These poems and short stories vary in both size and content. Most are memories of my growing up in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. The poem "Woodridge" is among my favorites. "I came from Brooklyn my father to gleam, The house of Pagoda a baby would scream. Although sustaining less laughter than tears, Youth in Woodridge were still the best years." Another poem "Twins" I wrote for my friend. "They came into the world like a Fox Twins so a like, like shoes in the box clock tick tocks. He is my friend, the watchdog of my fury, guardian of the past Shelly I see, sorrow, ecstasy of the soul, deck to the mast forever to last." The short story "Liza Taube" is about a man beloved by everyone in my hometown. "Louis `Liza' Taube was born kicking and fighting, in the small town where he would spend his entire life. "Like my brother Joel, he was an innocent child lost in the body of an adult.