Carole Lee Usher has been writing poems since fifth grade. In the past, she would use bubble gum wrappers or envelopes when nothing else was available to capture an inspiration that had crossed her mind.

Over the years, Usher has collected a large number of poems, which caused her mother to encourage her to get them published. At the end of May, about a year after her mother died of breast cancer, Usher’s first book is out — “Poems For Any Song Bird To Sing.”

“I was hoping she would be here to see the first book, but it didn’t happen,” said the Griffin resident. “With the help of God, I hope this is a new chapter in my life.”

“Poems For Any Song Bird To Sing”, which only contains a small fraction of all the poems Usher has written over time, describes in an easy-to-understand fashion the things with which people deal in their everyday lives.

“(The book) just deals with life issues, and I hope it makes someone think before they choose to go down the wrong path,” she said. “I hope it touches the heart. That’s the main thing.”

Aside from her first book and the many other poems still waiting to be published, Usher has also written a variety of short stories, which again focus on the pleasant and not-so-pleasant things in life.

An avid admirer of the prominent Atlanta actor and director Tyler Perry, Usher has sent some of her short story work Perry’s way but so far hasn’t received a response.

“I really do hope that one day, he’ll look at my material and do something with it,” she said.

Poems For Any Song Bird To Sing was published by Rose Dog Books and is available for sale at rosedogbookstore.com. It can also be purchased at Amazon as a paperback for $12 or as a Kindle edition for $7.