(Thanks to my old friend Julian Frye for sharing this photo; please note no copyright infringement is intended.)Since this Saturday (September 1) is the 135th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Rice Burroughs, I thought I'd share this poem I wrote a number of years ago in honor of my favorite storyteller. It's not great but it came from the heart:
IN MEMORIAM: ERB
A Poem By John Allen Small
With simple words on paper
He drew a map that led me
On a pathway to adventure:
From Africa and Hell's Bend
Past the moon, Mars and Venus
To Beyond the Farthest Star
And a Land that Time Forgot
And back again.
Along the way
He introduced me to friends
Who helped teach me about
Bravery and honor;
And although they exist
Only in imagination,
Their spirits walk beside me
As I travel through this life.
It's a long, long way
From Opar to Barsoom...
But not so far
As from Kankakee to Tishomingo,
I think.