"American Country Poetry" is the quintessential 100-poem historical depiction and romantic fantasies of American farm life in the mid-20th Century. Background poems tell stories of the early pioneer settlers. Farm and country life at the time was centered around the nuclear family and relatives, powerful work ethic, instilling American patriotic and Christian loving values in the children, and paying attention to rectitude in moral dilemmas. The author lived until the age of thirteen in South Dakota and considers himself fortunate for the experience and strength given him by the hard farm life on the rolling prairie. Sections of the book include: Down on the Farm, Nostalgic Americana, Country Life and Love, Horse Sense, Common Sense, Country Songs, Horse Play, Politics, Christian and Patriotic, and Things That Matter. Adults and children alike will enjoy the humor of poems like "Bossy Cow," "My Outhouse Memories," "Ode to Toilet Paper," and "The Day I Met a Skunk." Nostalgic poems include, "The Pickle Barrel," "My Patchwork Quilt," and "Out Past the Haystacks." Historians will love "The Battle of Bonesteel" and the story of my Grandfather proving up a claim near the Black Hills. Advice in the poems is pervasive, but particularly trenchant in the ones about "Advice from a Farm Boy," "Sharing Secrets," and "The Art of Persuasion." Discover Farm and Country Love in poems like "First Kiss," "I am Thankful for an Angel," "Lover's Shock," "Once Upon a Summer Dream," and "If You Ever Fall in Love." Personal Farm Memories include "A Farmer's Spring, "Autumn Came So Suddenly," "Down on the Farm," "Fifties Country Living," "My Old Farm," and "I Lived in Pleasant Valley." Contemporary Poems include "Ribbon World," Truth is not Hate," and "Grappling with the Gropers Questions." Memories of the Disappearing Past include "The Art of the Chivaree," Till the Vespers Bells Stop Ringing," Horseplay includes 'Autograph Albums for Seniors,"Friday the 13th," "Funny Things Happen on Friday the 13th," "I Love to Watch the Monkeys," "I Thought I Liked Dogs," "The Pumpkin and the Turkey," "The Throne Room with a View," and "While I Was Grilling Hamburgers." Sensitive Stories include "Lilacs and Roses, Things That Excite Me," "In My Memory Boxes," and Grandmas. Political Parodies and Perspectives include "Dreamers, Dreamers Everywhere," "American Dream Where Did You Go?" "The Criminal Conspiracy of the Clinton Crime Family, and "How to Defeat Communism and Terrorism." Christian and Patriotic poems include "Christmas Comes but Once a Year," "Evening Prayer," "God is the Inconvenient Truth," "I Will Stand for My Flag and Kneel for the Cross," "My 2017 Christmas Thoughts," "My Thanksgiving Prayer," "Veterans Day," "We Hold These Truths," "Whatever Happened to Paul Revere," and "What is a Soul?" Of the ten songs present, "It's a Blackberry Picking Morning," is the most loved by the few for whom the author sang.
About the Author: Roy Peterson has three Master's Degrees and has taught for the University of Phoenix. He has published eight books of poetry, history, historical fiction, relationships, and one for Juveniles. Roy Peterson lived around the globe including Russia and Germany. He has drawn on his extensive national and international experience. His poetry was written over decades and echoes the best of classical rhyming poets and their treatment of subjects. He not only is classically attuned, but is a first-rate American original humorist.