Here come the presidents!!!

Many years ago, I decided to write a poem about every president of the United States. It was a fun challenge. There is so much to say about each president. In order to make a single (short) poem work, I had to choose a small slice of what there is to say.

To show you how long ago this was, the most current poem was about Bill Clinton. After many failed attempts to sell this collection to a New York publisher, I printed and packed all the poems up in my office closet.

And then came the Internet.

Crazy thing is that I've had two websites devoted to poetry, but it wasn't until this year that I decided to share these poems on ClassroomPoems.com (my new and improved version of funny-poems-for-free.com, a site I've worked on since 2009.)

What had been holding me back was the need for an illustrator. Even at bargain rates, it was going to cost a pretty penny (more like many pretty Benjamin Franklins) to hire a freelance illustrator. And I'm picky. I want the art to look good -- and be fun and cartoony.

So I decided to do it myself. Even though I've never considered myself an artist. Even though I had illustrated some of my poems on this site. Self-image can be limiting, let me tell you.

So I gave it a shot, and you know what? I've been having a blast daring these pictures and coloring them in Photoshop. If you check out my US President Poems page, you will see that I'm now up to Gerald Ford (in illustrations). And the most recent completed president page is Zachary Taylor .

If you are a teacher, a student, or just someone interested in American history, check out this page! And keep coming back to ClassroomPoems.com because I'm not stopping. And I certainly will keep going till we get all the way up to the infamous or famous (your choice) Donald Trump.