Welcome to my website! I hope that you enjoy some of the poetry which I have written and shared with you. My name is Bruce Blasius and I’d like to tell you a bit about myself:
I was born November 22, 1938 at the Hackensack Hospital in Hackensack, New Jersey. I went to the Hohokus School for kindergarten and first grade. Hohokus is a small town a little north of Ridgewood, New Jersey. By September of 1945 after the close of World War II, my mother found a beautiful home in the Ramsey Country Club Estates in Ramsey, New Jersey. We lived on the 5th hole of the golf course. I was always impressed with the house because it had a slate roof and a red-and-gray front slate walk with a large front oak tree and several birches. The house was surrounded with rhododendrons.
It seems to me that my mother mainly emphasized moral principles, character, and the reading of the classics. We had a hallway with book shelves on both sides, so to walk from the stairway from the living room, you had to go by the book shelves. I remember seeing a first edition of “The Clearing” by Robert Frost on the top shelf, but I never picked it up. I eventually sold it for $1.00 at a garage sale.
I didn’t plan on going to college because I didn’t have the money. By the end of the summer, my father asked me where I was going to go to college. I told him I wasn’t going – couldn’t afford it. He informed me that I was going and that he would foot the bill. I applied to several colleges and was accepted by several small schools. I had an interview in New York City with Dr. Walter Hendricks, Ph.D., the President of Windham College, which was located in Putney, Vermont. Dr. Hendricks was a publisher of the classics and we had good chemistry, so I decided to take a ride up to Vermont to visit Windham College.
Dr. Hendricks had founded Marlboro College in Marlboro, VT, in the 1940s and now he had founded Windham in the early 1950s. Windham was located on the Connecticut River and actually had more cows than people living in the village. I liked Dr. Hendricks and enjoyed his company. He started Windham with only three students in his house. I visited Vermont and decided it was the perfect environment for me.
On April 6, 1973, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and I now consider myself nothing but a servant and channel for God to do his marvelous works. He who is wise saves souls!
Dr. Henricks’ mentor was Robert Frost and he was also a personal friend. Frost used to recite at the student dining room at Windham College. He had an influence on me, but it took a long time for it to sink in.
One day I was driving on Route 4 in New Jersey and lines of poetry started coming to me. I decided to study Frost to acquire form and style. It’s a lot of work, but I enjoyed it. It was a “momentary stay from confusion” (Robert Frost).
WHEN I MET ROBERT FROST…
Robert Frost was good friends with Dr. Walter Hendricks, the President of Windham College where I attended school from 1959 to 1963. During my junior year in 1962, he used to have lunch with Dr. Hendricks in the student cafeteria. He would always recite something to us, so they were always very memorable occasions. One day Dr. Hendricks announced, “Robert Frost is with us for lunch today, but he’s not going to be reciting anything. After lunch, we’re going up to the new campus and we’re going to dedicate Robert Frost Hall.”
I had helped Dr. Hendricks clear the ground where the new campus was going to be built by cutting down brush, carting it off, and making the ground level. As I parked my car up the dirt road where the clearing was for the new campus, a Jeep pulled in front of me and out of the Jeep got Dr. Hendricks and Robert Frost. They opened up the back of the Jeep and took out two shovels: a silver one and a bronze one. Dr. Hendricks asked me if I would be the shovel bearer. I grabbed both shovels and followed them up into the clearing. When we got there, I was facing Robert Frost and held up the shovels. Dr. Hendricks said, “Robbie, pick a shovel.” So Dr. Frost said in a deep gravelly voice, “The bronze.” I gave him the bronze shovel and he stuck it in the earth, put his foot on it and his hands up on the top, then looked out over the Connecticut River Valley with a supremely poetic pose.
Dr. Hendricks said, “Bruce, you do the first shovelful. Robbie, give Bruce the shovel.” So I dug the first shovelful of earth with the silver shovel and handed it to Dr. Frost. He turned around and presented it to the crowd, holding it up. People came by with envelopes and took a pinch of earth to put into the envelope as a memento. That took quite a while. When that line was finished, this lady came up to Dr. Frost and said, “Dr. Frost, would you autograph my anthology of your poetry?” He said, again in a deep gravelly, age-laden voice (he was in his eighties at that time), “Lady, I don’t do autographs.” She started tearing up – she was a writer for a newspaper in Northampton, Massachusetts, and she had a handful of articles in her hand. She said, “But look at all these articles I’ve written about your poetry.” So Dr. Frost took three of the articles, read them thoroughly and said, “I’d be delighted to autograph your book because they were all favorable.” He autographed the book, but the townspeople were all lined up with books for him to autograph. So that took quite a while.
When that was finished, the photographers asked Dr. Frost and Dr. Hendricks, “Would you look this way for photographs for the newspaper?” These were very noteworthy and important people, and I was just a student, so I said to myself, Geez, I’m no poet, I’m getting out of here. So I turned around and started walking up the dirt path in the opposite direction. The next day in the school newspaper were photos of Dr. Frost holding the shovel of earth with Dr. Hendricks and in the background there I was walking with the shovel on my shoulder in the opposite direction. That was the beginning of my experience with Frost and the influence that he had on me. Later on in life when I began to write poetry, I thought it would be best if I studied Frost’s works so that I could have some style and form for my poetry.
