Athletes, Activism, & Apple boughs 
                                                My good friend and fellow poet John Telford has been a world-ranked sprinter, a championship track coach, a teacher, a college professor, and a Detroit Public Schools superintendent.  He remains a lifelong civil-rights activist.  
- Blane Smith, All-American Purdue and NFL linebacker
Telford is Detroit's Robert Frost!  - Joseph Preville, PH.D., Harvard University
John's Detroit-oriented poetry is shameless kiss-and-tell - and it's brilliant!  - Dr. Stuart Kirschenbaum, Michigan Boxing Commissioner Emeritus
This All-American athlete and physical marvel tells poetic tales of love and ecstasy with a blunt, unruly truth that transcends the tyrannical rules of decorum.  - Sunanda Samaddar Corrado, Ph.D., Columbia University
Dr. Telford's autobiographical verse is evocatively erotic, and he's also a poetic genius. - Mildred Williams, Coordinator, the Detroit Poets and Authors Society
Coach Telford is a legend. - Spencer Haywood, NBA  All-Star forward
Herein are fascinating pages of Detroit's athletic and civil-rights history, also recounting this busy Bard's AMATORY history, as well. - Greg Dunmore, Pulsebeat TV Arts, Entertainment, and Culture journalist, Detroit  
John Telford has fully tasted the forbidden fruit.  - Willie Wooten, vice president (retired), Detroit Public Schools Organization of Administrators and Supervisors
I'm going to read this poetic masterpiece over and over again!  Come and join me!  - Greg Thrasher, radio and TV commentator, Washington, D.C
												
													-- Dr. John  Telford