Ward Kelley says, "I must admit I'm enamored with the montage created between a poem based on a historical personage and the bio at the bottom of the poem." His poems often attempt to analyze the motivations and feelings of historical characters through his own personal introspection. Perhaps the best example of this is "A Daemon Hesitates at the Waters," where he explores certainty and disillusionment through the eyes of an un-named mythological spirit. In his work, you'll see him effectively blur the line between poet and subject.
Ward continues: "I'm a 49 year old business executive with 3,600 people in the division reporting to me. I only mention this because in a sense the daimon that propels my occupation also propels my poetry. For instance, Gertrude Stein once said, "If Mr. Robert Frost is at all good as a poet, it is because he is a farmer -- really in his mind a farmer, I mean."
"Am I a businessman who writes poetry, or a very minor poet successful at business? Who knows? But my daimon propelled me into such a good financial position that I could now quit my business dealings and comfortably write poetry the rest of my life . . . yet I am afraid to quit for fear my daimon will leave me, or my greed will taunt me for decades.
"Formerly I managed distribution centers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, California, Arizona and Illinois. My wife and I now live outside of Indianapolis and are currently toiling with much determination on our second crop of children, having adopted four wonderful girls and fostered several others.
"Fairly new to publishing my efforts -- this most challenging of all endeavors -- I have still been fortunate to enjoy some initial successes, and have published 429 pieces since late '96." Recently, Ward was nominated for the 1999 Pushcart Prize, completed an interview with Elisha Porat, and was selected as a featured poet by Pyrowords and Ezine seeker. You can find more of Ward's works in such print publications as The GSU Review, Limestone, The Listening Eye, The Lucid Stone, Mad Poets Review, The Old Red Kimono, Porcupine Literary Magazine, Potpourri, Rattle, River King, Skylark, Sulphur River Review, and Sunstone, or on the Internet at Pif, Ariga, Big Bridge, Oblique, Offcourse, PoetryMagazine, Pulse, Renaissance, The Rose and Thorn, San Francisco Salvo, 2River View, and Abraxis. He has a book on CD and CD-ROM, Comedy Incarnate, and one in print, Divine Murder. Check them out at the Unlikely Stories bookstore. E-mail him at Ward708@aol.com for details about his novels, or whatever.
Ward's works here at Unlikely Stories are:
2001:
Holocausts
Celtic Warrior
When Hormones Fade
July 1998 - July 1999:
The Jerusalem of Our Earthly Souls
Where Death Will Jump
Whispers
Eaten Up by Wolves
William Searches for the New Place
A Temple Prostitute Suggests to Titus
A Daemon Hesitates at the Waters
Annie Easily Unraveled
A Startlement
The Starting Gun for Joan