Charlie (as he likes to be called) lives with his wife, Lois, to whom he has been married for forty-seven years — this in 2009 — in Meadville, Pennsylvania, USA. His childhood years were spent ‘below the tracks’ and in an assortment of homes, both foster and institutional. Often hearing as a lad that he would never amount to anything, he was pleasantly surprised when his poems, brought on by a family disaster, seemed to be appreciated.

While in his sixties Charlie had joined a “WordPerfect” computer group on the Internet and in a forum he called “Chollie’s Follies” submitted a poem every month for over a year. The group dubbed him their “Poet Laureate” and were convinced he should get his poems published. As a direct result of their convictions, those very special friends he found “this side of Heaven”, Charlie had his book privately published in 2004 — a collection of poems that were written from 1992 until 2004 under the title of “This Side of Heaven”.

From Tragedy to Triumph

While working the lonely graveyard shift at Allegheny College as a Police Dispatcher, Charlie began remembering things about the family that his wife and he had lost one year before. It was due to their house fire two weeks before Christmas in 1991. Since that time the holidays had been days of deep sadness. They knew it would eventually pass, but time goes by so slowly when such memories are concerned. But from this tragedy, however, triumph was about burst forth, and the result is what you read in this website.

Charlie explains, “The poem ‘Dear Lord God’ took shape and I jotted it down. It was the first of many that I shared with my wife and my Internet group. The responses and moral encouragements were unbelievable. As memories and events unfolded in my life the poems have continued to evolve.”

As this website can only include a limited selection of Charlie’s poems, if you are interested in obtaining a copy of his book, “This Side of Heaven”, which covers a hotchpotch of subjects from computers to old age, but especially a group of Internet friends that any individual might consider himself most fortunate to be a part of and which the bulk of humanity will never find “this side of Heaven”, then go to Charlie’s Details in the GENERAL INFORMATION section to find out how you can order it together with contact details if you would like to contact Charlie direct.