My Other Path (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781481291880)

Brian Osborn was born in Great Falls, Montana, the third child of Gary and Avis Osborn. He has older twin brothers and a younger sister. His father was a career US Air Force enlistee, which meant the Osborn family relocated often to different states and countries. After graduating from Rock Springs High School, in Rock Springs, Wyoming Brian followed his father's example and enlisted in the US Air Force. He spent 20 years as a fighter aircraft crew chief stationed in New Mexico, Iceland, England and Florida. He pursued secondary education for several years and eventually earned a master's degree in business management. He started writing poetry and short stories while in high school, primarily as assigned work. He continued writing sporadically until he enrolled in a Literature and Composition course with University of Maryland European Campus while stationed at Keflavik Naval Air Station in Iceland. Once again as assigned course work, he began reading and analyzing select poems, only this time with a higher level of fidelity. He began writing with more focus on the concrete elements and styles of writing. His poetic influences include humorous works by Sheldon Silverstein, Billy Collins and E.E. Cummings, as well as more established works of Robert Frost, William Stafford and Ted Kooser. Brian's poems are written with subtle humor and irony, more about people and places than of artistic expression, though he also writes with equal interest toward more austere and mature topics. His poems reveal distinct voices, whether a southern grandmother, a Scottish sailor, a railroad lineman or a Wyoming coal miner and often include reference to dogs, or canine characteristics, to highlight human behavior. Brian currently lives in southern Arizona with his wife and three dogs. He works for the Department of Defense, enjoys jeep rides into the desert with his dogs, and meets as often as possible with local writers groups to share knowledge and ideas about poetry.