September 22, 2025 • 46 mins
Robert Bliss, a decorated US Marine Corps Vietnam veteran, shares his extraordinary journey from a troubled childhood to becoming an accomplished American poet, photographer, and editor. Through raw, honest conversation, he reveals how surviving Vietnam and finding solace in nature shaped his creative perspective and spiritual outlook.
• Experienced a "riches to rags" childhood, going from a comfortable life to living under boardwalks and stealing to survive
• Found safety at the Johnny Andrus Children's Home after being rescued by social services
• Joined the Marines after high school and volunteered for Vietnam combat at age 18
• Nearly died on September 21, 1967, when a mortar round landed at his feet during an intense firefight
• Returned home to face apathy and poor treatment as a Vietnam veteran
• Discovered healing and inspiration in the Catskill Mountains, where nature became central to his poetry
• Views poetry as coming "from the soul," requiring emotional honesty to create meaningful work
• Currently writing his autobiography to preserve his unique life experiences
• Offers encouragement to aspiring writers: "Put a few words on paper, see where it goes"
• Believes in the healing power of creative expression and finding beauty in life despite past trauma
Robert's books of poetry capture both the darkness of war and the healing beauty of nature. Check out "The Poetry of Bliss" and watch for his upcoming autobiography.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
She's the voice behind the viral comedy bold
commentary and truth-packedinterviews that cut through the
chaos.
Author.
Brand creator.
Proud conservative Christian.
This is Elsa Kurt.
Welcome to the show that alwaysbrings bold faith, real truth
and no apologies.
Well, hello everyone.
It's Elsa Kurt and I have awonderful guest today.
(00:23):
This is Robert Bliss, sittingnext to me.
He is a Marine Vietnam veteran,so that automatically I have to
stop right there and say thankyou for your service.
I am the wife of a Marine, soyou are already near and dear to
(00:43):
my heart.
And not only that, you are apretty illustrious guy.
You're a decorated US MarineCorps Vietnam veteran, as well
as a poet, an editor, aphotographer and my other
favorite thing a patriot.
So I think you and I are goingto get along famously over here.
(01:04):
So today we're going to betalking about your poetry and,
of course, your books.
So, first and foremost, thankyou for joining me.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
today I'm very well and to your husband I say semper
fidelis, as all Marines do.
This is my current book.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I have a new one coming out.
It is absolutely gorgeous.
I love that cover yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I designed it.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
You designed it yourself.
That's so beautiful.
Is that the Catskills I know?
Speaker 1 (01:38):
we're going to be talking a little bit about that,
but is it?
Yes, yeah, I love it up in theCatskills.
Beautiful country.
I've always liked the country.
Yeah, me too.
I'm a nature geek.
I think you're a nature loveras well.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Obviously right, since half of our interview is
outside.
So I'm a little bit envious.
If I go outside to do theinterview, I can guarantee my
neighbor will start mowing hislawn.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Of course it's a guarantee.
So I'm stuck in the studio.
Wow, that's no okay.
So all enjoyed for both of us.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Thank you, I appreciate that.
So I want to kind of go through.
You're going to take me back ifyou won't mind and we're going
to work our way through the bookprocess and everything.
But I know my viewers andlisteners, we're going to want
some background here.
So one thing that you said aspart of your bio kind of struck
(02:36):
me, and it says that you are ariches to rags story.
So tell me a little bit aboutthat, because that's obviously
the switch around of what we'reused to hearing.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Okay, well, my mother was in show business.
She was a piano player, asinger, a dancer with the Bubsby
Berkeley Review in the 1930s.
Then she went into RinglingBrothers' Barnum Bailey Circus.
My brothers and I got to meetEmmett Kelly, the famous clown,
but nonetheless my motherremarried after Bliss our father
(03:13):
, to Bachelor who was an airlinepilot, and we moved from
California to the East Coastbecause he had to fly out of the
East Coast, out of New York,and we had a beautiful home
there in Douglaston, queens, inthe woods.
But my mother and stepfatherwere drinking quite a lot and
(03:37):
they got into fights andarguments.
One day he just got in the carand took off in the car and took
off from there.
It was a steady uh decline frombeing well off to becoming at
the at the bottom of it all inlong beach, long island, very,
very poor, no supervision.
My brothers and I lived underthe boardwalk.
(03:58):
We had to steal from grocerystores.
I hate to say this, but westole from the poor box of
church for money.
We devised a way to do it.
We stuffed the phones withlollipop wrappers and went by
every three days on theboardwalk and with a wire hanger
, pulled the paper down and allthe change would come down.
We were surviving and it'samazing when I look back on that
(04:23):
how we survived.
And it was a very difficulttime in our lives.
There was a lot of abuse byolder not physical abuse, but
older men were very aggressivetowards us.
We were just children, rags, orrather a richest to rags story,
uh, until social servicesfinally captured us because we
(04:48):
hid from them and got us into afoster home.
And then from the foster homewe were there for a year, which
was very bad.
Uh, donald and I, my older, mytwin brother, my fraternal twin
and I were transferred to themost beautiful place I've ever
lived in my life called theJohnny Andrus Children's Home in
1961.
And it was a campus of fourwhat they called cottages, but
(05:14):
they were big stone buildings,little boys, little girls, big
boys.
And then down the hill by thedairy barn, the big boys where
we went, and there were 20 of usin that building and it was
just beautiful acreage peacockswalking around, cows, pigs,
sheep, chickens.
(05:36):
God, I still think about that.
I still think about that Inthose days.
Johnny Andrus, who was abillionaire who built it for
children, dictated that in thosedays.
Well, he started it in the 20sbut you had to be white and you
had to be Protestant to get in.
(05:56):
We fit the bill and we werevery honestly fortunate to get
in there, stayed there until Igraduated from high school when
I joined the Marines.
Wow, wow.
So you went into the Marinesright after high school.
Oh yeah, it was just acontinuation of I played a lot
of football, I was a gymnast, Iwas on a swimming team and it
(06:22):
just seemed like a naturalprogression.
I wanted to see if I could cutthe mustard with the Marines,
and I found out I did.
Not only did I cut the mustarddown there at Parris Island, I
was promoted out of boot campand there was only 10 of us out
of 90 recruits who were promoted.
So I guess I cut the mustard.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, I guess, so, geez.
I guess I cut the mustard.
Yeah, I guess, so, geez.
I'm so struck by the contrastof occurring in your life from
you know, from like you startedoff with the riches and one
particular lifestyle that youstarted your life in, and then
the drastic changes to somethingso much less than that, and
(07:08):
then another drastic switch intothis incredible home with all
of these beautiful things, andthen the Marines, which is
another stark contrast.
I mean, the polar opposites thatyou experienced in such a young
age obviously had to shape somuch of your perspective, and
(07:33):
then, of course, later in life,in your writing.
Now I'm curious at what point.
I would imagine you've beenwriting for a long time.
When did you start writing?
Speaker 1 (07:44):
I started in high school.
I just picked up this flair.
It was a substitute Englishteacher from Hastings on Hudson
Hastings High School still areally well-known school who had
us all write a short story andI wrote a Hemingway-esque story
(08:06):
and he liked it so much he saidyou know?
He said, robert, you ought toconsider writing.
You're good, you're good at itand I.
It stayed with me and I startedwriting poetry.
Um, but I wanted to say quickly, uh, regarding the, the, the
difficulties in our early youthgrowing up, and those tragic
(08:27):
moments.
My mother was alcoholic, shewas never around.
I like to say that Oliver Twisthad nothing on me and it was, I
mean, my favorite poems eventoday Lighthouse and Dreamwind,
(08:52):
which are in the Poetry of Blissbook I wrote in high school was
it always poetry for you, ordid you do any fiction like what
pulled you towards poetry?
over, say, novels and thingslike that.
What I found with poetry isthat, um, as I discussed with
(09:16):
another poet at one point,poetry comes from the soul and
you're born with it and itbegins to manifest itself as you
become older and it's a veryemotional process.
If you're not speaking fromyour soul and from your heart,
you're not writing good poetry.
And I had that capacity and Idon't mind, and I didn't mind uh
(09:39):
, expressing emotional, uhdiscourse through my writing.
It suited me.
And another thing I alwaysthought at first I thought
writing poetry would be easierthan writing stories or books or
what have you.
I found out later on,especially lately, it's not that
easy, because now I spend a lotof time editing my poetry to
(10:04):
make sure I'm getting themessage out that I want to get
out.