I was born November 22, 1938 at the Hackensack Hospital in Hackensack, New Jersey. I went to the Hohokus School for kindergarten and first grade. Hohokus is a small town a little north of Ridgewood, New Jersey. By September of 1945 after the close of World War II, my mother found a beautiful home in the Ramsey Country Club Estates in Ramsey, New Jersey. We lived on the 5th hole of the golf course. I was always impressed with the house because it had a slate roof and a red-and-gray front slate walk with a large front oak tree and several birches. The house was surrounded with rhododendrons.
It seems to me that my mother mainly emphasized moral principles, character, and the reading of the classics. We had a hallway with book shelves on both sides, so to walk from the stairway from the living room, you had to go by the book shelves. I remember seeing a first edition of “The Clearing” by Robert Frost on the top shelf, but I never picked it up. I eventually sold it for $1.00 at a garage sale.
I didn’t plan on going to college because I didn’t have the money. By the end of the summer, my father asked me where I was going to go to college. I told him I wasn’t going – couldn’t afford it. He informed me that I was going and that he would foot the bill. I applied to several colleges and was accepted by several small schools. I had an interview in New York City with Dr. Walter Hendricks, Ph.D., the President of Windham College, which was located in Putney, Vermont. Dr. Hendricks was a publisher of the classics and we had good chemistry, so I decided to take a ride up to Vermont to visit Windham College.
Dr. Hendricks had founded Marlboro College in Marlboro, VT, in the 1940s and now he had founded Windham in the early 1950s. Windham was located on the Connecticut River and actually had more cows than people living in the village. I liked Dr. Hendricks and enjoyed his company. He started Windham with only three students in his house. I visited Vermont and decided it was the perfect environment for me.
On April 6, 1973, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and I now consider myself nothing but a servant and channel for God to do his marvelous works. He who is wise saves souls!
Dr. Henricks’ mentor was Robert Frost and he was also a personal friend. Frost used to recite at the student dining room at Windham College. He had an influence on me, but it took a long time for it to sink in.
One day I was driving on Route 4 in New Jersey and lines of poetry started coming to me. I decided to study Frost to acquire form and style. It’s a lot of work, but I enjoyed it. It was a “momentary stay from confusion” (Robert Frost).
WHEN I MET ROBERT FROST…
Robert Frost was good friends with Dr. Walter Hendricks, the President of Windham College where I attended school from 1959 to 1963. During my junior year in 1962, he used to have lunch with Dr. Hendricks in the student cafeteria. He would always recite something to us, so they were always very memorable occasions. One day Dr. Hendricks announced, “Robert Frost is with us for lunch today, but he’s not going to be reciting anything. After lunch, we’re going up to the new campus and we’re going to dedicate Robert Frost Hall.”
I had helped Dr. Hendricks clear the ground where the new campus was going to be built by cutting down brush, carting it off, and making the ground level. As I parked my car up the dirt road where the clearing was for the new campus, a Jeep pulled in front of me and out of the Jeep got Dr. Hendricks and Robert Frost. They opened up the back of the Jeep and took out two shovels: a silver one and a bronze one. Dr. Hendricks asked me if I would be the shovel bearer. I grabbed both shovels and followed them up into the clearing. When we got there, I was facing Robert Frost and held up the shovels. Dr. Hendricks said, “Robbie, pick a shovel.” So Dr. Frost said in a deep gravelly voice, “The bronze.” I gave him the bronze shovel and he stuck it in the earth, put his foot on it and his hands up on the top, then looked out over the Connecticut River Valley with a supremely poetic pose.
Dr. Hendricks said, “Bruce, you do the first shovelful. Robbie, give Bruce the shovel.” So I dug the first shovelful of earth with the silver shovel and handed it to Dr. Frost. He turned around and presented it to the crowd, holding it up. People came by with envelopes and took a pinch of earth to put into the envelope as a memento. That took quite a while. When that line was finished, this lady came up to Dr. Frost and said, “Dr. Frost, would you autograph my anthology of your poetry?” He said, again in a deep gravelly, age-laden voice (he was in his eighties at that time), “Lady, I don’t do autographs.” She started tearing up – she was a writer for a newspaper in Northampton, Massachusetts, and she had a handful of articles in her hand. She said, “But look at all these articles I’ve written about your poetry.” So Dr. Frost took three of the articles, read them thoroughly and said, “I’d be delighted to autograph your book because they were all favorable.” He autographed the book, but the townspeople were all lined up with books for him to autograph. So that took quite a while.
When that was finished, the photographers asked Dr. Frost and Dr. Hendricks, “Would you look this way for photographs for the newspaper?” These were very noteworthy and important people, and I was just a student, so I said to myself, Geez, I’m no poet, I’m getting out of here. So I turned around and started walking up the dirt path in the opposite direction. The next day in the school newspaper were photos of Dr. Frost holding the shovel of earth with Dr. Hendricks and in the background there I was walking with the shovel on my shoulder in the opposite direction. That was the beginning of my experience with Frost and the influence that he had on me. Later on in life when I began to write poetry, I thought it would be best if I studied Frost’s works so that I could have some style and form for my poetry.