Interview ~ Robb Lloyd- The Man of Poets United

Robb Lloyd is the Man behind the ever growing poetry community, Poets United. Robb is an an avid blogger, a loving husband, a father of three furry kids, and a natural born scribbler who dabbles. His motto in life is “He who laughs…lasts!” A philosophy he truly lives and a great balance to his very busy schedule. The interview was via email and chats on Facebook. In his own words, I present Robb Lloyd…

When did you begin writing? Why do you write today?

I most likely began writing in middle school, but my first true memories of writing and enjoying it was in high school (some 20 years ago). I have always been a great BSer when it comes to paper. With the advancement of computers, I actually could now do so and actually have legible stuff. My handwriting is truly horrible. My mom used to say it looks like a chicken walked across a blank page with dirty feet. As to what I write today. Well I dabble in a bit of everything, mostly poetry, short stories and erotica. I seem to shy away from form though lol.

I hear you are quite the Blogger. How many blogs do you have? Can you explain them briefly for us?Wow how many blogs do I have? I guess that’s better than asking how many I have started lol. Currently I have 8. Here they are in no particular order.

The Migration of Words – Is my poetry blog specifically for prompt writing.

Burdens and Smiles – Is my soul on paper, a place where all my original poetry goes. It’s where I get to be me and everyone gets to see it.

Poets United – We all know what this one is I think lol. A poetry community that is a halfway house for poets that ranges from beginners and dabblers to the ones that are awe inspiring with their imagination and writing ability.

The Bookshelf – A newer project that stems from Poets United meant to trumpet or allow the folks in the community another venue or chance to get their published poetry viewed and or maybe purchased.

Lloyd and Renee’s – My personal Home Brew page. We have converted our garage into a bar and lounge. My wife, a friend and I are addicted to the art of home brewing. We love making beer and giving it away to our friends. We bottle and label every one of our brews. It’s a fun little hobby. Our facebook page for this is really fun too. You get to see how goofy we are.

And 3 that are personal or Fantasy Sports related.

Do you remember the moment(s) that the idea of Poets United was born? Is there a story of PU’s beginning?
I can’t really say that there was a specific point in which what we now know today as Poets United was born. For me Poets United has been like slow trickling stream or a desert wind. It has slowly worn its own path and I have been just lucky enough to be there watching. I never imagined this community as it is. I was 35 years old and running away from my youth.( lol) At first, I had intended it to be a simple blog roll where like minded poets could go to seek one another out when I started it in the summer of 2010 . I had been to so many dead sites trying to find other poets or spam filled scam kind of sites and I thought to myself I can do better than that. It turns out that my simple page listing idea became a wonderful place for poets from everywhere and not because of me. It has become so because of the people you find at Poets United. I have been overwhelmed in the past with how much it was growing that it could have failed several times but people stepped up to help keep it active. Sherry Blue Sky and Mary Kling are big parts of that and quite a few others who have ensured our success. I would like to say that Poets United is the community’s idea. It was a small seed maybe planted by me but so many other people have watered and cared for it that its grown into it own amazing thing.

Do you have a day job?
I do have a fairly busy one but most people wouldn’t imagine that with all that I do already. lol I am a cost analyst with other varying responsibilities at an environmental engineering firm. We do a lot of remediation work for the government all over the world and I just try to make sure we are spending in the right places for the right things. It’s a lot more complicated than that honestly but my wife has been with me for 5 years now and she still really doesn’t know what I do lol.

Do you have any children?
My wife and I are severely allergic to children. It’s called Paedophobia – An abnormal and persistent fear of babies. I thank god every day that I was never a child. All joking aside you marry the one you love because of your common ground and our most common ground is that neither one of us want children. We understand it’s selfish in a way but I would rather spend that money on traveling and adventure. We have resigned ourselves to being that weird old couple that never seem to grow up. Our friends all have children and they just love to torture us with them.

Do you have any pets?
These are our children. We currently have 3- 2 dogs and a cat. The dog is a six-year-old white boxer with one brown ear named Stoli (Like the vodka). He is so unbelievably spoiled. The two cats are Bogey (for Humphrey Bogart) and London for a movie we saw. Bogey is a well-traveled man having lived 13 years with me in over 7 states (including Hawaii where he was born) and London is the biggest fat blob of a 5 year old cat you will ever meet. She is like a piece of bulky furniture just laying there. They all live a hard life under our roof lol.

How did you meet your wife?
I could go on for hours about this but the short and funny story is this. I was going through a hard time in life. One of my best friends dragged me out of the house with her and her partner/girlfriend/lover to a local bar. I sat there in the dark corner when Deaf Leapards “Pour Some Sugar” came on. Then suddenly in a beam of light this girl was doing some naughty dance on the floor. BTW she never does this, she is actually pretty prim and proper but it was her birthday and the spirits were flowing. Needless to say I dint have the courage (Edited from real words spoken) to approach her so my friends picked her up for me. My wife to this day loves to tell the story of how we met in a shady bar with bad music and had lesbians introduce us. It’s hard to top. For our wedding song after we said I do we walked back down the aisle with “Pour Some Sugar On Me” as the prim and proper folks stared on in shock lol. She was the best thing to ever happen to me.

What is your favorite food?
I guess I have to say I don’t have a favorite. I do all the cooking in the house and Amber loves it. We don’t eat any fast food and I usually prepare a 3 to 4 course meal at least 5 out of 7 nights. It’s another reason we have so many house guests lol. So back to the food question, the reason I don’t have a favorite is I like to try everything. I am constantly cooking new things. Food is an adventure and each one is good or bad in its own way. Except Cauliflower

Are you a reader? What was the last book you read?
I am a big reader (one who has gone through a reading drought recently). I have to have a book with me at all times and this is why I love paperback. If I’m sitting somewhere waiting on something I will be reading whatever I have in my pocket. The last thing I have read was The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I am currently reading “The girl with the dragon Tatoo”. I am a fantasy geek big time and average a book a week or so.

What do you like to do on a Friday night?
What don’t we do on a Friday night should be the question. Typically, we have dinner parties. Yes nearly every Friday night. We are an island that all of our friends gravitate too. Our weekends are jammed pack especially on Fridays. We have a lot of themes and themed meals. We always find a reason to gather and if not we make one up. Cocktail Parties are one of our favorite. Amber loves to dress and our friends love that we do it. Since we have a huge bar in lounge (Converted garage), we attract all the rift raft.

What do you do on a sunday afternoon?
Sundays are dedicated to Football and Spades or a movie and some volunteer work. My friend who introduced me and Amber at the bar comes over every Sunday for food and Card Games. We value our friendships and try to spread ourselves around. The other thing we do is volunteer at our church’s skate park. It’s a great place to reach kids and make sure they are doing ok. We set up 10,000 lbs of ramaps each week inside a huge church gym for kids on skateboards to use. Its so much safer than the municipal parks. I also play many random sports on those days depending on my leagues and what season it is then.

Are there any final words you would like to share with us about you ?

” I love life and regret nothing. There is no time to dwindle on the past when we have the future to experience” – Robb Lloyd