Harley King
During his more than seventy years on this illustrious planet, Harley King has been gainfully employed as a carpenter, street sweeper, car hop, corn detasseler, hospital orderly, radio announcer, book editor, publisher, freelance writer, bus driver, sports writer, bookkeeper, policy and procedures writer, forms designer, marketing vice-president, corporate executive, professional speaker, facilitator, salesman, trainer, organizational development consultant, ad writer and communications executive. Some jobs he has held for a whole day and others he has held for years. He has also had more than thirty different bosses.
Harley holds a B.A. degree in English, a M.A. in the School of Hard Knocks and is working on a Ph.D. in the Survival of the Unknown Writer.
While Harley grew up in central Illinois, he has managed to visit forty-eight states and has lived in five of them. He has been fortunate to step on the soil of Canada, Mexico, Jamaica and Venezuela. He is currently living in Ohio with his wife of over 40 years.
Harley King has been writing and publishing poetry for over 45 years. He spent 7 years writing only haiku. He has published 12 books of poetry and 2 works of non-fiction.
Harley has been speaking on leadership and customer service for over 30 years. He has delivered more than 5,000 presentations. For one nine year stretch, he averaged over 250 presentations a year.
Harley is a certified Zentangle teacher and creates abstract drawings.
Harley is patiently waiting for the big publisher in the sky to turn his books into best-sellers and his poetry into classical literature.
“Too often our visions of the futureare dull and impotentlike a hammer beating the water.”
“Memory shimmers as a crystal lakethat reflects all things invisible.”
“Sometimes we live too much in the past,remembering what we wished had happened.”
“Life often is a bucket of water sitting on a farmer’s porch. Our choice is in the drinking.”
“Too much has been given and too much has been lost.”
“Sometimes we wait too long for the forgiveness of our fathers.”
“God is taking a nap within my soul. I ponder whether to wake Him or not.”
“I climb aboard my tricycle and pedal my heart to the stars.”
“Service to others in their time of need is a privilege and an honor.”
“Sometimes memory is the only gift we give ourselves and the only hope we have of finding our way home.”
“One must give himself completely to his art and not hold back. Throw caution to the wind. Embrace the muse. Make love to your art.”
“The more I try to be perfect; the more I fail.”
“May your dreams be gifts from the gods and may you open them with excitement and pleasure.”
“May your dreams be larger than mountains and may you have the courage to scale their summits.”
“May your journey through life be vibrant and full of colorful rainbows.”
“All things old become new again. In my youth the athletes had crew cuts and the hippies had long hair. Now the athletes have long hair and the hippies are bald.”
“Sometimes thatwhich we fearstrengthens ourspirit and givesus a splashof hope.”
“God steals my soul.”
“Let go of your old tired habits and plant new habits in fertile soil.”
“Memory is a sly devil that pretends to wear the cloak of truth, but deceives us both in our youth and our age.”
“So much is buried in our lives that we forget what we have learned.”
“Nothing stays the same and nothing changes. What is old today will be new tomorrow. What is new today will be forgotten tomorrow.”
“Story is a butterfly whose wings transport us to another world where we receive gifts that change who we are and who we want to be.”
“May your heart be lighter today.”
“We fear what we most desire.”
“If I woke up one morning and realized that all I ever was going to be was a business man, I'd probably die. All my dreams would be shattered. Early in life I had many dreams. I dreamed of being a great basketball star. I dreamed of being a preacher. I dreamed of saving the world from war and racism. And I dreamed of being a great poet. Today, I dream only of writing.”
“How little we understandof the gifts we have been givenor the shape of the pathwe took to reach our salvation.”
“I feel the healinghands of Godtouch my heartand kiss my soul.”
“Sometimes we fight who we are, struggling against ourselves and our natures. But we must learn to accept who we are and appreciate who we become. We must love ourselves for what and who we are, and believe in our talents.”
“Our flesh is a gift of laughter.”