It's a difficult process, but Ilove it and I do it every day.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
I have to confess that I go to.
Now I'm an author as well and Iwrite novels and some
non-fictions things like that,and I write novels and some
(10:46):
non-fictions things like that.
However, I go into what I'mgoing to now call poetry
paralysis.
I cannot get myself to writepoetry and I, you know, it's so
interesting what you're sayingbecause I think you may have,
like I think you just gave metherapy here, I think, because I
think you're so right, poetryis so different because there's
so much emotional release inpoetry that it's so raw and it's
so personal and so real.
Right, like you can't slip into,I mean I guess you could.
Like you can't slip in, I meanI guess you could, but you're.
(11:08):
You're really putting yourselfonto paper and I commend you for
being able to do that, becauseI would imagine it had to be
some form of therapy for you,giving those challenging you
know and that's probably theunderstatement right to call it
challenging circumstances thatyou were growing up under and
there had to be so muchconfusion.
You know you're just a childreally and going through things
(11:32):
that you know most kids don'thave to go through, don't
experience.
So did you put a lot of that onpaper?
Is that in your poetry as well?
Speaker 1 (11:44):
I don't write so much about my childhood.
I have written some things.
I agree with you.
Poetry to me is verytherapeutic.
I'm divorced now three years.
My wife, well, I won't get intothat, she was in the hospital,
she bipolar, um and and and and.
(12:04):
These days, especially nowliving alone to me, I have to
get outdoors.
I can't sit in my in myapartment, although I have a
lovely cat that I found outdoorshere and brought in.
But I mean, it's, it's therapy,it is and and and and.
I always and and and.
If you have an impasse, if youwrite anything and you're a poet
(12:28):
, especially if you're in ablock or an impasse, again I
really love being outdoors.
It just does something to me.
(12:50):
I don't know what.
Anyway, I know I'm rambling onhere.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
No, you're not.
No, you're speaking to my heart, really, because we started off
with.
I feel the same way about beingoutdoors.
It's when I'm my most at peace,my most inspired.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Just right, like it.
Just it is almost for uswriters, it's even for us
writers.
It's almost intangible what theeffect nature has, and and just
just even just looking at yourbackground right now, it just
brings me peace, you know.
So I I fully.
(13:29):
That's not rambling at all,that's just it's.
It's just what it's just whatit is.
I'm not a big fan of thatphrase, but it is what it is.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
True, it is.
It's very true.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Right Now talk to me a little bit.
So I kind of I started to touchon it and I veered off on us
your, your military experience,your experience in Vietnam.
Were you able to I mean, Iguess there obviously is some
sense of downtime there Were youable to write then?
Did you feel like writingduring that time period, and how
(14:06):
different do you feel if youdid with your writing then?
Speaker 1 (14:27):
story.
I write about that, though I Iwas keeping a journal, a daily
journal I tried to keep in theevening when we would set in in
the night, dig our, fuck ourfighting holes, and dig in and
try to relax in the night.
For the night somewhere I wouldwrite this journal of the day's
activities, and I did that forsix months, and one afternoon we
(14:47):
were fording a stream and itfell out of my.
I used to keep it under myhelmet when I'd go across a
stream and I dropped the helmet,hitting a rock, and it fell
into the water and I was using amagic felt-type pen and all the
writing ran and I lost sixmonths of that journal.
(15:10):
It was just devastating to me.
I couldn't believe thathappened.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
My heart just stopped for you with that, because I
know the pain of that when youpour so much into it, and then
you know, then you have thatthought process of do I try and
recapture all of that and howcan I possibly, you know,
recapture?
Speaker 1 (15:34):
the exact moments Right.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Oh, I'm so sorry that happened to you.
Oh that's so awful, that's youknow.
Today's equivalent of that isif your computer crashes while
you're running and you can'trecover the files and I have had
that happen Now, continuingthat, if you don't mind, you
volunteered for combat, is thatcorrect?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
For combat.
Is that correct?
I was writing for yeah, I waswriting for commanding officer
when I was with the 27th Marinesout in California in Camp
Pendleton, and I did that foralmost a year and I was getting
so bored with it.
I used to run the hills in theevening just to stay in shape
after duty out there along thebeach, just to stay in shape
(16:23):
after duty out there along thebeach.
And then one morning the topsergeant had us all out there on
the company street and he saidhe said, marines, we need 10
volunteers for Vietnam.
So Mr Stupid raised his hand.
I was 18 years old, naive, noidea of what I was getting into,
I thought initially.
(16:43):
My thought thought was thiswill be a really incredible
adventure.
Well, I neglected to considerthe fact that there were people
over there trying to kill us,and so that changed the whole
perspective.
And of course, I was thereseven and a half months and we
(17:03):
ran into a North Vietnameseregiment.
We were outnumbered three toone.
Our commander behind us saidfix bayonets.
And when you hear that you know, oh, this is, this is bad news.
They don't ever tell you to fixbayonets.
So we went in at them.
Bullets were snapping by my head, snap, snap.
(17:24):
Friends of mine were falling infront of me and there were
people up in front of me and Iopened fire on them and brought
them down.
And after this went on formaybe a half an hour, a mortar
round landed at my left foot,blew me up in the air and
knocked me down and when it didI was on my back and knocked the
wind out of me.
I remember I knew I was introuble because I tried to get
(17:51):
up and I could see my left footwas dangling so I was bleeding.
So I grabbed the earth withboth hands, holding as if to
hold onto the earth.
I would stay with it, I'd stayalive, and I held on.
And then I saw a white, like alight above my head, a white
(18:12):
light.
And as long as I focused onthat light I continued to stay
conscious and alive.
Eventually they got us out.
Yeah, a nurse told me at theOakland Naval Hospital months
later when I explained that toher and she said to me she said
what's that white light?
She said what you saw was faith.
She said it was faith.
Wow, you know, wow, yeah.
(18:36):
Anyway, the doctor told me atthe Naval Hospital.
I mean, when I got onto thehospital he said, corporal Bliss
, I don't think we're going tobe able to save you.
He said, but I'll try.
And I said, doc, do your best.
Well, I fooled them all,because here I am talking to
Miss Edna at the moment.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
And here you are.
You know it's incredible, andeven more so as you think about
the fact that, like you said,you were an 18-year-old kid.
What did you know?
And, of course, and all of theyoung men like you, specifically
(19:17):
with that war, which was, ofcourse, unlike any other, uh,
since then, and, of course, whenyou came home, collectively, as
as veterans, uh, the treatmentof vietnam veterans is just uh,
it makes me want to cry anytime.
you know my husband, of course,you know we'll talk about this
(19:38):
because he, you know loves thehistory and and all of that and
and I almost have to stop I'mlike I can't, I can't even hear
it because it just breaks myheart to to know?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yes, absolutely.
If we weren't abused.
Most of us were abused, but ifwe weren't, if it wasn't that,
if that weren't the situation,we were greeted with apathy.
I came home to Hastings andHudson and even my own friends
just didn't bother with me.
The townspeople that knew me,you know because of my sport,
playing sports and everythingfor the town.
(20:11):
They were just apathetic and itwas very, very difficult to
deal with.
I remember years later, in 1975, the New York City decided to
throw a parade for the Vietnamveterans and a friend of mine
said to me come on, bob, they'reto throw a parade for the
Vietnam veterans.
And a friend of mine said to mecome on, bob, they're throwing
us a parade.
I said you go?
I said I'm not going, it wastoo late you know, too late.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Yeah, I know that it left a lot of bitterness and
hurt.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
A friend of mine came home and killed himself.
He shot himself.
It was the most we were.
All we were doing.
Enough was what our fathers haddone before us serving our
country with honor, like my daddid in germany, and and we came
home to that to the uh, it washorrible.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Anyway, I don't want to dwell on that no, I, I, I,
you know I understand it as muchas my capacity for
understanding that and of courseI didn't experience it, so I
could never understand it onthat level.
But my heart goes out to youand every Vietnam veteran who
experienced that.
It's just unforgivable and sucha black mark and disgrace on
(21:26):
our history really.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yes, but our honor was intact.
We kept.
Our honor was intact and wesurvived it.
I mean honor is a veryimportant thing, as you would
know, and I'm sure your husbandknows, and mine's intact.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Absolutely, absolutely and rightly, so,
deservedly, so definitely.
