A lifetime of experience is difficult to put into words. Some find that writing their own memoir will test not only their memory, but their talent, as well. Others hear phrases like music notes and put them down on paper before the tune disappears. Suddenly there is a poem, a lyric staring back at them and they wonder where it came from.
Fayettevilles Joe Spensley found himself putting his thoughts on paper one day, after the death of his sister, Elsie. He wrote a touching tribute to her entitled The Youngest Girl, and shared it with his family and friends. Everyone who read the quatrains were surprised at the tenderness and eloquence that poured from this man who had spent a good deal of his life as an ironworker.
After years of traveling to various parts of the globe from his early origins in Uxbridge, a suburb of London, Joe found himself putting pen to paper again and again as he amassed a collection of life observations in a book of verse he has had published entitled, Home Thoughts From A Broader Perspective.
Spensley has an uncanny ability to take a subject, whether its something as sad as death or as simple as a vision of nature, and succinctly describe the essence it contains. Many of his poems surprise you with the knowing twist they reveal in their final lines. Sometimes they will make you laugh to yourself in recognition or they will cause you to choke up a little at their truth.
In his poem, A Friend, the verse recalls someone special, and its a sort of friend we can all relate to.
I had a friend pass on the other day, No more honorable or valiant could you find, Brave enough to keep the wolves at bay, So gentle people said, One of a kind.
His understanding nature was renowned, He lavished his affection to a fault, Humble in the praise he always found, Then sickness came and brought him to a halt.
The many years Ive known him have flown by, The cherished memories left retain the grief. I look for him some mornings with a sigh, No more the morning stroll upon the heath.
The dreaded cancer came and laid him low, Silent, deadly, painful were the signs. I told the Veterinary, Let him go. I buried him that evening midst the pines.
Spensley has been a Fayetteville resident since 1967, when he and his two daughters moved here from England. Originally, he and his wife and daughters had planned to just visit family in the states and then travel on to Australia. After a month had passed in Georgia, Joe decided, Weve got no business going to Australia. The Spensleys have been here ever since.
Over the years, Joe has built two homes in Fayette County from the ground up. He and his wife spent a year recently sailing the Keys, deep-sea fishing and sight seeing.
As a member of the Fayette Writers Guild, Spensley has entertained fellow writers with his acute observations and gentle wit. He has received awards for several of his poems, including, The Goodwin Sands, a descriptive ode to a piece of Englands coastline that has claimed its share of shipwrecks.
Spensley continues to collect his thoughts in verse. He doesnt expect to get rich from writing poetry, but he does hope to enrich the lives of others with his musings. His first book of poems is available from Penman Publishing.