The Three-Mile Bridge is a trip, a short one in terms of distance, but a profound one in terms of time. Unstructured poetry is the perfect medium to get you from shore to shore; it can catch weather, time of day, season, or mood (be it euphoria, booziness, or road rage) in a word, line, or at its most verbose, stanza. Over sixteen years I have engaged in a love affair with my Bridge. You will, too.

Jack Beach is a product of the "breadbasket of America," the Middle West. Born and reared in Galesburg, Illinois (just far enough from the Mississippi to escape being labeled a "river rat,") his education ranged from Farnham Elementary, Lombard Jr.High, and Galesburg Senior High School, on to The Goodman Theatre, University of Iowa, and Western Reserve University in Cleveland, where he sealed his Ph.D in Theatre with a hefty Dissertation on Joan of Arc in Drama. By one of those fortunate quirks of fate, his first teaching position was as Assistant Director of Theatre at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. He held this spot for nineteen years, teaching Acting and staging plays from the Classical and Modern reps. as well as musicals and operas. In addition, he and his family traveled abroad extensively, and he started writing poems and stories on the side.

Dr. B. (as he is known) was never completely at home in Middle America. He yearned for water (a Cancer) and The Deep South (fascinated with Southern writers). The chance came when he moved first to a teaching position in Atlanta, then deeper South upon retirement to Pensacola (with a little pad in New Orleans). Here he spends his time writing, reading from his works, working Crosswords, and carousing in the French Quarter. He says, "I’ve never met a Mardi Gras I didn’t like."

This is his first published book, although stories and poems have appeared in regional publications -- notably The Emerald Coast Review.