The Poetry of Carl McKever (FSPA)

Florida State Poets Association
Established by Henrietta A. Kroah

Founded by Henrietta A. Kroah
October 1974

Carl McKever

Carl McKever
Carl McKever was born on November 10, 1988 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Ever since 2007, Carl has been writing poetry for the glory of God. On February 15, 2008, Carl started a poetry club, called Surf and Verse Poetry Club, and ran as Chairman and President. On March 15, 2008, Carl joined the Florida State Poets Association and sponsored his poetry club through them. In June 2008, he was nominated as Web Administrator for the organization and is still holding this vacancy. Carl opened Surf and Verse Poetry Club to the community in July 2009 and the name was changed to Fort Lauderdale Poets. Two months later, the club fell apart and no longer exists today. As President, Carl held Meet and Greet Days, did a Poetry Success Week, and did "open-mike" discussions on various poets around the world. In each meeting, we picked a different poet from a different country and looked at their qualities of writing and behavior. The Surf and Verse Poetry Club met twice a month and had a website during its active year. The website was www.surfandversepoets.com and Carl was the administrator for this website as well.

Shortly after the "breaking" of Surf and Verse Poetry Club, Carl began submitting his poems into editorials, newsletters, e-zines, and calls from different universities. In January 2010, God blessed Carl McKever to self-publish his first book of poetry, through InstantPublisher Book Services. After the publication of his book, he began writing new poems and his perspective towards others, who had passion for poetry, became intense. Carl visited many writing workshops and "open-mike" sessions throughout the State of Florida, and in August 2010, he was known as the Florida State Poetry Ambassador. In October 2010, he left Florida and moved to Dubuque, Iowa for a new job.

Carl is still a resident of Dubuque and has joined the Iowa Poetry Association (IPA). He became an Area Representative for IPA and is still writing poems today. Recently, he self-published another book of poetry, called Poetic Expressions, through BowkerLink Book Publishing Company. He is still working on his press release and marketing his book through thousands of news companies. Carl has submitted a various amount of his poems to American Literary Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Literary Review of Canada, 95Notes (based in Chicago, Illinois), and many other e-zines. He started working on his autobiography in June 2009, but placed it on hold within the last couple of months. He plans on revising his current autobiography and self-publishing it at the age of 25 years. Carl also created a website to display some of his very own poetry (www.carlmckever.com) and has many poetic goals he would like to achieve, such as establishing a poetry and writing group in his local community.

A Divine Answer

As I sit in my room
Closed up from the world.
I meditate on my problems
And look for a divine answer.
I call out to You night after night
Waiting for a divine answer.
Tears keep falling and falling
As I lose hope by the second.
Speak to my heart
And show me the way.
I need You now
To keep me, I pray.
No one understands the pain I feel
This pain in my heart seems so unreal.
I am lonely and need a Friend
Precious Lord, walk with me and hold my hand.
Stress from family and college studies
What's more to expect?
You give me peace to deal with it all.
You give me strength so that I don't fall.
Help me understand
That trials make you strong.
Your anointed presence
Is where I belong.
Everything happens
For some reason.
All the agony and pain
Only lasts for a season.
My joy, peace, and breakthrough
Is on its way.
Help me to wait patiently
Until that blessed day.

©Carl McKever

Tranquility

Tree branches swinging side to side;
Birds chirping in the air
No cars or people found outside;
The sense of tranquility everywhere
The sun and moon comes in tune
As the Earth makes it spin;
The days and nights no longer fight,
They've made their peace within.
Fear and stress, no longer a test
Cause tranquility comes through.
Anger and hate, both laid to rest
The feelings that come are new.
Darkness and light competes with each other
To see who should take lead.
Lo and behold, they both discover
Tranquility always succeeds! ! !

©Carl McKever

I Own You, Poem

From the stroke of my hand to the ink in this pen,
The lines of this poem and the rhymes within.
Deciding what style and subject to write;
I own you poem, please don’t fight!
Let me be the master of my fate!
Don’t get mad at what I create.
You must realize that I need time
To sit down and come up with a rhyme
Don’t you see I get writer’s block?
People have an impression of me being a writing jock.
Even though these words, through me, they flow
You bring difficulty in rhyming each row.
I will not quit, but fight to the end
Soon enough, you’ll be my friend.
As you can see, I do own you
We are now one instead of two.

©Carl McKever