Porter's Hold on Me

Ferrol Sams' trilogy
about Porter
begins when he is a child,
taking him through
college, med school,
and the military.

Of all the leading men in movies meant
to catch a lustful lady's eye,
of all the heroes of adventures written
to evoke fair female reader's sigh,
the favored fellow sitting at the top of my long list
is not the one I think you'd likely guess.
Among the many, manly, handsome misters
there is only one who holds my heart, I must confess.
Forget Rhett Butler, Bond, Lord Jim,
Sherlock Holmes, Heathcliff? Not him.
Nor Austen's Darcy, Alcott's Laurie.
Tony isn't best (from West Side Story).
I could envision being in romantic clinch
with Atticus, that noble and nice-looking Mr. Finch.
When I was just a little girl, Almanzo Wilder seemed ideal,
moreso because I knew his comely character was real,
but doctor/author Ferrol Sams left this reader without quarter
when he put his pen to paper and created dear sweet Porter.
Porter Osborne, Jr. will be always and forever
in my heart for being funny, yes, but also kind and clever.



(c) Ellen Gillette, 2013

With it being just my sister and me, the story of Porter was quite an education into the mind of little boys. And big boys. Sams is a gifted storyteller, and I often give his books as gifts.