Ed Roberts (born June 27, 1958, in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

) is an American poet, writer and publisher currently based in

Yukon, Oklahoma Yukon is a city in eastern Canadian County, Oklahoma, Canadian County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Oklahoma City Metroplex, Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area. The population was 22,709 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Fo ...

.Ed Roberts (amayhem) , LibraryThing
Retrieved 2014-12-02.

Early life

Ed Roberts was born June 27, 1958, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He graduated

Putnam City High School Putnam City High School (commonly, PC, Putnam City Original, and PCO) is a secondary school located in Warr Acres, Oklahoma, a northwestern suburb of metropolitan Oklahoma City, U.S.. It is one of three high schools in the Putnam City School Distr ...

in 1976. After a life-threatening illness in the year 2000 Roberts began to publicly share his poetry.

Poetry

Style and influences

His poems are mainly written in

free verse Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French ''vers libre'' form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech. Definit ...

, ignoring traditional rules such as regular meter,

rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic ...

, and

alliteration Alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of initial consonant sounds of nearby words in a phrase, often used as a literary device. A familiar example is "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers". Alliteration is used poetically in various ...

. According to Roberts these characteristics of poetry "would not translate the same in other languages."“City poet to attend Jordan festival”, ''

The Oklahoman ''The Oklahoman'' is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circulation) lists it as the 59th larges ...

'', August 21, 2005. Oklahoma City, OK Roberts had a poem translated into Cherokee for inclusion in the anthology ''Amaravati Poetic Prism 2019''. Roberts writing is influenced by his Oklahoma and

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

heritage.

Publications and honors

Roberts has given readings and speeches about poetry in schools, universities and at poetry festivals. In 2005 Roberts represented the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

with nine other writers at the ''Odyssey International Festival'' in

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. He serves as the parliamentarian for the Poetry Society of Oklahoma. Roberts is the author of ten poetry collections. Roberts’ poems have also been published by ''The Poetic Voices Magazine'' and ''The Poetry Sharings Journal''.

Bibliography

Poetry for life series

*''Poetry For Life'' The Poetry For Life Project, 2006. *''Save Our Selves'' *''A Walk Through Time''

Poetry collections

*''A Poet's Last Stand. A Collection of Poems & Song Lyrics.'' Virtualbookworm.com Publishing, 2002 / Createspace, 2014. *''Whispers, Tears, Prayers and Hope. Poetry & Song Lyrics.'' VonChasePublishing Company, 2008. / Createspace, 2016. *''Everything Must Have a Beginning, a Middle, and an End'' Createspace, 2014. *''When Words Escape You, You Can Use Mine'' Createspace, 2014. *''I'm Still Standing'' Createspace, 2014. *''Sometimes We Wait'' Createspace, 2016. *''From the Pill to the Bottle to You'' Createspace, 2016. *''The Traveler'' Createspace, 2016. *''Words for the Heart from over 40 years of Marriage'' Createspace, 2017.

Anthologies

* Iyengar-Paddy, Padmaja, ed. ''Amaravati Poetic Prism 2017'' Cultural Centre of Vijayawada & Amaravati (CCVA), Vijayawada, 2017. * Iyengar-Paddy, Padmaja, ed. ''Amaravati Poetic Prism 2018'' Cultural Centre of Vijayawada & Amaravati (CCVA), Vijayawada, 2018. * Iyengar-Paddy, Padmaja, ed. ''Amaravati Poetic Prism 2019'' Cultural Centre of Vijayawada & Amaravati (CCVA), Vijayawada, 2020. * Dravis, Betty and Von, Chase, eds. ''Dream Reachers II'' VonChasePublishing, 2011.

References

External links

Interview with Judyth Piazza CEO of the Student Operated Press Ed Roberts official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Ed American male poets 1958 births Living people Poets from Oklahoma Writers from Oklahoma City People from Yukon, Oklahoma 20th-century American poets 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American poets 21st-century American male writers Cherokee writers 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native American writers