VGCC instructor publishes e-book of poems


Vance-Granville Community College Developmental Reading and English instructor Chris Brockman (VGCC Photo)

Vance-Granville Community College Developmental Reading and English instructor Chris Brockman (VGCC Photo)

Chris Brockman, an instructor of English and Reading at Vance-Granville Community College, has released a new book of poetry on the ups and downs of aging. The collection is entitled “I Used To Be Old.” Brockman describes his work as “empathetic and accessible poetry that will resonate with anyone who is, has thought about, or is close to someone who is growing older,” adding, “and everyone is growing older every day!” The poems range from fond remembrances to love poems, from reflections on loneliness to the serial indignity of nursing homes, from musical allusions to TV show allusions, from life summaries to life celebrations. “I Used To Be Old” is available as an e-book on Amazon.com. Brockman also maintains the “I Used To Be Old” Facebook page, on which he not only posts poems on the topic of “maturity,” but also invites others to post their own appropriately themed poetry, prose or images.   

Brockman’s previously published books include “What about gods?,” a memoir entitled “Growing Up in Boom Times,” and “Malachi’s Cove,” which he adapted from an Anthony Trollope short story.  He has also written and published articles, essays, reviews, poems, and creative non-fiction pieces in magazines, newspapers, journals and anthologies.

A resident of Wilton, Brockman has taught for VGCC since 2005. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Oakland University in Michigan and a master’s degree at Eastern Michigan University. Brockman previously taught language arts at Bunn Middle School and G.C. Hawley Middle School in Creedmoor, and he has taught writing classes for the Granville County Senior Center.

A poem from “I Used To Be Old” follows.

 

Life in Brief

Wind and sun and rain and earth

Ideas, ideals, work and mirth

The garden grows and life sustains

Love and laughter trump sorrow and pain

We’re born, we grow, we live, we die

Hello, how are you, I’m fine, good bye

Along the way we celebrate

Our genes our dreams we propagate

When we go we go content

With value bought in hours spent