Now I have in my notes herethat there was a pivotal day,
september 21st 1960, 1967.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Um what?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
what is it that happened on that day that that
affected you?
That affected your?
Speaker 1 (22:01):
life.
That was the day I was nearlykilled in Vietnam.
That was the date it resonates.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
I suspected that it was.
Yeah, obviously that was such alife-changing moment for you
and again, at 18 years old, toyou know, to one face your
mortality.
I mean, you grow up almostinstantly, right?
Oh yeah, and I'm sure yourprevious life experiences, you
(22:30):
were probably an adult at a veryyoung age, right?
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Oh yeah, well, I grew up as a child, basically, but I
mean, like I say to friends ofmine, in fact I wrote a poem
about it.
I didn't go to Vietnam to die,I went there to live.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
And you do, you live.
That's where you live, more incombat than any other situation
in life, because life is soclose and so real and so
desperate and elusive sometimes.
So I was very fortunate to havesurvived.
Pardon me, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
No no no, I cut you off.
Do you think?
Your experience as a Vietnamveteran and, of course, a
decorated Marine, your service,all of that, the challenges, all
of these things, how would yousay that they shaped the themes
and the tone of your poetry?
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Well, all of that, my early life and the Marines,
especially Vietnam, just it gaveme a fine-tuned perception of
what life is, what life can beand what it can't be.
And from that perspective, umand years afterwards, I was able
(23:55):
to turn it into words andemotional, the emotional impact
as well, those emotions, turningthose emotions into words too.
And you know, I like to saythat I survived Vietnam because
(24:17):
it was fate and I believe infate, and I think I was fated to
become an American poet andthat's what I try to do every
day.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yeah, and I would imagine you give voice to so
many other veterans who aren'table to articulate that deep
well of emotions and they can'tput the words to it, whether
they don't know how or it's justtoo much for them to speak on,
but they feel the need to beunderstood and I would imagine
that reading your words andseeing their feelings and their
(24:56):
thoughts because it's got to be,you know, quite universal in
some ways for all veterans whoexperience what you've
experienced, it just must be sohelpful to them.
So just bless you for writingthe things that other people
feel really right, I mean that'swhat a gift.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah, it's true.
I mean I send some of my poems,especially my Vietnam poems.
I wrote a poem called Were youthere that addresses the subject
of Vietnam, not so much toveterans but to the country and
the world, and I sent that toseveral of my Vietnam buddies
who survived.
And they write back with youknow these comments that says,
(25:42):
bob, you really hit it.
You know this is what I'vethought about.
But they, you know thesecomments that says, bob, you
really hit it.
You know this is this, this iswhat I've thought about.
But they, you know they're,they're just grateful and I I
appreciate, I appreciate that,especially from my Vietnam
brothers.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah, I bet, I bet.
What a powerful gift to to beable to give to, you know, to
anyone who's experienced.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
I feel blessed.
I really do.
I think I survived Vietnam tobe where I am today and to be an
American poet.
I really do.
I like to call myself anAmerican poet.
I don't have that wide of anaudience yet, but maybe someday.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Listen, you are a published American poet.
That makes you an American poet.
You are exactly who you say.
You are right, I think it'swonderful and again, and I bring
back that, that contrast of youknow being in kind of immersed
in something that is, you know,just filled with a lot of
(26:49):
ugliness and darkness and painand all of those things, and
then, to balance it out with thebeauty of the Catskill
Mountains, and often writtenwhile with your dog Maude, is
(27:09):
that right?
That's what I have here, isthat?
Speaker 1 (27:12):
right, she was 14 years old.
I rescued her.
They were going to put her downas a puppy.
I rescued her and, yeah, wewent swimming together in Cooper
Lake in Woodstock when she wasa puppy and she stayed with me
(27:34):
all those years and the mostbeautiful dog I've ever had.
She was lovely.
Oh, she sounds amazing.
Yeah, they put her photographin the book back here.
I didn't even know I hadphotographs back here, but she
was, you know, mostly beagle and, you know, the most beautiful
(27:57):
dog I ever had.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Oh, she sounds amazing and it's 14 years.
You gave her an incredible life.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
There she is.
Oh, she's so sweet.
Oh, what a beauty.
Oh, I am so sorry for the lossof Ma the winter out here in the
(28:28):
woods.
I brought her in and now she'smy, my companion.
She's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
She adopted you yes she did.
Literally.
I love that.
Yep, she taught me.
She's what I'm sorry that, yep,she taught me, she taught me
she's what I'm sorry.
No, I was gonna say she, sheadopted you, she's like oh, this
is my person now.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, absolutely.
She taught me how to play fetch.
She sits on my knee in theevening and watches television.
She sleeps right next to me inbed, bats me in the nose in the
morning when it's time for herto eat the most incredible cat,
yeah, I love, I love it I likethe things, I like to think of
(29:10):
things.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Like you know, I I like maude sent you this cat.
Maude was like oh, we don'twant him to be lonely like here.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Here's this cat there you go keep you busy, right
that's that's the way I like tolook at things just to keep that
connection going.
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
But I would love to know, like, what was it that
drew you to the CAT skills?
Why there specifically, and whydoes that area call to you so
much and influence your writingso much?
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Well, my former wife and I, um, when we first married
, we'd run to the house inTarrytown, new York.
But one day she said why don'twe move up to Woodstock?
I didn't know.
I mean, I'd heard of Woodstockbut I wasn't.
I never went to the 1969gathering.
I was working, I wanted to butI couldn't.
But so we went up there, founda house we got a realtor.
(30:05):
We bought a house in Woodstock.
A house, we got a realtor.
We bought a house in Woodstock.
And I just realized, in thesetting in, in the larger area,
it was in the Catskill Park andthe mountains and the fresh air
and and the the quiet of thewhole area.
It was so beautiful and I justfell in love with it.
(30:27):
And I've been up here eversince.
And now I'm even further north,uh, in Highland, new York,
where but it's still where, asyou can see behind me oh, this
is beautiful, here we havemeadows and oh, I love it.
I just love the Catskills.
I've just, I, just I justlearned to appreciate it and
when I was was a kid, we livedin the woods there in Douglas
(30:50):
and Queens back then, and youknow, besides, there's animals
out here and I'm a wildlife nutand I support several wildlife
causes and we've had deer walkright up to the and look in the,
the window here, uh, in thelounge area, when people are
(31:11):
having uh uh, their wine in theevening, or what have you.
And I looked there one day andthere's a deer staring in the
window at us.
I said, look, look, nobody getsexcited except me that's cool,
I listen.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
if I was there, I would get I get excited over
every little creature that comesaround.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
I would be like I would be right there with you
and I'm always amazed whenpeople aren't amazed.
I don't get it.
I don't either I don't either.
I'm sorry, go ahead.
I was just going to say I likeanimals more than I like people
to some degree Of course,depending on the people, but I
(31:51):
mean the chipmunks.
I feed the chipmunks in thewinter I feed the birds out here
.
You know, I had a crow comedown land on this table, landed
on the table and came over to mycoffee drink and I was taking
(32:13):
pictures the whole time and itpulled the straw out of the
coffee drink and I was takingphotographs and I said what's
going on here?
Now they're very intelligentbirds which I wasn't aware of
until I read about them later.
But it pulled the straw out andit dropped the straw and then
it grabbed the lid of the drinkand pulled the drink over and
some of the coffee spilled ontothe on the table and it took a
(32:34):
little sip, shook its head, asif to say eh.
And then adios, mis amigos, andit was gone.
But it was one of those, one ofthose things that you know, you
just never forget.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Right, oh, absolutely I'm.
I'm obsessed with crows.
Like that's my life's dreamright now to just attract crows
to my home and to have them asoutdoor not pets, but outdoor
companions.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
That will just oh yeah I, yeah, I guess they're up
here in the trees.
I'll send you the photos, thesequence of photos, at some
point, please do, I'm so enviousright now.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Oh, I want to jump out of my studio and literally
hang out with you right there,come on.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Another coffee please .
Speaker 2 (33:22):
I know right.
One more coffee, please, yeahit's nice.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Nature is everything to me.
A lot of my poetry, uh is, isabout nature.
I write a lot of nature poems,like that mighty one this
morning um, love poetry, naturepoetry, a few, a little bit of
fantasy poetry where I go backthrough the middle ages and
create some strange story andother things.
