Meet Papa Loon

I first became acquainted with Frank through some kind of a mistake. Sharon H had sent an email to a group of people, and when Frank received it and wanted to write back to Sharon, he hit "Reply to All" instead of just "Reply." Consequently, I received Frank's reply. I don't remember a lot about that first email, just that it contained a poem that he'd written.

. . . .

Now I need you to know that my taste in poetry is nearly nonexistent. I like "The Walrus and the Carpenter" from Alice in Wonderland pretty much and a couple of other classics such as "Barbara Frietchie," "Hiawatha," etc. I'm fascinated by the concept that all of Emily Dickinson's poems can be sung to the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas." And I'm terribly fond of limericks. But beyond that, friends, my taste in poetry is sadly underdeveloped.

. . . .

Then I met Frank. We wrote for a while, and then one wintery day he and his wife Barbara were Near Philadelphia, so I invited them to come and have lunch with Joe and me. We all got along just fine. That was our sole meeting. But surely God had a hand in the forging of this cyber-relationship. Over the years, every now and again, a poem from Frank will show up in my email. Sometimes several months will pass between them; other times they come in flurries -- a couple per week. Nearly all of them are theological reflections. And they are simply wonderful.

. . . .

I just love Frank's poetry. I share it with family, with friends, with pastors, with coworkers. The other day it dawned on me: Frank's poetry could have a much wider audience by a BLOG. So I wrote to my friend, and he enthusiastically replied that he'd like me to get a blog started for him. Tonight I managed to do that. The picture at the top of this post is the same picture at the top of Frank's initial post. I've linked his blog to mine -- please take a look, and if you like his poetry, come back often. I have a big file of his work, and will be posting his pieces one at a time. And eventually, I hope, he'll be posting them himself!