For more than 40 years, Howard Nelson has been a professor of English at Cayuga Community College.

During his many years of teaching he has helped share his love of language, books, poetry and prose with numerous students, as well as serving as the coordinator of the school's visiting writers series.

And all the while, he has found time for his own personal passion for poetry.

Nelson recently published his fifth book of poetry, “The Nap by the Waterfall,” through Timberline Press. He will be reading from the work Thursday at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center.

Much like he has strived to share his passion for words with his students, Nelson pointed to a teacher he had growing up that first inspired his love of words.

“It was a teacher I had in high school,” Nelson said. “I had been aware of poetry, of course, but he showed me these poems and I just got more and more interested, and that inspired me to start writing my own poetry.”

As an aspiring writer, Nelson said that he was inspired by many of the giants of American poetry. He pointed to William Carlos Williams, Allen Ginsberg and Walt Whitman as particular favorites.

Whitman still has the ability to fascinate Nelson, who has done much critical analysis of the poet's work and has had numerous pieces published on the subject. Nelson also edited and wrote the introduction for “Earth, My Likeness: Nature Poetry of Walt Whitman,” a compilation of Whitman's poems set for publication in 2010 by North Atlantic Books.

“I love the way (Whitman) writes,” Nelson said. “I really like his use of free verse and the way he was connected to the natural world, that is very important for me as well.”

Nelson said that he finds endless inspiration in the natural world and that he likes to spend as much time as possible in the outdoors, taking in all the natural beauty the world has to offer.

“I enjoy spending time in nature,” Nelson said. “I find a lot of inspiration and solace there.”

While his academic pursuits certainly keep him occupied, Nelson said that he always finds the time - however little - to write.

“It is hard to find the time,” Nelson said. “But I do what I can when I can.”

This is, to some extent, the approach Nelson took in writing this new collection of poetry. He said that it is comprised of pieces he has written and honed over the past decade.

“I had about 100 poems,” Nelson said. “The publisher approached me and said they were interested in putting something together so I went through and found 20 poems that seemed to fit together and had a theme that I thought was good for this collection.”

Nelson said that this is a somewhat introspective collection of poems, with themes that look at the idea of mortality and aging, but also look at the beauty of nature, as the title implies, and celebrate the beauty of life.

“I call it upbeat melancholic,” Nelson said. “I can see the darker side of it, but I think it is about celebrating being here while we are here.”

Nelson, who has done numerous readings over the years, said that he is looking forward to sharing this work at the Schweinfurth.

“Poetry is like a song,” Nelson said. “I really enjoy reading and sharing that song with others and I am very happy to be reading at the Schweinfurth.”

If you go

What: Howard Nelson reads poems from his new book, “The Nap by the Waterfall”

Where: Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15

Cost: Free

Info: Call 255-1553

“The Moon”

I don't always pay attention to it,

but I do notice it from time to time-

when it is especially large and bright over the lake,

or a cold crescent through the bare trees in winter,

or when I come home late and get out of the car

and it occurs to me that the driveway

is bathed in a glow, all the way up to the door,

and I look up and see the moon

white and silent. How strange

that among the immensities of space and infinity

our planet should happen to have

a single round rock circling it,

catching the sunlight, always cool,

slipping the darkness on and off so calmly,

slicing time and timelessness

into months, such a human span, always

swinging its oval around us.

As if someone had said, those human beings,

they'd like to have a luminous orb

in the darkness of the night,

and while we're at it, let's have it change shape,

slowly, but not too slowly,

so they can count out their lives with it,

as well as look up now and then

and feel a wash of beauty

and what a mysterious place this is.