But yeah, nature poetry ispredominant throughout my
(33:55):
writing as well.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
I love that you have such a broad range of interest
though of you know differentaspects or areas of poetry that
you can go into.
That's the versatility there isso impressive.
I think maybe you're going tobe my inspiration to improve on
that, to try it at least.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yes, Take a walk in the woods and your senses will
start talking to you and all ofa sudden, something will
resonate and you'll go back andyou'll start to write.
That's what I find.
Nature opens up all my senses,you know, attacks my emotions.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
So we did speak very early on about some of the other
things you do photography andall of those things.
I would love to get a littlebit more into all of that,
because you wear a lot of hats,like we said poet, photographer,
editor, philanthropist.
Tell me a little bit, if youwill, just about each thing and
how.
I mean, let's start withphotographer Photography.
(35:02):
How did you get into that?
Speaker 1 (35:05):
I've been doing that for years.
I've got several cameras, Idon't know.
I think I began to realize thatit seemed to me that poetry and
photography sort of went handin hand, because they both
explain the world around you,what you're looking at, what
you're thinking around you, whatyou're looking at, what you're
(35:27):
thinking.
You know, a photograph tellsyou who you are really in some
ways.
I mean, anybody can take apicture of a wall, but if you
get out there and you startphotographing nature and
wildlife and things like that, Idon't know, they just seem to
work with me sort of in tandem,and I've just been doing it for
(35:49):
years now and I enjoy it.
I always say that you know,photography is easy, poetry is
not.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Yeah, I definitely.
You know, you already know Iagree with you.
I'm not, and I have to admitI'm not really a good
photographer either, so I can'tI cannot put that hat on.
For sure.
Editing I can.
Are you talking more about likebook editing or like video
graphic editing, stuff like that?
Speaker 1 (36:21):
What kind of editing do you like to do?
Well, I've done darkroom workwith black and white.
I can do that.
I can edit something thatsomebody has written if they
like me to.
I wasn't a very good student,but yet after Vietnam I really
(36:42):
got into reading and I kind oflike Abe Blinken, I'm sort of
self-taught.
And I kind of like Abe Blinken,I'm sort of self-taught, and so
I learned a lot.
I did a lot of reading of theearly poets Keats and Shelley,
lord Byron, ts Eliot, et cetera,et cetera, robert Frost but I
found them very, very difficult,very.
(37:03):
They were difficult to read,not to read, but I don't know.
Their language was very, washard to me in a lot of ways.
Not all of them, but I mean Ineeded to soften that language
up some.
So I became.
I think I've reached a pointwhere I have my own style.
(37:26):
Now I write in stanzas and I dorhyme scheme.
I don't know.
I don't think I answered yourquestion, though I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
No you really did?
No, you did, you did.
We just evolved into anotherpart of it.
That's all which made me thinkof, though do you have any
favorite poets that haveinspired you?
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Well, I've always I have liked Lord Byron.
I like some of Frost.
I like Farlan Getty, a SanFrancisco beat poet from the 50s
.
Not only was he interesting,but he also wrote poetry with a
sense of humor.
I like Farlan Get.
(38:09):
Poetry with a sense of humor Iliked.
I liked Farlan Getty and acouple of others, but as far as
it was more like reading though,I mean, I can't say they really
influenced my writing.
If you know what I mean, I I'msort of I'm well like any, any
writer you're, you're anindividual.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Yeah, I would imagine reading anything else in the
(38:51):
genre that I'm writing in, onlybecause I'm afraid that it'll
influence me.
Do you kind of like, whenyou're in your writing mode, do
you kind of turn all of thatstuff off and avoid reading
other things so that it doesn'tkind of seep in?
Speaker 1 (39:01):
Well, it doesn't bother me anymore because it did
.
Initially I could have signedsome roadblocks there reading
other poets, but now I don'treally read any other poets.
What I read is history,especially American history, war
(39:25):
, because I had one ancestor whowas at Concord and at the
Battle of Saratoga, where he wassaved a lot of lives.
His name was Samuel Bliss, agreat, great, great great
grandfather of mine.
So that had a little bearing on, I mean the historical aspect
(39:48):
of my family.
So that had a little bearing onI mean the historical aspect of
my family.
But other than that, it's morelike I don't know.
My mother was a piano player.
She used to write music andthings like that.
Maybe it's a continuation ofthat.
My twin brother, donald, is not, is not, he doesn't do those
(40:12):
those things.
Don't get me wrong.
I love him dearly, but he, Idon't know this, this poetry
thing just grabbed me and justwouldn't let me go and it's kind
of like you know you're, you'recompelled, I compel you to
write, you will write, that is,and you know what, to everyone
(40:38):
who is a?
Speaker 2 (40:38):
writer.
Author.
They're all nodding right nowbecause that's so true it does.
You are compelled.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
Once you start, you can't stop.
Yeah, yeah.
Absolutely so yeah, no no,you're right, you know what.
You know this as well as I doand other writers.
Yes, I'm also starting to writemy biography because I have led
(41:00):
an interesting life in somedegrees, especially my early
childhood.
When I tell those stories, wow,that'll sell the book alone, I
know.
And then the progressionthrough andrus, which was like
arriving, you know, I thought Ihad died and gone to heaven.
When we got there, I went downto the barn.
(41:21):
The first day I was there afterI put my, my clothing and
things in our dorm room infoster hall, which was we had
English house parents, we had anEnglish cook.
There were only 20 of us in thecottage, a cottage, big stone
building.
I heard the cows.
I went down to the barn and Iwent down to the end and I was
(41:43):
looking at these beautiful dairycows and there was a calf in
there.
I stuck my hand in to pet thecalf and she started to suck on
my fingers.
And then I heard then I heardthis, this loud screeching from
behind the barn.
I said what's that?
I ran out and went around theback.
I was let's say I was 13 yearsold ran around the back of the
(42:03):
barn and there were twobeautiful displaying peacocks
and I remember looking skywardand said thank you God, thank
you.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
And I felt safe for the first time in my life.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
You know, I was so I was so hoping that you would say
that you are working on anautobiography or a memoir.
I was so hoping you would saythat and I'm so glad to hear it,
because that was one of thefirst things that I thought at
reading your your bio here inpreparation for this, and then
talking to you and listening toyour life experiences, I'm like
(42:44):
this this needs to be all.
This is a story that needs to betold and needs to be read Thank
you, so I'm so excited thatyou're working on that and, like
you, kind of answered multiplequestions in one shot because I
was going to ask you what's nextfor you, like, what are you
working on next?
I'm assuming that's a big partof.
(43:05):
Are you like typical authorsand working on multiple projects
at once?
Speaker 1 (43:11):
No, I can't do that.
Okay, if I'm writing poetry,I'm writing poetry.
If I'm writing something else,it's something else.
But I did write, excuse me.
Several years ago I sentnotices to my Vietnam friends
who were with me in Vietnam whosurvived, and I asked them to
send me their reminiscences andtheir remembrances of Vietnam.
(43:32):
So I've got a folder full oftheir information, which is
going to be a rather extensivechapter or more on my Vietnam
experiences.
So that's pretty much there.
It's just a matter of writingit, and I just got my first
(43:53):
laptop, so that's going to makea difference.
I want to sit outside and writemy story.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Yes, yes, oh, that's going to be amazing.
Well then, you have to promiseto come back in and tell us
about that when it's done.
So that's very exciting, robert, tell me, tell me what our last
kind of final message for ourreaders and our listeners and
viewers what's, what would youhope for people to take away
(44:23):
from reading your poetry?
Is there, is there somethinglike them to just walk away with
?
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Well, I would say that when you're feeling at your
worst and you're feeling downand you think that you can't go
on any further, remember thatlife is beautiful and it's more
beautiful every day and staywith it.
And if you have things that areimportant to you, try to write
them down so that your familywill have something that they
(44:59):
can remember later on.
Keep those.
It's important, and I wish myfamily had done that too, and
I'm doing it now with writingpoetry and for anybody that has
any aspiration at all to writepoetry, put a few words on paper
, see where it goes, doesn'thurt.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
Oh, that's so true.
That is like the first stepAnytime somebody asks like you
know, how do I become an author?
Well, you start writing.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Yep, that's all you got to do.
Put a few words down, that'sall you got to do.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Yes, that is the first hurdle to get over.
Everything else comes afterthat.
