The Prepper Broadcasting Network - POEMS FOR MEN IS OUT!!

Episode Date: June 6, 2025

Buy Poems for Men! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FBKK433M

. . . . . Gather your berets, PBN family. It's some smoky coffee shop in a time long past, right? A time when poetry wasn't tethered together with snow-cone colored hairdos and the fact that incendiary devices might lurk underneath the pride flag cape tied to the back of the person's body who was screaming out the verse.

Now gather together for this day which's a big day. Poems for Men is out. Poems for Men exists. It now exists with its beautiful cover, with the resounding statistics that are etched into the cover from now until forever. And the most important part of all, right? The most important part of all Poems most important part of all poems for men is its method of meeting men meeting men and reminding them that dude this play has been on a very very very long time and it's played out just this way for a very very very long time and while life can be brutal and

while life is suffering You have to understand that There is at the very least brotherhood and it's not just brotherhood of those who you you know exist on this plane with today but it's brotherhood that has existed on this planet for hundreds, thousands of years. Right? And if you don't believe me, I'm going to read to you from Sonnet 29, just five lines, William Shakespeare, out of the pages of the very book we speak of, what is this page? What is this? We can start to quote page. Page 18, sonnet 29, William Shakespeare. This

is one of those sections of the book that are bold. So you'll be able to find this really easy. In some portions of the book, well in some of the included texts from other poets, I bolded the text to take your eyes right to the lines in that poem that really stand out to me. So you're not just kind of, you know, because there are poems like Matthew Arnold's Rugby Chapel that is, it's a long poem, but there's some parts in there that are so powerful but here in sonnet 29 you know William Shakespeare in his sonnets does more than just love lovey dovey stuff you know he does the whole gamut and in sonnet 29 it is the basically the men poet the man poet the man's lament poet right and right about in the middle, he says, and look upon

myself and curse my fate, wishing me like to one more rich in hope, right? No matter who you are, no matter what man you are, you could wake up in a Bugatti, a bed made Bugatti by Bugatti, whatever. No matter what man you are, you look upon yourself and curse your fate from time to time. Right? You live in a box, you live in a mansion. You wish me like to one more rich in hope.

I wish I were a man with more hope. I wish I were like the poor guy who had more hope. I wish I were like the rich guy who had more You know, I mean featured like him Featured like him think about that and I look upon myself and curse my fate wishing me like to one more rich in hope Featured like him like him with friends possessed. Oh, I want to look like him. I want to have friends like him Desiring this man's art and this man's scope right This these are the insecurities of men and women even to some degree that are

part of the human condition, right But he wraps this whole stanza up. Well, not stanza, but he wraps this whole succession of lines up with the trap that all people fall into from time to time. I myself, I've fallen into it several times just in 2025 alone. He says, and look upon myself and curse my fate, wishing me like to one more rich in hope, featured like him. I want to look like him. Like him with the friends possessed. I want his buddies. I want to have cool friends like him.

Desiring this man's art and that man's scope, right? With what I most enjoy, contented least. And to me, this is the saddest of all. Right? This, this to me, my sword in the throat of this is Warhammer right now. Right? Because I know you guys are probably tired of hearing about it, but I really am contented with this hobby. You know what I mean?

It really doesn't make me more prepared. It doesn't add anything cool. It's really not a cool thing. It's really kind of a dorky thing and a silly thing and I absolutely love it. And it's so easy man for people to get stuck in a world with what I most enjoy contented the least. Because you're worried about money, you're worried about the woman, you're worried about the car, you're worried about the house, you're worried about the cologne, you're worried

about the hairdo, you're worried about the shirt. And everything's got to be put just perfectly and just so and your whole life is tethered up into this and then you got the career and you and Everything is tethered up and wrapped up in just this sort of way that you think it's supposed to look And all that time and all that money and all that effort gets sunk into these things These fruitless things that you're doing for other people and then you realize oh shit I also got a but I really do kind of like bowling you know what I really like is whatever fishing you know what I mean what I really like is X I don't

ever do it anymore cuz I'm too busy stuck I'm too busy stuck cursing my fate Wishing I had more hope wishing I looked like him wishing I had friends like him wishing I oh man You know a lot of people who don't appreciate Shakespeare they think like Romeo and Juliet and sonnets about love and all that but What his superpower was was capturing this is what his real superpower was it was not only capturing the things that made up life in his life and in his purview and putting them into plays and into into poetry he was capturing the timeless right He was capturing the timeless, right? He was capturing the

timeless, the things that would some 500 years later now be just as powerful as they were back in his day. 600 years, well no, 500 years. Pause for coffee sip. I'm drinking Wawa coffee today. My morning is a little weird. We are, it's off to the fishing hole today to celebrate. Celebrate the book release. You will be getting a podcast from E.J. Snyder later today, probably around noonish. Myself and E.J. Snyder, the first of E.J. Snyder, Naked and Afraid, the whole nine yards, man. He was fun. I never actually talked to the guy before, but he was a lot of fun man, he was a good time. He's part of this Prepper Camp speaker series we're doing, so you're gonna get

to hear from him, you're gonna get to hear about his background, he's pretty, he he lets it rip, so hang in there. Some of it gets a little long-winded because he's got a lot of stuff on his plate and he's got a lot of experience, tremendous experience. But you'll learn a lot. He's going to have some great class to teach for sure. But yeah, we never really... We talk about the classes in passing. We talked about the 60 classes and all that in passing, but we rarely get to the point where you get to meet the people. You know? Yeah, it's rare. What else? I want to read with you a little bit. I'm supposed to pick my dad up here in like 15 minutes, but I don't think it's going to happen.

