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( THE BIKER POET: The Biker Poet makes a stop at BB&BBQ. A local rider, he spends his time looking for inspiration for his poetry. ) |
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The caption mentioned the Biker Poet's search for inspiration, but not his name, or where-abouts. Who was this Bikerpoet, I wondered? The Site listed David Lee Bell, as its Web Master. So, I Decided to e-mail Web Master, David Lee Bell and ask? So, I e-mailed him. |
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David Lee e-mailed me back, and said that he didn't have the Biker Poet's name or address readily available, but he believed that the Biker Poet was from North West Arkansas. So, I google'd in ( Biker Poet North West Arkansas, ) and came up with a web site that had a DVD listed that had one Biker Poet named Sharpie reading poetry on it. I was impressed with a Biker Poet reading Bikerpoetry on a commercially produced DVD. But, I still did not have the Biker Poet's full name. After a few more Google searches, I came up with the name Eddy O'Hara, not to be confused with Eddie O'Hara, the Australian Bikerpoet. The names Eddy O'Hara with a Y or Edie O'Hara with an ie, confused or not confused, would not make any difference in any case, because Eddy O'Hara was the wrong name in this case anyway's. |
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Now, this reminds me of one time, when, I went looking for Brother Lizzard; I thought Lizzard was living up in Ashland, New Hampshire. I didn't have an address where he lived, but I figured how hard can it be to find someone in Ashland, New Hampshire? It was a nice Summer day, so, I got on my bike and headed North toward where I thought Ashland was. I stopped off for coffee in Plymouth, New Hampshire, and ran into a waitress who knew Lizzard's wife, Barb. It turned out that Lizzard didn't live in Ashland, New Hampshire; he lived in the next town over in Campton, New Hampshire, which was about five miles North of Somewhere-Else. The waitress also said that Barb worked part-time in a Roadside Cafe, along the side of the road a little further North. It was late Saturday afternoon when I stopped off at the little Roadside Cafe' where Barb worked part-time, and I asked if anyone knew Barb or Lizzard or where they lived. They knew Barb, They Knew Lizzard, but they did not know where they lived. A little further up the Road ... North! was all they could say. I headed out to the parking lot, got on my bike, and started to ride away. I pulled my bike up to the stop sign, and as I sat there waiting to pull out ... Barb drove by. She must know where Lizzard lives? They live together!, I thought. By the time I pulled out on the road ... Barb had a good lead on me! I'm not one to really push it, so I hung back some ... losing sight of her on some of the turns. Then, I came around a bend and she was gone! There was a long straight away with no sight of her, but there was a small side-road on the left. That must be it? I thought. So, I took it. After a short distance, there was a fork in the road ... Left ... I thought. So, I took another left, shot up a short hill, and sure enough, there was Barb just getting out of the car handing Lizzard the groceries to carry into the house. I spent the night at Lizzard's and Barb's, and we had a fine time talking about Bike Runs and Gigs behind us, and Bike Runs and Gigs ahead of us. I rode back to Mass. the next day in the rays of the warm afternoon sun. So, with a long history of looking for Bikers, Poets, and Bikerpoets with the wrong Addresses, no Addresses, and in the wrong towns, how hard could it be to find a Bikerpoet (I thought), who lived in a state that I had never been in? And so what, if I didn't even really know if I had the right name or not? ( I Thought! ) After all, I did have a picture of this Biker Poet; it wasn't like I didn't have anything solid to go on. |
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David Lee of Cruise the Ozarks dot com and I swapped emails a few more times, but, I still did not know the real name of who or whom this Biker Poet was or his where-about's? Though, I did receive a standing invitation to stop off for coffee with David Lee to most likely talk about bikes, riding, and publishing, if I were ever in Arkansas. So, I went back to the key-board and started to beat out other stories, articles and poems for my columns. Then, one day by surprise, I received an email from David Lee telling me that he had found the Biker Poet's name in his records. It turned out the Biker Poet's real name was not Eddy O'Hara, but James Sharpensteen aka Sharpie the Biker Poet. Along with the name, there was also an email addy ... I emailed it. It took about a day, but the email came back that the email addy was defunct ... Oh well! I then Google Searched in ( James Sharpensteen - Sharpie - the Biker Poet - North West Arkansas ) and came up with a newspaper clipping about liquor stores and lottery tickets that had a mention and quote from, one, James Sharpensteen aka The Biker Poet. And there at the top of the Google screen was James Sharpensteen's land address and telephone number. I decided to give it a shot, so I dialed the phone. No contact. I tried to call again about an hour later, still no contact, but this time, I thought I heard the answering machine whirring, so, I left a message telling him who I was, and that I was looking for Sharpie the Biker Poet in hopes of featuring him in an up-coming bikerpoetry Column. I was going to call him back later that night; I figured there is about a two hour time difference, so I would wait till about 9 or 10 o'clock my time to call. But, before I could call back, I received an e-mail telling me to call him back when I could ... |
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