Odometer

Stephen has always had an equal love of both music and writing. Born in Iowa in 1945, he graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 1968 with a degree in music. After graduation, his intent was to get a second degree, this time in English with an emphasis on creative writing. He took classes for a year, including creative writing and a course in the writings of William Faulkner. He was also fortunate to have studied Modern British and American Poetry with Iowa poet, James Hearst. Stephen used his music education by being an announcer at the university classical FM radio station KTCF while he was taking classes. As the 1960s closed, Stephen said good bye to Iowa, moved to Chicago and continued to write and make music. In 1972 he self-published his first collection of poetry, Poems of Stephen Pearson. He included those poems in this anthology. His love of music manifested itself in forming an early music group with five other musicians that they incorporated as the Ars Nova Ensemble in 1973. The group performed vocal and instrumental (on period instruments) music from the time of the Crusades through the early Baroque. They gave concerts in the Chicago area through 1978 when the group disbanded. Stephen wrote little poetry during this time because he immersed himself in music. From 1974 through 1978, he only wrote 19 poems. There were none in 1979. In the late 1970s, Stephen developed a love of running and cross-country skiing. That took his focus away from writing and music. His love of skiing, however, proved to be the pivotal key to his future. In 1982, his love of cross-country skiing took him on a vacation to Colorado to ski and stay with former Chicagoans who moved to Colorado in 1973. He met their friend Gerry, who became the love of his life. Stephen left his beloved city of Chicago and joined Gerry to live in Colorado. The 42 Colorado years since have been fruitful. Stephen has continued to write poetry and Gerry is often the inspiration. In 2019, when he was 73, he published his novel, "Red Licorice and the Five Goddesses" with BookBaby. It received excellent reviews from readers, but with the onset of the Covid Pandemic, he lost his momentum to promote his novel. It is still available in paperback or eBook at BookBaby. Music is still a force in his life and he is a member of several groups. On his own, he plays a variety of Native American Flutes. He has continued to write poetry and is still very much alive. He limited this collection of his poetry to the end of 2023 because you have to stop somewhere.