Tom Loper
A Spring of Roses
Available on Amazon!
Work in the Works ~ Page 2
Updated on 11/11/22
Just a quick note to let you know The Jeopardy! Experience has been freed from its PDF prison and is dancing free in 10 separate, easily accessed chapters. Don't foget, you can now watch all three of Lynn's episodes from 1992! (Just don't tell ABC, 'k?)
Updated on 11/9/22
It has taken a long time, but I've finally uploaded Lynn's three appearances on Jeopardy!. The videos are very low quality; they were first recorded on a VCR the nights the episodes initially aired, then transferred years later to a CD.
Lynn, Lynn's family, and I gathered at her mom's house each night to watch the shows.
I depended on the VCR's timed recording feature to capture the episodes, but as you'll see in the second episode, the timing wasn't precise.
I want to thank my friend Ran for converting these videos into a format I could use on my website. We've known each other since grade school. Because of Ran's help, you'll now be able to watch all three episodes of Lynn on Jeopardy!.
If you haven't read "The Jeopardy! Experience," I recommend reading the first (short) five chapters before watching the first two episodes, then reading chapters 7 & 8 before watching the last episode. Lynn's life—I guess everyone's life—is about things seen and unseen; my goal is to offer a glimpse of Lynn.
Another goal is to write each chapter in HTML and get it out of the current bulky PDF format. I call that housekeeping, which means that if my house is any indication, it may take some time.
If you get lost following the links above, you can find "The Jeopardy! Experience" and the links to Lynn's videos in the Nonfiction section of the Home page. Please enjoy watching. Click the email link—let me know what you think.
Updated on 9/11/22
In memoriam: Karen
I also have an essay I wrote about the trip Lynn and I took to the World Trade Center just three weeks before 9/11. It's called Dark Shadows. It can be found in the Nonfiction section.
Updated on 6/15/22
Just in case you didn't notice (look left), A Spring of Roses is available on Amazon. I've signed and numbered the first fifty copies. I still have some available; email me for availability. (They're the same price as the paperback.) I haven't figured out how to sign the Kindle version yet, and the darn scratch and sniff cover doesn't seem to work with the Kindle edition either. 🙂
Updated on 5/21/22
My goodness: it's dusty in here! I should at least run the vacuum.
I've been busy, but not with writing. I've been trying to put together a chapbook of poems. If I ever participate in more open mics, I thought it would be nice to have something professional-looking to show people. Maybe they'd even want to buy it. It's at the printer now and should be available for purchase by mid-June. Keep watching the fries. I mean pies. Skies! Well, you know The Thing I'm trying to say:
Watch this space.
Updated on 4/4/22
I took my father’s hand in mine.
We climbed the stone steps,
ancient to young eyes,
their outstretched palms
cupped from years of welcoming
searching soles
of feet.
Two-by-two as through
the weighty wooden door we’d go
like sheep.
I recall, though very small,
the reds and golds below and above.
The kaleidoscope of light
beyond the hall
would stream through angels,
and flood over the blood
brought to everlasting life
through stories told to ears
too new to hear.
Hand-to-hand we’d pay the soul
who saved us from
our fear. . .
This is the start of a longer journey. It begins when I was small. I'm taller now. I want this poem to describe a journey. I don't know where it will lead yet. Like a surprising number of my other poems, it tentatively circles around religious images. The hall is a reference to C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity:
“It is more like a hall out of which doors open into several rooms. If I can bring anyone into that hall I shall have done what I attempted. But it is in the rooms, not in the hall, that there are fires and chairs and meals. The hall is a place to wait in, not a place to live in.”
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity; (Harper Collins Editions, 2001, p. vx.)
Hands also play a significant role in my poems lately: guiding hands, helping hands, a tiny, fragile, loving hand, a sister's reassuring hand on my shoulder, Lynn's hand reaching for mine.
I'm writing these days to explore. This poem will be a journey.
Updated on 3/3/22
But, as Steve Allen used to say, "with all seriousness aside," I had an amazing time. It was a helpful learning experience, so helpful that I'll participate again, should the opportunity arise. "Watch this space."
I want to express my deepest thanks to my family for their loving support. I love you all so much; having you there meant the world to me. Also, Keryl, Katie, and the krew at Words Matter made sure everything ran smoothly. Thank you all for opening up your store to [insert bias here] a needed gathering for lovers of words. It's true, they got it right: Words Matter.
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Updated on 2/23/22
I'll be attending a poetry open mic night at Words Matter Bookstore in Pitman, NJ., on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. It's a free event/spectacle. I'll be 
reading some of my poems for the first time in public, like, in front of people, not just Rose the Cat! I'm shooting for spectacular but I'm so nervous that I think it might be a spectacle.
Anyway, please stop by if you can. Words Matter is a beautiful little main street bookstore in a quaint little main street town. Click the image to the left for more information.
Updated on 1/30/22
Been out riding the range, so I haven't updated for awhile. I did complete "The Poet Lariat," which can be found in the Various Forms section. It's what I'm calling modern blank verse. Traditionally, blank verse eschews all forms of lowly rhyme. The recently added "Together We Must Stand and Start Anew" is traditional blank verse; "The Poet Lariat" is not, but it's stil in iambic pentameter with no set rhyming scheme. It's way shorter too, so take a peek.
If you're stuck inside and looking for a longer piece to read while waiting for football, or if you just want to read a longer traditional blank verse, please check out "Together We Must Stand and Start Anew."
Updated on 1/8/22
I 've added a blank verse poem to commemorate President Biden's speech on the January 6th insurrection that he made on Thursday, January 6th, 2022, in Statuary Hall at the Capitol. It's called "To Make This Go Away," and it can be found in the Various Forms section on your left.
Updated on 1/6/22
This is a screen shot from a Facebook post that I found hilarious. Poetry is all about words, and these words just roped me in. (Pun intended, of course.) But then, something dangerous happened: I started to think. I thought about the phrase “poet lariat.” A rope of words? On which end of the lariat is the poet? Who or what is being lassoed, and by whom? There are so many fun and interesting possibilities that come to mind, and it inspired the following untitled fragment of what I hope will one day be herded into a whole poem. Naturally, it’s in iambic pentameter. (Edits will appear as strike-outs.)
Too far away, perhaps beyond the rise
That often hides the whispered questions asked
When no one else is near to hear: the fears
And loves that tangle up 'round our herded lives,
The unsung songs that long to find a home,
Or just a feeling left too long alone
And clouded in the dusty days of life.