Introduction

 Since Joel died, I've been going through old letters and notebooks. I've found a bunch of poems that he wrote, and I want to share them with our friends and family. I'll be publishing them here. 



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The Faithful Promise

  Joel spent the next few years trying to find help, and was finally getting some treatment for his mental problems, although it wouldn't be until after we married in 2001 that he would finally get a confirmed diagnosis of schizophrenia. In the meantime, he spent countless hours reading and researching, trying to find help for himself, since the mental health system was not doing its job. He wrote this poem several years before we met, looking to the future, when he might find the person he was meant to be with. The Faithful Promise When I was young, as I talked to God, I looked up at the sky Counting the stars that He made as each night went by   Then as a man looking for mine, I found to my dismay The star that God gave me was missing, and is to this day   A black spot in the heavens where it is supposed to be I’ll feel incomplete till I find it, that star belongs to me   I ran crying to God and asked Him to help me in my plight “My son, worry...
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For Marilyn and Lyman Carpenter

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