BIRTHDAY TO MILTON
(Dec. 8,1608)

Born in a town
that bares 'Milton"
as its name,
"Paradise Lost"
quickly became my interest
about this free spirited
seventeenth century Puritan
and New Testamental based
tempest- tossed poet,
and when I first submitted
my first paper on
his vegetative imagery
the English professor
from Oxford
was so impressed
she had me teach the class
telling her it was my uncle
who brought us up
on Milton, Byron,Shakespeare
and when he came to visit
we all went out to lunch
at the Oyster House
that first December
and he taught her
so much about poetry
that my freshman year
became a four year stint
until my own poetry
was itself in print.