West Roaring Brook and Other Poems

PA T R I C K G U I N A N is an unassuming poet who tries to express in a very natural tone and style what he has seen and dreamed or what life as shown him. Speaking of his poetry, Guinan has said, "I have tried to say a few things about love and life and our memories of things that make us happy or sad, and I have always tried to express these thoughts as simply and honestly as I know how." In the tradition of William Carlos William, his poems are like little snapshots of the past, images or scenes that jar the memory and bring back times and thoughts that we all can share. His favorite poets are Frost and E. A. Robinson, Edgar Lee Masters, and Sandburg and their spirits are never far from his thoughts. In his mid sixties, Patrick Guinan is still a young poet who has found his voice and uses it to tell of his favorite memories and life's best learned lessons. Growing up in small towns in Michigan and Illinois, the father of two grown children, he spent forty years teaching in Florida with brief stints as a politician and sports broadcaster. He now spends his time between his winter home in Bradenton, Florida, and his summer cottage by Northport Bay in the lovely woods of Northern Michigan where he lived his young dreams.