Steve Shoemaker (1942-2016) shared equal time on Views from the Edge until his untimely death. Steve’s genre was poetry. Often his poems and verses led readers by the nose through his lines to the surprising last line that shed a humorous light on all that had come before. Steve was a 6’8″ gentle giant who lay on his side at night, quietly typing a new inspiration into his iPhone in the dark so as not to disturb his wife Nadja at 3:00 A.M. Poems like this one were waiting in my in-box in the morning.
Steve lived to write and craved desserts (especially his nightly bowl of ice cream) and sex, matters about which, so far as I could tell, he hadn’t lied. Nor did he brag or exaggerate. Of the seven friends who knew each other well over four decades, Steve was the least self-centered with the wryest sense of humor. He never denied himself a bowl of ice cream!
LENT
I will give up writing poems for Lent
I will give up eating desserts for Lent.
I will give up sex for Lent.
I will give up thinking about sex for Lent.
I will give up lying for Lent.
I will give up bragging for Lent.
I will give up exaggerating for Lent.
I will give up self-centeredness for Lent.
I will give up self-denial for Lent.
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL
March 5, 2014 (Ash Wednesday)
In this era of ill-humor and self-indulgence, Steve’s tongue-in-cheek verse again rings the bell on the betrayals of our best intentions, and our common need for repentance and forgiveness.
Thanks for the reminder of him and who/what he was…. Loved your articles regarding him.
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Glad you and others at Shepherd of the Hill had the opportunity to meet him, Karin.
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Thank you so much for this remembrance Gordon, and the memories it brings. Steve is one of my very favorite poets. …I say is, because he is. Still.
Nancy
❤
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Nancy, I’ll share your words with Steve’s wife, Nadja, while we are together in Indianapolis for Wayne’s memorial service. Thank you for sharing.
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I sure miss that tall drink of water, so filled with wisdom and wit.Spent hours with him at meetings of the Reformed Roundtable.
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I’d forgotten about the Reformed Roundtable, Jim. Steve craved the intellectual stimulation almost as much as sex and ice cream!
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