All of these pieces have come right Out Of My Mind

I started writing story-telling poetry in 1984 when coming out of a dark place into teaching English at Boise State University in Boise, Idaho. By the late 90's I had completed well over 200 poems, essays, and stories and was reading them at local poetry slams.
When I retired from BSU in 99 and moved to Kansas City, MO, my writing slowed down, but I kept the story-poems on my computer with hopes that I might someday get them printed. When my upcoming 80th birthday suggested that my time might be limited, a strong desire to get them into a manageable form has pushed me into several weeks of culling, editing, and formatting. Early on in the process I grouped them - loosely - VERY loosely - into topics and I started to look for paintings and / or photos to preface the units and to fit the themes. The result is the five books (in one) under the notion of "All of These Pieces Have Come Right --- OUT OF MY MIND." The topics in the books - "My Heart," "Dogs and Other Family," Moon Howling," "In Memory Of," and "Damn and Double Damn," might be found fitting into one or another booklet, but if that doesn't bother me, it shouldn't bother you. Two or three dozen poems are about death in general or specific deaths - of pets, of children, of friends and lovers. Some are about addiction. A few are about love. One or two might be simple moonlight musings. Dreams are the topic of several more. Some (very few) lines in some poems are quite graphic, maybe even vulgar, but definitely profane. I tried to talk myself out of including them here, but I couldn't. The poems range from one or two four line statements to several two-page single spaced pieces. Mostly they are photos of and notes on what is inside the mind I'm out of. I hope you enjoy them. I do.