But just start writing, Robert,all of your advice there was
spot on and so wonderful andinspiring for somebody who's
just wondering where and how andwhy and just trying to get up
the courage to do that, and Ithink you just gave it to them.
(45:52):
So that's a beautiful thing.
You are a man of many giftsthat you just keep giving to
others and I think the beautifulthing.
It was such an honor to meetyou and talk with you and get to
have this opportunity to shareyour story and your work.
So again, I thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
I thank you for your time and your questions were
spot on and I want to thank youfor your time and I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
Thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
All right, my friends, we willsee you guys in the next episode
, and the links to by RobertsBooks will be in our show notes,
so be sure to check them out,and we will see you in the next
episode, take care.
She's the voice behind the viral comedy bold
commentary and truth-packedinterviews that cut through the
chaos.
Author.
Brand creator.
Proud conservative Christian.
This is Elsa Kurt.
Welcome to the show that alwaysbrings bold faith, real truth
and no apologies.
Well, hello everyone.
It's Elsa Kurt and I have awonderful guest today.
(00:23):
This is Robert Bliss, sittingnext to me.
He is a Marine Vietnam veteran,so that automatically I have to
stop right there and say thankyou for your service.
I am the wife of a Marine, soyou are already near and dear to
(00:43):
my heart.
And not only that, you are apretty illustrious guy.
You're a decorated US MarineCorps Vietnam veteran, as well
as a poet, an editor, aphotographer and my other
favorite thing a patriot.
So I think you and I are goingto get along famously over here.
(01:04):
So today we're going to betalking about your poetry and,
of course, your books.
So, first and foremost, thankyou for joining me.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
today I'm very well and to your husband I say semper
fidelis, as all Marines do.
This is my current book.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I have a new one coming out.
It is absolutely gorgeous.
I love that cover yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I designed it.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
You designed it yourself.
That's so beautiful.
Is that the Catskills I know?
Speaker 1 (01:38):
we're going to be talking a little bit about that,
but is it?
Yes, yeah, I love it up in theCatskills.
Beautiful country.
I've always liked the country.
Yeah, me too.
I'm a nature geek.
I think you're a nature loveras well.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Obviously right, since half of our interview is
outside.
So I'm a little bit envious.
If I go outside to do theinterview, I can guarantee my
neighbor will start mowing hislawn.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Of course it's a guarantee.
So I'm stuck in the studio.
Wow, that's no okay.
So all enjoyed for both of us.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Thank you, I appreciate that.
So I want to kind of go through.
You're going to take me back ifyou won't mind and we're going
to work our way through the bookprocess and everything.
But I know my viewers andlisteners, we're going to want
some background here.
So one thing that you said aspart of your bio kind of struck
(02:36):
me, and it says that you are ariches to rags story.
So tell me a little bit aboutthat, because that's obviously
the switch around of what we'reused to hearing.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Okay, well, my mother was in show business.
She was a piano player, asinger, a dancer with the Bubsby
Berkeley Review in the 1930s.
Then she went into RinglingBrothers' Barnum Bailey Circus.
My brothers and I got to meetEmmett Kelly, the famous clown,
but nonetheless my motherremarried after Bliss our father
(03:13):
, to Bachelor who was an airlinepilot, and we moved from
California to the East Coastbecause he had to fly out of the
East Coast, out of New York,and we had a beautiful home
there in Douglaston, queens, inthe woods.
But my mother and stepfatherwere drinking quite a lot and
(03:37):
they got into fights andarguments.
One day he just got in the carand took off in the car and took
off from there.
It was a steady uh decline frombeing well off to becoming at
the at the bottom of it all inlong beach, long island, very,
very poor, no supervision.
My brothers and I lived underthe boardwalk.
(03:58):
We had to steal from grocerystores.
I hate to say this, but westole from the poor box of
church for money.
We devised a way to do it.
We stuffed the phones withlollipop wrappers and went by
every three days on theboardwalk and with a wire hanger
, pulled the paper down and allthe change would come down.
We were surviving and it'samazing when I look back on that
(04:23):
how we survived.
And it was a very difficulttime in our lives.
There was a lot of abuse byolder not physical abuse, but
older men were very aggressivetowards us.
We were just children, rags, orrather a richest to rags story,
uh, until social servicesfinally captured us because we
(04:48):
hid from them and got us into afoster home.
And then from the foster homewe were there for a year, which
was very bad.
Uh, donald and I, my older, mytwin brother, my fraternal twin
and I were transferred to themost beautiful place I've ever
lived in my life called theJohnny Andrus Children's Home in
1961.
And it was a campus of fourwhat they called cottages, but
(05:14):
they were big stone buildings,little boys, little girls, big
boys.
And then down the hill by thedairy barn, the big boys where
we went, and there were 20 of usin that building and it was
just beautiful acreage peacockswalking around, cows, pigs,
sheep, chickens.
(05:36):
God, I still think about that.
I still think about that Inthose days.
Johnny Andrus, who was abillionaire who built it for
children, dictated that in thosedays.
Well, he started it in the 20sbut you had to be white and you
had to be Protestant to get in.
(05:56):
We fit the bill and we werevery honestly fortunate to get
in there, stayed there until Igraduated from high school when
I joined the Marines.
Wow, wow.
So you went into the Marinesright after high school.
Oh yeah, it was just acontinuation of I played a lot
of football, I was a gymnast, Iwas on a swimming team and it
(06:22):
just seemed like a naturalprogression.
I wanted to see if I could cutthe mustard with the Marines,
and I found out I did.
Not only did I cut the mustarddown there at Parris Island, I
was promoted out of boot campand there was only 10 of us out
of 90 recruits who were promoted.
So I guess I cut the mustard.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, I guess, so, geez.
I guess I cut the mustard.
Yeah, I guess, so, geez.
I'm so struck by the contrastof occurring in your life from
you know, from like you startedoff with the riches and one
particular lifestyle that youstarted your life in, and then
the drastic changes to somethingso much less than that, and
(07:08):
then another drastic switch intothis incredible home with all
of these beautiful things, andthen the Marines, which is
another stark contrast.
I mean, the polar opposites thatyou experienced in such a young
age obviously had to shape somuch of your perspective, and
(07:33):
then, of course, later in life,in your writing.
Now I'm curious at what point.
I would imagine you've beenwriting for a long time.
When did you start writing?
Speaker 1 (07:44):
I started in high school.
I just picked up this flair.
It was a substitute Englishteacher from Hastings on Hudson
Hastings High School still areally well-known school who had
us all write a short story andI wrote a Hemingway-esque story
(08:06):
and he liked it so much he saidyou know?
He said, robert, you ought toconsider writing.
You're good, you're good at itand I.
It stayed with me and I startedwriting poetry.
Um, but I wanted to say quickly, uh, regarding the, the, the
difficulties in our early youthgrowing up, and those tragic
(08:27):
moments.
My mother was alcoholic, shewas never around.
I like to say that Oliver Twisthad nothing on me and it was, I
mean, my favorite poems eventoday Lighthouse and Dreamwind,
(08:52):
which are in the Poetry of Blissbook I wrote in high school was
it always poetry for you, ordid you do any fiction like what
pulled you towards poetry?
over, say, novels and thingslike that.
What I found with poetry isthat, um, as I discussed with
(09:16):
another poet at one point,poetry comes from the soul and
you're born with it and itbegins to manifest itself as you
become older and it's a veryemotional process.
If you're not speaking fromyour soul and from your heart,
you're not writing good poetry.
And I had that capacity and Idon't mind, and I didn't mind uh
(09:39):
, expressing emotional, uhdiscourse through my writing.
It suited me.
And another thing I alwaysthought at first I thought
writing poetry would be easierthan writing stories or books or
what have you.
I found out later on,especially lately, it's not that
easy, because now I spend a lotof time editing my poetry to
(10:04):
make sure I'm getting themessage out that I want to get
out.
It's a difficult process, but Ilove it and I do it every day.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
I have to confess that I go to.
Now I'm an author as well and Iwrite novels and some
non-fictions things like that,and I write novels and some
(10:46):
non-fictions things like that.
However, I go into what I'mgoing to now call poetry
paralysis.
I cannot get myself to writepoetry and I, you know, it's so
interesting what you're sayingbecause I think you may have,
like I think you just gave metherapy here, I think, because I
think you're so right, poetryis so different because there's
so much emotional release inpoetry that it's so raw and it's
so personal and so real.
