One for the Fellas

Book excerpt: Charles E. Mitchell ("Charlie") Rentschler learned to write terse sentences in a timely manner at Princeton University where he reported for, and became managing editor of, The Daily Princetonian. Eschewing a career as a writer, Charlie got an MBA from Harvard and has worked on Wall Street and industry, mainly running an iron foundry business for 17 years. Forcing himself to do some creative writing, Charlie writes a poem for the hand-made Christmas card that his wife and he have sent out for the past 35 years (Suzie, an extraordinary cook, concocts a recipe to accompany the poetry). Ineluctably, Charlie's verse is about "the land". West of Boston contains 20 of Charlie's poems.