I'm going to take my time with this. Have fun with you. Amazon.com Poems for Men James Walton type that in it'll come up. It's a beautiful cover. Oh my god. Okay. Let's read this one. This one I just had a minute heart attack. Minute. Because I rushed this poem in to the book. In the final hour. Right? I really did. I mean, I rushed this thing in like the last... I might have finished it up the last day before submitting it for published. And it's an important one.

And I had several iterations of it, and then I had changed some of it and put some back. Yeah. This poem all was born out of one moment. I mean, it's born out of a lot of moments, and it's born out of a lot of conversations that you have with your family and kids and all that kind of stuff. But it was really born out of one moment. I was, I don't remember. I was talking to myself, maybe I think it feel like it was like on a drive home from school, my oldest, right? And I could tell that through this year he's really been beaten to death by the platitudes of older men. You

know what I mean? You should this and in my day that and yaddy yaddy like like you know. I just tell you just tell when you talk to him and you see the look in his eyes when you say certain things you know like okay this guy's getting he's getting enough. And I forget what I was saying to him but it was not something critical or anything like that. And he just gave me this weird look and he was like, well, let me guess, it was way better in your day. And then he looked down. And I don't know, you know, these little weird moments that might not sound like anything to you they stick into me like a hot brand you know what I mean I see them and I see sort of like and you know what they a lot of times like I'll impart great meaning into something like this a moment like this and he probably doesn't even remember

it I forgot it but there was something there there was something there there was like a a woefulness about life and the future of life and all that, you know what I mean? And just coming up the way that they're coming up with the existential dread and all that kind of stuff, it pushed me to write this poem called To My Boys, and that's really it, right? And I think you'll understand exactly what I'm trying to get at, right? Doom. It's a good opening. Doom. The word that looms over every generation is truth. Graying and yapping, men will claim this time lost. Their time was better.

The truth is, it's never been better. Your generation is the closest to truly knowing the truth. The truth rarely comes with wide hips and blue eyes, however nothing gets better without it. The cost of your age is distraction and convenience. Make more than you take. Remember above all my sons, each day it is you who makes your reality. The markets, the news, the feed, powerless. You knock the arrow, you pull the string, you fire on target each day. Should you ever feel the hot claws of despair, simply question your aim.

What is your target? To be a man is to give. A man's attention is gold to a woman. A man's attention is gold to a woman. A man's attention is safety, confidence, and strength to a child. You are power. Men of my generation have forgotten they are power. Suffering is part of the deal. Build a relationship with it. Choose what you suffer, that the suffering not surprise you as much. If it's too much to bear, wake early and slow down.

See the world. God made you an entire world to enjoy. See every leaf, bird, listen to every morning song watch the Sun set and rise and when all else fails there's always fishing yeah that's that's that PBN family that family. That is that. Yeah, we got a lot of great ones in here, man. Someone is gonna read the poem Questions from the Other Side and it's gonna be, it's gonna be the, it's gonna pour. That's all I could say, it's gonna pour. It's gonna pour. That's all I could say. It's gonna pour. It's a tough one. It's a tough one to read. Suicide, another tough one to read. There's a lot in here.

There's a lot in here that pours out from me and a lot in here that pours out from the body mankind, if you understand. What else should we read you? Be in love. The sole female who made her way into poems for men, Anne Braun. I thought it would be Christina Rosetti, the of I'm sorry the sister of Dante Gabriel Rosetti awesome poet in her own right actually more famous than him truly, but The narrow way by Anne Bronte the narrow way Is just so good it's just so it's just the message of our time, you know and I put these two lines in bold because they really... I

mean, I'd be lying if I said they didn't change my life when I read them. And this is not an old standard for me. This is a newer poet that I read. The poet is not newer, but the poem is new to me. Maybe a year, two years max, right? But he that dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose. I cannot think of a message that is simmered down into two lines like better than that for our time. You know what I mean? I hope it resonates. It's just so powerful to be in the age of comfort and convenience. But he that dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose. We do a lot of craving this day and age.

Men in particular, right? Craving for this job or this money or this car or this girl. And it all comes with you know you just better be prepared to grasp at the thorns in order to get the rose nuptial sleep Dante gave a rosette one of my favorites nuptial sleep is one of the first ones I read by Dante and just always, I don't know, just always sat with me. Yeah, it's a beautiful one. A lot of personal stuff. The Orchard Pit. Sirens. Sirens is a great one, man. Sirens is a weird one. I'll tell you the backstory on Sirens one day. Really, really weird.