Right, like you can't slip into,I mean I guess you could.
Like you can't slip in, I meanI guess you could, but you're.
(11:08):
You're really putting yourselfonto paper and I commend you for
being able to do that, becauseI would imagine it had to be
some form of therapy for you,giving those challenging you
know and that's probably theunderstatement right to call it
challenging circumstances thatyou were growing up under and
there had to be so muchconfusion.
You know you're just a childreally and going through things
(11:32):
that you know most kids don'thave to go through, don't
experience.
So did you put a lot of that onpaper?
Is that in your poetry as well?
Speaker 1 (11:44):
I don't write so much about my childhood.
I have written some things.
I agree with you.
Poetry to me is verytherapeutic.
I'm divorced now three years.
My wife, well, I won't get intothat, she was in the hospital,
she bipolar, um and and and and.
(12:04):
These days, especially nowliving alone to me, I have to
get outdoors.
I can't sit in my in myapartment, although I have a
lovely cat that I found outdoorshere and brought in.
But I mean, it's, it's therapy,it is and and and and.
I always and and and.
If you have an impasse, if youwrite anything and you're a poet
(12:28):
, especially if you're in ablock or an impasse, again I
really love being outdoors.
It just does something to me.
(12:50):
I don't know what.
Anyway, I know I'm rambling onhere.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
No, you're not.
No, you're speaking to my heart, really, because we started off
with.
I feel the same way about beingoutdoors.
It's when I'm my most at peace,my most inspired.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Just right, like it.
Just it is almost for uswriters, it's even for us
writers.
It's almost intangible what theeffect nature has, and and just
just even just looking at yourbackground right now, it just
brings me peace, you know.
So I I fully.
(13:29):
That's not rambling at all,that's just it's.
It's just what it's just whatit is.
I'm not a big fan of thatphrase, but it is what it is.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
True, it is.
It's very true.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Right Now talk to me a little bit.
So I kind of I started to touchon it and I veered off on us
your, your military experience,your experience in Vietnam.
Were you able to I mean, Iguess there obviously is some
sense of downtime there Were youable to write then?
Did you feel like writingduring that time period, and how
(14:06):
different do you feel if youdid with your writing then?
Speaker 1 (14:27):
story.
I write about that, though I Iwas keeping a journal, a daily
journal I tried to keep in theevening when we would set in in
the night, dig our, fuck ourfighting holes, and dig in and
try to relax in the night.
For the night somewhere I wouldwrite this journal of the day's
activities, and I did that forsix months, and one afternoon we
(14:47):
were fording a stream and itfell out of my.
I used to keep it under myhelmet when I'd go across a
stream and I dropped the helmet,hitting a rock, and it fell
into the water and I was using amagic felt-type pen and all the
writing ran and I lost sixmonths of that journal.
(15:10):
It was just devastating to me.
I couldn't believe thathappened.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
My heart just stopped for you with that, because I
know the pain of that when youpour so much into it, and then
you know, then you have thatthought process of do I try and
recapture all of that and howcan I possibly, you know,
recapture?
Speaker 1 (15:34):
the exact moments Right.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Oh, I'm so sorry that happened to you.
Oh that's so awful, that's youknow.
Today's equivalent of that isif your computer crashes while
you're running and you can'trecover the files and I have had
that happen Now, continuingthat, if you don't mind, you
volunteered for combat, is thatcorrect?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
For combat.
Is that correct?
I was writing for yeah, I waswriting for commanding officer
when I was with the 27th Marinesout in California in Camp
Pendleton, and I did that foralmost a year and I was getting
so bored with it.
I used to run the hills in theevening just to stay in shape
after duty out there along thebeach, just to stay in shape
(16:23):
after duty out there along thebeach.
And then one morning the topsergeant had us all out there on
the company street and he saidhe said, marines, we need 10
volunteers for Vietnam.
So Mr Stupid raised his hand.
I was 18 years old, naive, noidea of what I was getting into,
I thought initially.
(16:43):
My thought thought was thiswill be a really incredible
adventure.
Well, I neglected to considerthe fact that there were people
over there trying to kill us,and so that changed the whole
perspective.
And of course, I was thereseven and a half months and we
(17:03):
ran into a North Vietnameseregiment.
We were outnumbered three toone.
Our commander behind us saidfix bayonets.
And when you hear that you know, oh, this is, this is bad news.
They don't ever tell you to fixbayonets.
So we went in at them.
Bullets were snapping by my head, snap, snap.
(17:24):
Friends of mine were falling infront of me and there were
people up in front of me and Iopened fire on them and brought
them down.
And after this went on formaybe a half an hour, a mortar
round landed at my left foot,blew me up in the air and
knocked me down and when it didI was on my back and knocked the
wind out of me.
I remember I knew I was introuble because I tried to get
(17:51):
up and I could see my left footwas dangling so I was bleeding.
So I grabbed the earth withboth hands, holding as if to
hold onto the earth.
I would stay with it, I'd stayalive, and I held on.
And then I saw a white, like alight above my head, a white
(18:12):
light.
And as long as I focused onthat light I continued to stay
conscious and alive.
Eventually they got us out.
Yeah, a nurse told me at theOakland Naval Hospital months
later when I explained that toher and she said to me she said
what's that white light?
She said what you saw was faith.
She said it was faith.
Wow, you know, wow, yeah.
(18:36):
Anyway, the doctor told me atthe Naval Hospital.
I mean, when I got onto thehospital he said, corporal Bliss
, I don't think we're going tobe able to save you.
He said, but I'll try.
And I said, doc, do your best.
Well, I fooled them all,because here I am talking to
Miss Edna at the moment.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
And here you are.
You know it's incredible, andeven more so as you think about
the fact that, like you said,you were an 18-year-old kid.
What did you know?
And, of course, and all of theyoung men like you, specifically
(19:17):
with that war, which was, ofcourse, unlike any other, uh,
since then, and, of course, whenyou came home, collectively, as
as veterans, uh, the treatmentof vietnam veterans is just uh,
it makes me want to cry anytime.
you know my husband, of course,you know we'll talk about this
(19:38):
because he, you know loves thehistory and and all of that and
and I almost have to stop I'mlike I can't, I can't even hear
it because it just breaks myheart to to know?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yes, absolutely.
If we weren't abused.
Most of us were abused, but ifwe weren't, if it wasn't that,
if that weren't the situation,we were greeted with apathy.
I came home to Hastings andHudson and even my own friends
just didn't bother with me.
The townspeople that knew me,you know because of my sport,
playing sports and everythingfor the town.
(20:11):
They were just apathetic and itwas very, very difficult to
deal with.
I remember years later, in 1975, the New York City decided to
throw a parade for the Vietnamveterans and a friend of mine
said to me come on, bob, they'reto throw a parade for the
Vietnam veterans.
And a friend of mine said to mecome on, bob, they're throwing
us a parade.
I said you go?
I said I'm not going, it wastoo late you know, too late.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Yeah, I know that it left a lot of bitterness and
hurt.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
A friend of mine came home and killed himself.
He shot himself.
It was the most we were.
All we were doing.
Enough was what our fathers haddone before us serving our
country with honor, like my daddid in germany, and and we came
home to that to the uh, it washorrible.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Anyway, I don't want to dwell on that no, I, I, I,
you know I understand it as muchas my capacity for
understanding that and of courseI didn't experience it, so I
could never understand it onthat level.
But my heart goes out to youand every Vietnam veteran who
experienced that.
It's just unforgivable and sucha black mark and disgrace on
(21:26):
our history really.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yes, but our honor was intact.
We kept.
Our honor was intact and wesurvived it.
I mean honor is a veryimportant thing, as you would
know, and I'm sure your husbandknows, and mine's intact.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Absolutely, absolutely and rightly, so,
deservedly, so definitely.
Now I have in my notes herethat there was a pivotal day,
september 21st 1960, 1967.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Um what?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
what is it that happened on that day that that
affected you?
That affected your?
Speaker 1 (22:01):
life.
That was the day I was nearlykilled in Vietnam.
That was the date it resonates.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
I suspected that it was.
Yeah, obviously that was such alife-changing moment for you
and again, at 18 years old, toyou know, to one face your
mortality.
I mean, you grow up almostinstantly, right?
Oh yeah, and I'm sure yourprevious life experiences, you
(22:30):
were probably an adult at a veryyoung age, right?
