelong spirits. The essence of their souls follow me still. It was a simpler time. There were no shades between right and wrong. Full to the rim with absolutes. In the place I came from all was right with the world, but as I grew, so did the world. Along with me the rest posed immortal questions to the creator. Till the world was as your see it now. A complicated shade of gray.

IDI – Whether it be fiction, non-fiction or poetry, Define a great book.

TM – A great book leaves a sigh in your heart and hope to live by.

IDI – Before I give your contact information to readers, I have to ask, would you mind sharing one of your poems here with us today?

TM – Not at all… Whenever my son asks for my permission I always ask myself now, who will it hurt if I say yes? If the answer is only myself, I always say yes. A lesson I learned the hard way. It seems I learn best that way. I should say the reference in this poem to blood being spilled was metaphoric, not literal. In this case, I had just lost quite a bit in the divorce and was distraught. Little Tate just wanted my attention. When he started nagging me I turned on him and launched a tirade his way. The look on his face as a tear arose from his soul was heart wrenching. Having never seen me so upset he was devastated. The barb launched his way rebounded off his innocence to strike me dead center in my own heart. I had broken both our hearts. If ever an experience wrung the very water from my soul, this was it!

Each day my son through thoughtful eyes

looked up to me in laughter

Knowing I would be kind and wise

from that time and ever after

 

Once bitten from pain of divorce

I had shed tear drops of my own

From depths my boy had drug me back

he had never left me alone

 

Then came the moment I had feared

when my temper did hurt my son

Deep like the pain from my divorce

left me to ask, “what have I done”

 

Behind those eyes there rose a tear

the first blood I had ever drew

From the depths of his tiny soul

where innocence bid me adieu

 

Fearing grief would hinder his sleep

and not knowing what I should say

I looked to find him in slumber

there beside our picture he lay

 

Asleep in pain his eyes had closed

I felt my heart begin to moan

A sole tear lie upon his cheek

where I left a few of my own

 

So now whenever I am asked

to bless him with my permission

I think on what I lost that day

when I forced on him submission

Absolutely beautiful, Tate. As always, you express wisdom beyond your years. I can honestly say I’ve never read one of your poems and not liked it and not felt a blanket of emotion sweep over me. To be able to have that effect on your reader is a gift. I’d like to thank you for participating in an Ink Drop Interview and wish you continued success with your books, ‘Life’s Tree’ and ‘The Ties That Bind’.

If you would like to contact Tate, he can be reached at:

www.writerscafe.org/aristate

Tate’s books can be purchased here:

http://www.amazon.com/Tate-Morgan/e/B004UBEXR6/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_4?qid=1312431707&sr=8-4

Ink Drop Interviews are conducted by Kathy Reinhart, author of 3 novels, most recently ‘Lily White Lies’ and ‘Missouri in a Suitcase’.

If interested in participating in an interview, you can contact me at ladybuggerly at hotmail dot com, or:

Twitter: @kathyreinhart

Facebook: www.facebook.com/KathyReinhart.Novelist

‘Lily White Lies’ and ‘Missouri in a Suitcase’ can be purchased for ereaders on Smashwords or paperback and ereaders at Amazon. Purchase both for Kindle for less than $5.

Authors appreciate your comments and feedback, so please take a minute to let them know what you think of their work and their interview.

Next week, join me as I speak to Roberta M. Roy, author of ‘Jolt: a rural noir’.

As in the times of the ancient mariner we all hear the call of sirens that gesture us to sail home. Continuity of purpose flows from the wellspring of our lives. In the end we all find we are drawn inexorably home, to the hearth from around which we told our tales of long ago and spun our yarns of a life well lived. The well spent life will always beckon from the winds of change a call for home. ~Tate Morgan