What if a poem could take you back—exactly as you were, exactly where you stood?

In You There, Reading This Poem, North Carolina poet R. Steve Martin invites readers into a deeply personal and quietly powerful body of work shaped over more than three decades. This debut collection gathers 85 poems that explore connection, faith, memory, and the small, defining moments that make up a life.

Drawing from a 36-year career in special education—working in public schools, developmental disability services, and a juvenile correctional facility—Martin brings a compassionate, observant voice to the page. His poems reflect a lifelong commitment to reaching those who feel unseen, offering readers a sense of recognition, empathy, and shared experience.

Rooted in the rhythms of Southern storytelling, Martin’s style blends metaphor, personification, and a natural musicality. These are poems meant not only to be read, but heard—echoing with the cadence of lived experience and the quiet truths of everyday life.

For Martin, poetry serves as an “emotional photograph,” capturing moments that can be revisited again and again. Whether reflecting on faith, relationships, or the passage of time, his work reminds us that even the most personal stories carry something universal.

Accessible, thoughtful, and often gently humorous, You There, Reading This Poem is a collection for both devoted poetry readers and those discovering poetry for the first time—an invitation to pause, reflect, and perhaps see your own life more clearly in the lines.

In this collection, Steve Martin accomplishes what all poets strive for but only some sometimes achieve — the creation of observations that are both familiar and fresh at once. It’s the oxymoron of familiarity and novelty within a single piece, achieved through the challenging surprise of down-home details paired with an underlying sense of weighty philosophy. These poems are meant to be read and enjoyed repeatedly. —Scott Owens, Hickory Poet Laureate