About the Author: Chris C. Canton was born in Long Island, New York and raised   in Northern Virginia. After finishing school, Canton moved to Florida for six years, then relocated to Austin, Texas for eighteen years. During that time, he served six years with the Texas State Guard as an NCO in a military police battalion, rising to the rank of Staff Sergeant . The experience served as the basis for his novel, Sergeant Major. While in Texas, he worked as a graphic artist and color specialist in wallcovering design for the RV and Manufactured Housing industry. Subsequently, the company was bought out, and he was transferred to Elkhart Indiana in 2003. Five years later, the RV industry and manufacturing sector in general had experienced great economic hardship. Canton moved back to Ft Myers, Fl near his brother where he works as a painting contractor and is assistant trainer at the SJC Boxing Club, whose brother, Steve is its owner and trainer.  He writes freelance for a number of online sites and is author of two books of poetry and the military novel Sergeant Major. His poems have appeared in journals and publications throughout the country, as well as various online websites, and his articles and reviews can be accessed through the google search engine by typing in "Chris C Canton" or direct through this website.   An exerpt from my upcoming poetry book, "Round Barns..." ENDINGS Places lost; colors blended and fading from a day when there was once just too much rain, too much for the drain to handle, too much for the man saying goodbye to his woman; too much for age to resist its stand on youth.   With each turning of a day, it matters, less, the fields once adorned in an innocent spring..   Seasons pass and trees mature. Bushes grow ever full while others pass on,  Me?  I  sat back for too long; there is a something to being satisfied that can harden the most soft-spoken words, until edges bleed against the slightest touch of warmth. Where fathers die, and son's wander in eternal restless sleep hoping to talk for one more time... I don't know you like I did; only from a distance now preserved in the spirit of willing, unsold in a market place for years to come. What does all this mean?   I intend to tell you of the tricks my mind can play over the years. I start out by telling you it all isn't what it appears to be- it never is... I am for one day, yet for how much more on still another.. Ok, so you have seen the sitting back in chairs who's time had come for their own tossing. You've seen air-conditioned rooms sweating as if they were doing most of the talking; the silence of words from a man still searching...   And yet I've come to give back something from somewhere within. I dont know why-- its just I've come to a place in the world to rest my weary soul. "Thanks for the refuge," I say, and toss one more 'I love you' quietly against your familiar embrace; to let it settle in for the minute or two against our lives while I fix the hurt as best I can...  Chris C. Canton, "Round Barns", copyright 2009   ____________    Listen to my radio interview on "Gloria's Place", WNIL Radio, out of Niles, Michigan as I speak about the novel, Sergeant Major, and the two poetry books, Winter, While Walking - Collected Poems, and Blonde - A Quest For the Truth of Color:                   interview / track 1  interview / track 2  interview / track 3                                                                            Want to be informed about my upcoming writing projects? Have any comments regarding the news of the day? Sign up for my newsletter for interesting observations, and curious fact trivia... If you have an interesting article to contribute related to poetry, or anything else, please email me--chriscanton2002@yahoo.com        OTHER GIFT IDEAS:  Now available in one set. Enjoy both my poetry books  and the novel  along with my 45 min. CD interview on WNIL Radio. Click here for details and payment options available!                ______________                        I snapped the above photo while on a camping trip 13,000 ft up in the Weminuche  Wilderness of Rocky Mountain National Park, CO.  It was later converted to artwork and became the cover to my Poetry book, "Winter, While Walking- Collected Poems."        check out all three  of my books in  my "book reviews" section!