I Don't Know Jack: Poems in Search of Reason is a first publication for Roger Huisinga. He lives with his family in central Illinois.

Roger, when you first walked into Mayhaven's office, a book of poetry is just about the last thing I expected you to talk about with me. Before others ask, whatever possessed you?

I guess I've always been able to bend words around an idea. Poems are attractive to me because they are short and to the point. Poetry also seems to run in the family as my mother has written many poems over the years.

Some of your poems are about being a boy and a man in the rural midwest, but many reach beyond your own experience and reflect the lives of others. It is always hard to tell when you are talking or when you are talking for someone else.

My goal with this book was to encompass life lessons. People tell stories all the time with morals or lessons. I just take life experience and add a little rhyme and look for a little reason.

I never expected a book of poems to contain some of the most controversial views we've published, but this one does. Why did you write about the darker side of life?

In life we take the good with the bad and learn from both. One of my goals is to help the younger generation avoid the mistakes of my generation.

There is a poem in I Don't Know Jack about childhood reading. Was that you? Did you read often?

That poem was about me and I did read most every book the school had. I especially liked biographies.

As a child did you try to write?

Not much. My pen couldn't keep up with my thoughts. Many of my school assignments had notes from the teacher asking if I was in a hurry when I wrote it. I literally got tired fingers trying to write down my thoughts.

You have two poems in I Don't Know Jack about seeing the world from a great height. One is pure fantasy, the other relates an actual event.

I think its important to remember that there are many ways to look at the world. I had an aerial view those days.

You graduated from the University of Illinois. During your time there, were you interested in writing?

I had an idea for a book back then and told my friends that I'd write it one day. They've been waiting for awhile now.

Have you published anything else—an article, stories?

One poem prior to this book. It was published in October 2004 by poetry.com.

You don't hold back. Your poems are very specific. You pain some colorful profiles of characters that will strike a chord in a good many readers.

I just want people to see what I see. If I don't strike a chord with people, I don't imagine I'll sell many books.

There is often a good bit of irony in your poems. Were you aware of that as you wrote?

Everyday life is full of irony. I mostly just write what I see, the way I see it. Most of the irony in my poems is a back handed effort to make a point or inject humor.

In any book of poems there are some that are favored. One in I Don't Know Jack that I find particularly interesting is "The Far Side of Fear." What inspired it?

Fear can be paralyzing. To be fearless, you need faith. Faith and action will deliver you to the far side of fear. Once you get past your fear—anything is possible.

You invited both your mother and your daughter to contribute a poem to I Don't Know Jack. Why?

I liked what they wrote.

It is one thing to write a poem, but to publish takes it to another level. What made you decide to publish?

I truly believe that other folks can benefit from the mistakes I've made and the joys I've seen.

What do you hope I Don't Know Jack conveys to the reader?

Hope springs eternal, love abounds Faith will deliver them to higher ground.