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Oh yeah, well, I grew up as a child, basically, but I
mean, like I say to friends ofmine, in fact I wrote a poem
about it.
I didn't go to Vietnam to die,I went there to live.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
And you do, you live.
That's where you live, more incombat than any other situation
in life, because life is soclose and so real and so
desperate and elusive sometimes.
So I was very fortunate to havesurvived.
Pardon me, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
No no no, I cut you off.
Do you think?
Your experience as a Vietnamveteran and, of course, a
decorated Marine, your service,all of that, the challenges, all
of these things, how would yousay that they shaped the themes
and the tone of your poetry?
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Well, all of that, my early life and the Marines,
especially Vietnam, just it gaveme a fine-tuned perception of
what life is, what life can beand what it can't be.
And from that perspective, umand years afterwards, I was able
(23:55):
to turn it into words andemotional, the emotional impact
as well, those emotions, turningthose emotions into words too.
And you know, I like to saythat I survived Vietnam because
(24:17):
it was fate and I believe infate, and I think I was fated to
become an American poet andthat's what I try to do every
day.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yeah, and I would imagine you give voice to so
many other veterans who aren'table to articulate that deep
well of emotions and they can'tput the words to it, whether
they don't know how or it's justtoo much for them to speak on,
but they feel the need to beunderstood and I would imagine
that reading your words andseeing their feelings and their
(24:56):
thoughts because it's got to be,you know, quite universal in
some ways for all veterans whoexperience what you've
experienced, it just must be sohelpful to them.
So just bless you for writingthe things that other people
feel really right, I mean that'swhat a gift.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah, it's true.
I mean I send some of my poems,especially my Vietnam poems.
I wrote a poem called Were youthere that addresses the subject
of Vietnam, not so much toveterans but to the country and
the world, and I sent that toseveral of my Vietnam buddies
who survived.
And they write back with youknow these comments that says,
(25:42):
bob, you really hit it.
You know this is what I'vethought about.
But they, you know thesecomments that says, bob, you
really hit it.
You know this is this, this iswhat I've thought about.
But they, you know they're,they're just grateful and I I
appreciate, I appreciate that,especially from my Vietnam
brothers.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah, I bet, I bet.
What a powerful gift to to beable to give to, you know, to
anyone who's experienced.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
I feel blessed.
I really do.
I think I survived Vietnam tobe where I am today and to be an
American poet.
I really do.
I like to call myself anAmerican poet.
I don't have that wide of anaudience yet, but maybe someday.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Listen, you are a published American poet.
That makes you an American poet.
You are exactly who you say.
You are right, I think it'swonderful and again, and I bring
back that, that contrast of youknow being in kind of immersed
in something that is, you know,just filled with a lot of
(26:49):
ugliness and darkness and painand all of those things, and
then, to balance it out with thebeauty of the Catskill
Mountains, and often writtenwhile with your dog Maude, is
(27:09):
that right?
That's what I have here, isthat?
Speaker 1 (27:12):
right, she was 14 years old.
I rescued her.
They were going to put her downas a puppy.
I rescued her and, yeah, wewent swimming together in Cooper
Lake in Woodstock when she wasa puppy and she stayed with me
(27:34):
all those years and the mostbeautiful dog I've ever had.
She was lovely.
Oh, she sounds amazing.
Yeah, they put her photographin the book back here.
I didn't even know I hadphotographs back here, but she
was, you know, mostly beagle and, you know, the most beautiful
(27:57):
dog I ever had.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Oh, she sounds amazing and it's 14 years.
You gave her an incredible life.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
There she is.
Oh, she's so sweet.
Oh, what a beauty.
Oh, I am so sorry for the lossof Ma the winter out here in the
(28:28):
woods.
I brought her in and now she'smy, my companion.
She's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
She adopted you yes she did.
Literally.
I love that.
Yep, she taught me.
She's what I'm sorry that, yep,she taught me, she taught me
she's what I'm sorry.
No, I was gonna say she, sheadopted you, she's like oh, this
is my person now.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, absolutely.
She taught me how to play fetch.
She sits on my knee in theevening and watches television.
She sleeps right next to me inbed, bats me in the nose in the
morning when it's time for herto eat the most incredible cat,
yeah, I love, I love it I likethe things, I like to think of
(29:10):
things.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Like you know, I I like maude sent you this cat.
Maude was like oh, we don'twant him to be lonely like here.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Here's this cat there you go keep you busy, right
that's that's the way I like tolook at things just to keep that
connection going.
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
But I would love to know, like, what was it that
drew you to the CAT skills?
Why there specifically, and whydoes that area call to you so
much and influence your writingso much?
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Well, my former wife and I, um, when we first married
, we'd run to the house inTarrytown, new York.
But one day she said why don'twe move up to Woodstock?
I didn't know.
I mean, I'd heard of Woodstockbut I wasn't.
I never went to the 1969gathering.
I was working, I wanted to butI couldn't.
But so we went up there, founda house we got a realtor.
(30:05):
We bought a house in Woodstock.
A house, we got a realtor.
We bought a house in Woodstock.
And I just realized, in thesetting in, in the larger area,
it was in the Catskill Park andthe mountains and the fresh air
and and the the quiet of thewhole area.
It was so beautiful and I justfell in love with it.
(30:27):
And I've been up here eversince.
And now I'm even further north,uh, in Highland, new York,
where but it's still where, asyou can see behind me oh, this
is beautiful, here we havemeadows and oh, I love it.
I just love the Catskills.
I've just, I, just I justlearned to appreciate it and
when I was was a kid, we livedin the woods there in Douglas
(30:50):
and Queens back then, and youknow, besides, there's animals
out here and I'm a wildlife nutand I support several wildlife
causes and we've had deer walkright up to the and look in the,
the window here, uh, in thelounge area, when people are
(31:11):
having uh uh, their wine in theevening, or what have you.
And I looked there one day andthere's a deer staring in the
window at us.
I said, look, look, nobody getsexcited except me that's cool,
I listen.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
if I was there, I would get I get excited over
every little creature that comesaround.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
I would be like I would be right there with you
and I'm always amazed whenpeople aren't amazed.
I don't get it.
I don't either I don't either.
I'm sorry, go ahead.
I was just going to say I likeanimals more than I like people
to some degree Of course,depending on the people, but I
(31:51):
mean the chipmunks.
I feed the chipmunks in thewinter I feed the birds out here
.
You know, I had a crow comedown land on this table, landed
on the table and came over to mycoffee drink and I was taking
(32:13):
pictures the whole time and itpulled the straw out of the
coffee drink and I was takingphotographs and I said what's
going on here?
Now they're very intelligentbirds which I wasn't aware of
until I read about them later.
But it pulled the straw out andit dropped the straw and then
it grabbed the lid of the drinkand pulled the drink over and
some of the coffee spilled ontothe on the table and it took a
(32:34):
little sip, shook its head, asif to say eh.
And then adios, mis amigos, andit was gone.
But it was one of those, one ofthose things that you know, you
just never forget.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Right, oh, absolutely I'm.
I'm obsessed with crows.
Like that's my life's dreamright now to just attract crows
to my home and to have them asoutdoor not pets, but outdoor
companions.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
That will just oh yeah I, yeah, I guess they're up
here in the trees.
I'll send you the photos, thesequence of photos, at some
point, please do, I'm so enviousright now.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Oh, I want to jump out of my studio and literally
hang out with you right there,come on.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Another coffee please .
Speaker 2 (33:22):
I know right.
One more coffee, please, yeahit's nice.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Nature is everything to me.
A lot of my poetry, uh is, isabout nature.
I write a lot of nature poems,like that mighty one this
morning um, love poetry, naturepoetry, a few, a little bit of
fantasy poetry where I go backthrough the middle ages and
create some strange story andother things.
But yeah, nature poetry ispredominant throughout my
(33:55):
writing as well.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
I love that you have such a broad range of interest
though of you know differentaspects or areas of poetry that
you can go into.
That's the versatility there isso impressive.
I think maybe you're going tobe my inspiration to improve on
that, to try it at least.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yes, Take a walk in the woods and your senses will
start talking to you and all ofa sudden, something will
resonate and you'll go back andyou'll start to write.
That's what I find.
Nature opens up all my senses,you know, attacks my emotions.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
So we did speak very early on about some of the other
things you do photography andall of those things.
I would love to get a littlebit more into all of that,
because you wear a lot of hats,like we said poet, photographer,
editor, philanthropist.