When I wrote Sirens, I had just this... just this insane, like, revelation about... Well, you gotta read it. You gotta read it. It's pretty clear. Right? Oh, how about Matthew Arnold Urania? This one I wrote because, um, I don't know, I just, the first time I read this poem, the first line of the poem, just so, was so my wife, it was amazing, you know. I'll read you the opening.

She smiles and smiles and will not sigh. While we for hopeless passion die. Yet she could love those eyes declare, were but men nobler than they are. I don't know, when I read that I just, it always makes me think of Michelle, right? There's a really silly poem in here called Marriage that I think if you're not married it won't make any sense, but if you're married it'll be like pretty much, right? A. E. Hausman was another poem that came in very late. It's poem 31 from his collection More Poems. And it It is I really included it in the women's section for did I put in women? Oh, it rounds out the women's section doesn't it? Yep

Seeing and experiencing life is right after the end of the women's section or the section on women Is rounded out by this poem by a houseman because it really is is Rounded out by this poem by A.E.H. Hausman because it really is Fundamentally about something that all men have to wrap their hand or a head around at least at one point in their life And it's that sometimes you just don't get her Sometimes you just don't get the girl Despite your best efforts despite how you feel despite the fact that in the moment you feel like there was one woman put on this earth for you and it was her and no matter what happens, life can only be sufficient if you have her. And a really important skill,

man, is to be able to survive that, to be able to walk away from that. Because I liked you better than suits a man to say it irked you and I promised I'd throw the thought away. To put the world between us we parted stiff and dry farewell, farewell said you, forget me, farewell I will said I and the poem goes on to explain just that to explain just that yeah that's it that's an important part of being a being a boy and a man really truly I could tell you stories I could tell you stories when I was about 12 years old there was a 19 year old girl I used to chase around call bother incessantly

Because I swore I swore there was a chance in hell I No idea. You know what I mean, but you get smitten. This is what it is Those we lost The poet who loses his pen his life does end. This is my own work. Though he stumbles amongst the masses at distance he appears the norm. 30 years ahead, a eulogy read. But make no mistake, this poet's long been dead. Yeah, this poet who loses his life... Oh, the poet who loses his pen, his life does end.

It's weird. It's... I mean... Yeah. Things die in us. Sometimes we get them back, sometimes we don't. The menu is great. The menu is a phenomenal. Like old, old, old poem I wrote probably 12 years ago called A Run Through Tired Woods is in here also. It's out, folks! It is what it is. I'm not gonna beat it to death anymore. There's some greats in here, there's some amazing poets in here, there's a lot of my own work. Like I said, it's about 40 or so poems.

And you're gonna enjoy it, man. there's a lot of my own work so i guess it's about forty or so poems and uh... you don't join it maybe it is the gift maybe it's not the gift for father's day what i could tell you about this is there's at least one person in your life needs to read it could be you could be you listening to me right now but it's not you maybe it's somebody younger maybe it's somebody older

you know maybe i got the one of the first people to actually reach out and express serious interest in the book like oh I can't wait to read it and reach out via email was a woman so I'm doing a lot of targeting a man and I probably need to open it up the end of a show like this, it's gone on way too long. I'm supposed to pick my dad up right now for fishing. I didn't even wake my son up yet. But this is all because of you guys. Period. Make no mistake about it. This moment, this day, where I get to release this book and I woke up like a cranky bitch. I mean just a cranky baby this morning. I've been cranky the last

couple days. I don't know what it is. I might know what it is. But anyway, so here we are, you know what I mean? In this moment, in my life, a man who really has no, never, never, no reason to be upset. I mean, really. And I just want to thank you, that's all. I want to thank you because this is it. This thing doesn't come to fruition without you. Most of the books that I've written, The Christmas Hook, never. The Darker Trails, never. Those books never come to life if not for you. Poems for Men never comes to life if not for you. Because you're the audience.

You're the people. You're the readers. You're the guys who go out and gals who go out and buy the books. And then I say, well, you know, I'm not a New York Times bestseller, but I'll tell you what, this book was meant to exist. Spread the word, folks. Tell everybody to get their hands on it. Like I said, what's really cool about Poems for Men, I think, in terms of the gift-giving side of things, is it's a $10 topper. Like, it's $ You got you got Amazon Prime. It's 10 bucks free delivery. So Even if you you know, dad wants to a thing or you have plans to get dad a thing

You just throw this on top like what can you even get for 10 bucks anymore? you know what I mean, but I Appreciate you guys enjoy the day. Like I said, The Rising Republic is out. The EJ Snyder podcast will be out eventually at some point today. That's out in video as well. That'll be on YouTube and everywhere else if you follow us over there. And that's it. That's it, man. It's gonna be a big weekend. Heading up to the Jones Homestead tomorrow. We're gonna have some fun with the Ration of Ruin, guys. Celebrate a little bit.

It's a good life. I hope yours is too. And maybe more importantly than hoping your life is good, I hope that you can recognize the good things in your life. Right? Enjoy the rest of your day, folks. It's Friday. Gotta enjoy that a little bit, right?

Talk to you soon.