ABOUT AUTHOR OF POEM 

Charles N. Guthrie’s poems often embrace famous people as well as non-famous such as this poem about the revered Patti Smith, or a poem about an old girlfriend entitled Bigfoot, who after breaking up left her large tennis shoes with him and because of sentimentality he could not bring himself to throw her shoes away.  Linda Opie’s Eyes, written as an Ode, is about a La Jolla High School crush the author had on the to be actress and movie star.  Elegy to Hank, is about the iconic Loyola Marymount basket ball player Hank Gathers who heroically died on the basket ball court.  The Ghost of Judy Mae Hess, who played Princess Summer-Fall-Winter-Spring in the Howdy Doody Show---   whose firing in 1953, broke the hearts of little boys and girls in the United States and created consequences for Richard Nixon and John Dean when the little boys and girls grewup in the 60s and 70s.  A poem entitled Pete Wilson, about his statute which stands alone on a downtown San Diego street extolls the virtues of a good and decent man (with some humor).  The River Ouse, is a poem about Virginia Woolf’s insanity and suicide.  Old Joe’s Dirt, a rhyme about “the road to Stalingrad,” the Russian People, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, Charles De Gaulle, and Dwight D. Eisenhower coming together in a poem about World War II.  Hey Freud Holster Your Cigar, a humorous rhyme —   sometimes a poem is just a poem.

Guthrie grew up in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and California.  His two uncles one a pastor in the Lutheran church, the other a Minister in the Presbyterian— Guthrie’s father  at different times played the church organ in both churches, resulting in the author’s attendance at all church services.  Often his family moved in West Virginia where he attended McKinley Junior High School, St. Albans Junior High School, and Dupont High School.   In Ohio he went to John Glenn High School (New Concord High School); and when 15 he moved to La Jolla, California, graduating from La Jolla High School.  After seven years on the San Diego Police Department with commendations for armed robbery arrests he left police work as an acting sergeant to finish law school.  He holds B.S. and M.S. Degrees in Criminal Justice Administration from San Diego State University and a Juris Doctorate from Thomas Jefferson Law School.  His Masters Thesis on domestic violence written at San Diego State University was used to fashion the present day California Penal Code's domestic violence laws.  At Thomas Jefferson Law School he received AM JUR awards for studies in Torts and Remedies.  He writes books, and practices law in San Diego, California.          

Here is a poem entitled The Studebaker:

It's about getting lost in a West Virginia graveyard, south of St. Albans, close to the Kanawha River.   

I came among the congregation

to stand and pray on the cemetery lawn.

I was a child, come to pay homage

to ancestors that had come and gone.

The loved that walked before I was born;

but, they were still in the conversation.

Songs were sung and prayers read.

Sacrificed flowers placed on graves.

With a sore neck from a bowed head

and bored with songs and prayers,

I walked away into the graves.

Got lost and became afraid.

When I found my way back

my family had completely left.

My family’s dead flowers sprawled

over the cemetery graves.

The Studebaker that brought me

would stop then it would blow its horn.

Someone called my name

into the stretching shadows of the gone.

.   .   .   . 

If you want to see how Studebaker ends, purchase My Jump From Heaven.