Tell me a little bit, if youwill, just about each thing and
how.
I mean, let's start withphotographer Photography.
(35:02):
How did you get into that?
Speaker 1 (35:05):
I've been doing that for years.
I've got several cameras, Idon't know.
I think I began to realize thatit seemed to me that poetry and
photography sort of went handin hand, because they both
explain the world around you,what you're looking at, what
you're thinking around you, whatyou're looking at, what you're
(35:27):
thinking.
You know, a photograph tellsyou who you are really in some
ways.
I mean, anybody can take apicture of a wall, but if you
get out there and you startphotographing nature and
wildlife and things like that, Idon't know, they just seem to
work with me sort of in tandem,and I've just been doing it for
(35:49):
years now and I enjoy it.
I always say that you know,photography is easy, poetry is
not.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Yeah, I definitely.
You know, you already know Iagree with you.
I'm not, and I have to admitI'm not really a good
photographer either, so I can'tI cannot put that hat on.
For sure.
Editing I can.
Are you talking more about likebook editing or like video
graphic editing, stuff like that?
Speaker 1 (36:21):
What kind of editing do you like to do?
Well, I've done darkroom workwith black and white.
I can do that.
I can edit something thatsomebody has written if they
like me to.
I wasn't a very good student,but yet after Vietnam I really
(36:42):
got into reading and I kind oflike Abe Blinken, I'm sort of
self-taught.
And I kind of like Abe Blinken,I'm sort of self-taught, and so
I learned a lot.
I did a lot of reading of theearly poets Keats and Shelley,
lord Byron, ts Eliot, et cetera,et cetera, robert Frost but I
found them very, very difficult,very.
(37:03):
They were difficult to read,not to read, but I don't know.
Their language was very, washard to me in a lot of ways.
Not all of them, but I mean Ineeded to soften that language
up some.
So I became.
I think I've reached a pointwhere I have my own style.
(37:26):
Now I write in stanzas and I dorhyme scheme.
I don't know.
I don't think I answered yourquestion, though I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
No you really did?
No, you did, you did.
We just evolved into anotherpart of it.
That's all which made me thinkof, though do you have any
favorite poets that haveinspired you?
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Well, I've always I have liked Lord Byron.
I like some of Frost.
I like Farlan Getty, a SanFrancisco beat poet from the 50s
.
Not only was he interesting,but he also wrote poetry with a
sense of humor.
I like Farlan Get.
(38:09):
Poetry with a sense of humor Iliked.
I liked Farlan Getty and acouple of others, but as far as
it was more like reading though,I mean, I can't say they really
influenced my writing.
If you know what I mean, I I'msort of I'm well like any, any
writer you're, you're anindividual.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Yeah, I would imagine reading anything else in the
(38:51):
genre that I'm writing in, onlybecause I'm afraid that it'll
influence me.
Do you kind of like, whenyou're in your writing mode, do
you kind of turn all of thatstuff off and avoid reading
other things so that it doesn'tkind of seep in?
Speaker 1 (39:01):
Well, it doesn't bother me anymore because it did
.
Initially I could have signedsome roadblocks there reading
other poets, but now I don'treally read any other poets.
What I read is history,especially American history, war
(39:25):
, because I had one ancestor whowas at Concord and at the
Battle of Saratoga, where he wassaved a lot of lives.
His name was Samuel Bliss, agreat, great, great great
grandfather of mine.
So that had a little bearing on, I mean the historical aspect
(39:48):
of my family.
So that had a little bearing onI mean the historical aspect of
my family.
But other than that, it's morelike I don't know.
My mother was a piano player.
She used to write music andthings like that.
Maybe it's a continuation ofthat.
My twin brother, donald, is not, is not, he doesn't do those
(40:12):
those things.
Don't get me wrong.
I love him dearly, but he, Idon't know this, this poetry
thing just grabbed me and justwouldn't let me go and it's kind
of like you know you're, you'recompelled, I compel you to
write, you will write, that is,and you know what, to everyone
(40:38):
who is a?
Speaker 2 (40:38):
writer.
Author.
They're all nodding right nowbecause that's so true it does.
You are compelled.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
Once you start, you can't stop.
Yeah, yeah.
Absolutely so yeah, no no,you're right, you know what.
You know this as well as I doand other writers.
Yes, I'm also starting to writemy biography because I have led
(41:00):
an interesting life in somedegrees, especially my early
childhood.
When I tell those stories, wow,that'll sell the book alone, I
know.
And then the progressionthrough andrus, which was like
arriving, you know, I thought Ihad died and gone to heaven.
When we got there, I went downto the barn.
(41:21):
The first day I was there afterI put my, my clothing and
things in our dorm room infoster hall, which was we had
English house parents, we had anEnglish cook.
There were only 20 of us in thecottage, a cottage, big stone
building.
I heard the cows.
I went down to the barn and Iwent down to the end and I was
(41:43):
looking at these beautiful dairycows and there was a calf in
there.
I stuck my hand in to pet thecalf and she started to suck on
my fingers.
And then I heard then I heardthis, this loud screeching from
behind the barn.
I said what's that?
I ran out and went around theback.
I was let's say I was 13 yearsold ran around the back of the
(42:03):
barn and there were twobeautiful displaying peacocks
and I remember looking skywardand said thank you God, thank
you.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
And I felt safe for the first time in my life.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
You know, I was so I was so hoping that you would say
that you are working on anautobiography or a memoir.
I was so hoping you would saythat and I'm so glad to hear it,
because that was one of thefirst things that I thought at
reading your your bio here inpreparation for this, and then
talking to you and listening toyour life experiences, I'm like
(42:44):
this this needs to be all.
This is a story that needs to betold and needs to be read Thank
you, so I'm so excited thatyou're working on that and, like
you, kind of answered multiplequestions in one shot because I
was going to ask you what's nextfor you, like, what are you
working on next?
I'm assuming that's a big partof.
(43:05):
Are you like typical authorsand working on multiple projects
at once?
Speaker 1 (43:11):
No, I can't do that.
Okay, if I'm writing poetry,I'm writing poetry.
If I'm writing something else,it's something else.
But I did write, excuse me.
Several years ago I sentnotices to my Vietnam friends
who were with me in Vietnam whosurvived, and I asked them to
send me their reminiscences andtheir remembrances of Vietnam.
(43:32):
So I've got a folder full oftheir information, which is
going to be a rather extensivechapter or more on my Vietnam
experiences.
So that's pretty much there.
It's just a matter of writingit, and I just got my first
(43:53):
laptop, so that's going to makea difference.
I want to sit outside and writemy story.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Yes, yes, oh, that's going to be amazing.
Well then, you have to promiseto come back in and tell us
about that when it's done.
So that's very exciting, robert, tell me, tell me what our last
kind of final message for ourreaders and our listeners and
viewers what's, what would youhope for people to take away
(44:23):
from reading your poetry?
Is there, is there somethinglike them to just walk away with
?
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Well, I would say that when you're feeling at your
worst and you're feeling downand you think that you can't go
on any further, remember thatlife is beautiful and it's more
beautiful every day and staywith it.
And if you have things that areimportant to you, try to write
them down so that your familywill have something that they
(44:59):
can remember later on.
Keep those.
It's important, and I wish myfamily had done that too, and
I'm doing it now with writingpoetry and for anybody that has
any aspiration at all to writepoetry, put a few words on paper
, see where it goes, doesn'thurt.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
Oh, that's so true.
That is like the first stepAnytime somebody asks like you
know, how do I become an author?
Well, you start writing.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Yep, that's all you got to do.
Put a few words down, that'sall you got to do.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Yes, that is the first hurdle to get over.
Everything else comes afterthat.
But just start writing, Robert,all of your advice there was
spot on and so wonderful andinspiring for somebody who's
just wondering where and how andwhy and just trying to get up
the courage to do that, and Ithink you just gave it to them.
(45:52):
So that's a beautiful thing.
You are a man of many giftsthat you just keep giving to
others and I think the beautifulthing.
It was such an honor to meetyou and talk with you and get to
have this opportunity to shareyour story and your work.
So again, I thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
I thank you for your time and your questions were
spot on and I want to thank youfor your time and I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
Thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
All right, my friends, we willsee you guys in the next episode
, and the links to by RobertsBooks will be in our show notes,
so be sure to check them out,and we will see you in the next
episode, take care.
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Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.