80 Poems

Like his earlier book, "Before I Forget", "80 Poems" is the compilation of a life. The number of poems is significant, Jacobs is at once celebrating and lamenting his 80th birthday. Consistent with that, the poems among the 80 focus on the function and content of memory, and the uncertainty of life, particularly at advanced age. Throughout the book there is a spiritual tone of faith in the goodness of life."Rare is the octogenarian whose mind is so lucid and fingers so nimble as to pour forth daily poetic lines as deep and moving as those of Lloyd Jacobs. I found myself drawn from one page to the next, captivated, entranced by rich and colorful imagery, flowing forth like spring water, sometimes cool and refreshing, sometimes bubbling hot with fury, sometimes steaming with sultry passion, an all laced with the somber awareness of an imminent end. His rich and full life, from Marine Corps to surgeon and then professor, from Asian jungle to concrete jungle, from desperate loneliness to lost in love, all stitched with surgical skill into brief but stirring vignettes of ten thousand memories." -Lesly F. Massey, Ph.D.In 1962 Lloyd Jacobs was honorably discharged after four years of active duty in The United States Marine Corps. After undergraduate study at Miami University of Ohio, Jacobs attended The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and postdoctoral study at three institutions. He practiced Surgery for twenty years, becoming Professor of Surgery at The University of Michigan. He was appointed President of The Medical College of Ohio in 2003 and became president of the combined institution when the Medical College merged into The University of Toledo. He served in this role until 2014. At that time, he renewed his commitment to poetry and now writes poetry daily.