One Heartbeat Away (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780615970394)

Joe, the Poet, was born to a single mother in February of 1976, and was the middle child of 8 sisters and 1 brother. Growing up in a large family gave Joe many life experiences from which to draw upon in his poetry compositions. Joe, the Poet, grew up in St. Louis City, Missouri around the elements of poverty, gang violence and drugs. City life remains as challenging today as it was when Joe was born in 1976. Joe went to city public schools until dropping out in the 9th grade, when he decided to move in a different direction, needing more substance and inspiration in his life. Joe, the Poet, never really attended regular church services growing up, although, his late grandmother did try to lead Joe and his family towards a semi-religious direction and background as Pentecostal Christians. Joe, the Poet, loved spending his days listening to R&B love songs and hip hop music selections. From this, he first developed his talent and passion for expressing his thoughts and feelings with rhyme style, free verse, and prose. Joe created his own way of using the thoughts and emotions in his life and transforming them into words of bold expression. This, combined with Joe's later incarceration, ultimately created the foundation upon which he would later build to express his loves, heartbreaks, pains, prison emotions, and his curiosity of spiritual wisdom. These life experiences together led to the inspirations Joe needed to start writing his poetry and become "The Poet" that Joe truly is. It is Joe, the Poet's, hope and prayer that his poetry not only express his take on life, but further helps to give others validation, inspiration, vision, and insight into their own thoughts and feelings, emotions and fears. Joe's talent with rhyme style, free verse, and prose has the potential to reach us all.