George Patterson

email: georgepatterson779@gmail.com

Born in 1952 in Birmingham, Alabama. I am a simple country boy, who likes people, trucks, and Alabama football... Roll Tide Roll! For those reasons, I write poems, prayers and essays. 

My mother didn't make us go to church, she carried me and my six brothers, every Sunday. Participation was not an option; I didn't like it because I would have rather been playing football with my friends. Once I moved out of my parents' house, I said I was not going back to church anymore because I had been going all my life, including vacation bible school every summer. 

When I shared that story with one of my friends, he told me that his fondest memory of church was his mother holding rosary beads in her left hand, while beating him with her right. The whole time she prayed to the Lord for enough strength to beat the devil out of him. The next time he entered a church, he would be carried by six of his friends. After evaluating the happiness, I was experiencing in my life, I found myself back in church. There I was doing the same things I did as a child, which I vowed I wouldn't do anymore. 

As a Design Engineer for Mosher Steel Company, I assisted with the design of many structures throughout the United States. Though, there are a few that I remain quite proud of. For instance, Rockefeller Center and Pier 57 in New York City, the backup launch tower for the space shuttle at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and a submarine drydock in Kings Bay, Georgia. We completed restorations to O'Hare International Airport, Chicago Illinois and countless others, such as The Galleria Mall, the county jail, Alabama Power Company in Birmingham Alabama and a car assembly plant in Smyrna Tennessee. My training and skills have granted me opportunities to design bridges, barges, roads and buildings. 

Those are but a few of the different jobs I've worked and cities in which I've lived. Because of those opportunities, I embrace different cultures, different cuisines and a difference in understanding. It was during that time, I realized that there was one common thread amongst the 48 states that I visited, worked and lived. It was never the city that made it a great experience for me, it was definitely the people. 

Throughout my life, I have encountered a lot of strange events and situations. After giving them some careful and serious consideration, to my surprise I found myself writing about them with amazement and ease. 

For all is never as it seems because the closer you look, the more reasons why you will find to write about. I have written a poem for every city I have lived or visited for work, based on how the people treated me. Within the pages of Poetic Opulence, there are but a small sample. I hope you enjoy them!