In the Extra Years

In the Extra Years by Roger Sippl is a poetry book. Its about how I spent the rest of my life after I survived at age nineteen Hodgkins Lymphoma a type of cancer that at the time only gave me a twenty percent chance of living further. This book is poetry. Therefore it doesnt detail everything I did. Many events in my past just dont make good poetry. I took three companies public and although it got me the Golden Hat Trick Award from my underwriter Cristina Morgan all that business stuff just isnt very lyrical although I suppose someday I should try to make it so. But there is a little factoid that does make for a good story if not a poem. Once for a week-long party with my friends in the Caribbean I chartered a cruise ship. It only had 50 staterooms so it was a small cruise ship as cruise ships go. Chartering it was motivated by the desire when I thought I was dying to just go to the beach with my friends. When I thought I was going to lose them all all at once that was my number one thought. Years after my cancer treatment I had some success in the software business and I realized I never took that time to hang out with my friends on a sunny day in the sand. After the third IPO I decided I was probably at the peak of things so I declared it to be The Year of Roger and took my friends on this trip to the beach - which became The Year of Roger Cruise complete with logowear fireworks one night a toga party another and the inevitable martini-tasting contest with talent show put on completely by my guests. I did things like that in the extra years. Perhaps all my life I was that way in my mind but after cancer I lived it - too confident impulsive and too willing to forget about the consequences of failure. Cancer made me more sure that nothing good was going to happen for me unless I made it happen and further bad things were definitely going to happen no matter what so I better enjoy my life right now before its too late. Whether you call it a good attitude or a bad attitude it made for a wonderful life. In my next book Ill fill in the blanks between the poems with prose explain what was going on when I wrote each poem and what I meant to say by writing it to the extent I know. But for now Ill leave you with just the poems and youll have the luxury of exactly your own interpretation. Please let me know any thoughts you have on any of the poems or the whole collection at roger@sipmac.com.