Who is Robert Petta?

Salutations noble brothers and sisters of the labor force! Welcome to my website for Office Poetry. Standard protocol dictates that I tell you a little about myself. I hope after reading this you can appreciate Office Poetry a bit more and perhaps buy a copy if you haven't already. I believe one of my gifts in life is to help people laugh. I say "help" because "making people laugh" sounds so forced. Laughing should be as natural as farting and both have been known to cause the other. So I've tried to keep it brief and still entertaining. After all I am a comedy writer.

The pictures I put up show many things I want to convey. I'll try to give you my thinking for why I chose them. Maybe it will answer some questions about "who I am," because, "Who is anyone" is a multitude of questions all wrapped up into one.

I was born in New Orleans, LA, raised in Ft. Worth, TX, and graduated from R.L. Pascal High School in 1990. I graduated from UT Austin 1996 and majored in Advertising. I worked during the summers selling books door-to-door for the Southwestern Book Publishing Company. I sold for four summers in Butler, PA, Johnson City, TN, Pikeville, KY, and Union, MO.

It seems to be a universally accepted truth that work is supposed to be hard. On the other hand, working hard is supposed to be good. Then why does it cause such much stress and frustration and worse? To deal with this paradox I wrote Office Poetry. It is for anyone who has ever felt the pressure and strain of working at some job and not being able to pursue their fondest dreams.

The picture of me playing the harp (harmonica) captures the feeling I get when I play and listen to good music. I absorb it. I play the harmonica, guitar, a little drums, and sing. I am best known for my harp playing. I love to write songs. Music frees my soul to dream.

I am drawn to quirky people. I smirk often and comment on situations with whimsical quips.

My first exposure to poetry was being read Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends by my mother as a child. I enjoy reading Robert Frost, Dylan Thomas, Wallace Stevens, T.S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis and many other great modern poets. I listen to classic rock and jam bands. I have been known for being a huge Zeppelin fan. If you see me in my car I'll be playing the air drums, or air-guitar, or even a beat up old air-piano I bring out sometimes. Or I may just be singing violently. I have no tattoos. I like to tell stories of how I got my scars.

I've worked at several large Fortune 500 companies in sales and customer service and on a ranch working cattle and welding. I've felt firsthand the pangs of taunting dreams. I've felt the pressure of deadlines and the monotony of seemingly purposeless tasks. It affected my attitude. I wanted to help myself and others through laughter. Laughter can change an attitude in a heartbeat. Office Poetry was created to change attitudes when the pressure at work gets to be too much.

In Office Poetry and Office Poetry Live! I believe I have combined what I love with what I do well and worked hard at it. I believe that combination can transform someone's efforts and creations from the ordinary into the extraordinary. I believe Office Poetry is extraordinary. I truly wrote it for everyone who has ever been stressed out at work. I poured my life's experiences and wit into Office Poetry to make it thoroughly hilarious and on point.

So who is Robert Petta? I change, and I remain the same. I'm indifferent to very few things at any given time. I question, observe, and comment about life incessantly and with added humor. I love many things and hate to say I hate anything. But I do both. I put God first in my life and His will. I pray daily that I remain true to God's plan for my life. I'm not religious. I am an optimist. I have lost my life and have been given it back in better condition. I am alive and born again. I am determined to use my gifts of humor, poetry, and music to entertain my fellow humans solely for His glory. I hope you enjoy our material.

Robert Petta October 2007