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Copyright (C) 1997 by Barry Drogin

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INTRODUCTION by Barry J. Drogin

When I was a teenager, I started to compose music. One of my first projects was setting a collection of my father's poetry, either as a father's day present or birthday present. The melody lines weren't that good, and the piano accompaniment was improvised to chords I had written out.

Recently, I was reunited with these poems, when the family house was sold after my father's death. A treasure trove of old family photographs was also discovered, which I immediately had mounted in an album. I tried to scan the poems in, but found that OCR (optical character recognition) just ain't what it claims to be: the faded, typewritten words on yellowed sheets fooled the software on every line.

I put the project aside for a while, but then was handed another jewel of a collection: my grandfather's poetry, handwritten into an old, grey, composition book. This, obviously, could never be scanned. But wouldn't it be great it I could have them printed out in large type, for my grandmother to read? Her eyesight was getting worse and worse.

Thus, a grand typing project was begun.

I have never been a great judge of poetry, and I offer these three generations of poetry with no claim as to their worth. There appears to be a large population of high school and college students wandering through the Internet, and as these poems were all written by people of that same age, the poems may speak more directly to them than to a professional audience. Enjoy.

P.S. Quite by chance, in searching for something else, I discovered the original settings of my father's poems. So everything surfaces at once. Coincidence?

Biographies and commentary:
Solomon Drogin
Edwin Drogin
Barry Drogin

Permissions: With this notice, permission is granted to electronically download the following poems for personal viewing. The poems may not be saved in a non-cache form, or reproduced in any way without the express written permission of Barry Drogin. For information on how to purchase the entire collection, and other offerings, click here.

GENERATIONS/POEMS FROM THREE GENERATIONS OF DROGINS

PART ONE: IMPROMPTUS by Solomon S. Drogin

The machine rules o'er us all

Bow down, bow down

We are kept in locked pig stall

In field, in town

Praise God

All true art is starved to death

"Daily News," "Daily News"

We are choked by this monster's breath

O Muse, O Muse

Praise God

The machine rules o'er us all

Bow down, bow down

What is left to do but fall?

You clown, you clown

Praise God

MK

Four Days and Nights

Beginnings Found

PART TWO: A COLLECTION OF OBSCURITY by Edwin M. Drogin

Just one new idea, one thought my own,
Then ever will my name be known.
from "Irony", number 60

PART THREE: POEMS FROM A THREE YEAR SOPHOMORE by Barry J. Drogin

Zonker: You see, Joanie, school is more than just a way station! It's your last taste of freedom! It should be savored! Now, there are all kinds of ways to forestall graduation! Taking a term off, getting suspended, not completing courses, all of these are valid! If you just plan ahead, Joanie, anything is possible!

Joanie: You mean, like when you were a sophomore?

Zonker: Exactly! Joanie, those were three of the happiest years of my life!

Joanie: You were pretty adorable then..

G. B. Trudeau, "Doonesbury's Greatest Hits"

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Last Updated: May 24, 2009