My Journey in Poetry and Prose: Volume I

In February 2011, after his retirement, Tom Poteet launched his website, Sing A New Psalm. It was a slow and awkward beginning. His idea was to publish his poems, written over several decades, in a daily reading format and then move them around; maybe add some new poems each year so that the reader would see something different as the years progressed.

The first year, 2011, was an educational year. Poteet learned how to populate the site, but probably didn't make it all that interesting. His home page didn't say much or change much over the first year. He was happy enough just to keep the months up to date.

The second year, 2012, was a better year. Since he did not like web pages that are never updated, he decided he should probably start updating more on some regular basis. Poteet began, early in 2012, to update his home page, once each month, with a previously written poem and a message to go along with that poem. After a few months, he started updating with an old poem and a new message every couple of weeks; and eventually updated his site every week. Since many of his older poems meant different things to him than they did when he first jotted them down, he was better able to elaborate their meaning to him. This was the beginning of a journal of his journey through poetry and prose.

Poteet continued his weekly updates into 2013, with older poems and newer messages. As he got into 2014 and beyond, he began to write new poems to go along with his messages. He continued this process until early 2020.

Poteet has subdivided all of these poems and messages into four volumes. Volume I includes all of the poems and messages written in 2012 and 2013. Volume II goes from 2014 through 2015. Volume III goes from 2016 through 2017. Volume IV goes from 2018 through the early months of 2020. Volumes I and II cover the period of writing when he and his wife lived in the northeastern part of Maryland. Volumes III and IV cover the period of writing while living in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. Volume II includes their move from their home of 38 years in the country. Volume III includes their transition to their new home near the mountains.

As Poteet began the process of documenting his journey, through the posting of poems and messages in 2012, he was a little sporadic. He went from monthly to bi-weekly to weekly and did not file them by date written. In 2013, he began recording his journey by filing his poems and messages by the month they were written. So, his Volume I journey is not in chronological order until 2013.

Poteet has kept the messages, which follow his poems, in the same manner as once posted. The manner of his writings was and is more train-of-thought or stream-of-consciousness than proper grammar. He thought it best to keep the meaning as once expressed, rather than modify by many changes in sentence structure.

Poteet's prayer is that the reader can use some of these poems, along with the prose that accompanies, to get through their days in the years to come; as the reader continues in their own journey.