My name is Jon Thomas Turner and I usually go by Jon or Jon Thomas. So if you meet me you'll know! I've played a fair amount of roles in my life. Honors student, school paper writer/editor, writer for The Greenville News, U.S. Navy enlisted man, student at Atlanta Institute of Music, but at 21 years of age I had a terrible car accident after running off a steep curb going 90-100 mph. I hit a tree sideways and sustained a broken back /severed spinal cord at T11/T12 and a traumatic brain injury. I am paralyzed for life (unless a great medical cure comes along) and my TBI took years to fully heal. I've also had severe mental illness since I was 18. I've had more help than. You can imagine and though I've got d-o-w-n at times I've always gotten back up to show not my family, not the world, but myself that I wasn't done and that I could still live out my dream. What dream is that? You're looking at it. I've wanted to be a published author for the last ten years and now I am fortunate enough to have written "I'm Still Here", my debut, and now "Dante's First Dream", by far my most ambitious collection of poems to date (I have other work published online). In my mid-twenties I wrote two novel length works and many short stories but after turning to poetry at age 27 I haven't looked back. I thank you very much for your interest in the work that is my passion and I hope you are more than satisfied with it after all is read and done. Love, Jon.
