You're Never Too Old to Try Writing Poetry

My Dad's First Poems

A Poetic Start to April

At the beginning of April, as part of Red Bird Sylvania’s First Friday events, I organized and facilitated my town’s first-ever poetry slam. A local restaurant, Olive’s on Main, was our gracious host.

The goal is for this to be a monthly event, but it was especially fitting to have the first slam occur at the beginning of National Poetry Month—a fantastic kick-off to April!

The slam was a success! Thirteen poets competed, including a handful of Girl Scouts!

Leading up to the event, though, I was nervous about not having enough people there, so in order to ensure that there’d be a good showing, I reached out to several people personally, asking them to attend.

Including my 88-year-old dad.

Emceeing Sylvania, Ohio’s first poetry slam! Photo credit: Rebecca Trumbull.

“Poetry is hard!”

You have to understand: my dad is not a writer and has little to no interest in poetry. Or in most artistic endeavors.

That said, he does have an innovative brain and is an artist in his own way; a lifelong woodworker, my dad has designed and built desks, tables, dressers, cabinets, and countless other things, including extensive additions to houses he’s owned. His work is brilliant.

But I’m pretty sure that the poetry slam was the first poetry event he ever attended in his life.

But also, it seems that the poetry slam may have left something of an impression on him because, a few days afterward, he said to me, “I have an idea for a poem, but I don’t think I can write it.”

He explained his idea to me over the phone, and I suggested that he write down what he’d just told me. He seemed hesitant, but a couple of days later, he had a draft to show me!

Since it’s National Poetry Month, I’m sharing his poem here. But I’m also sharing it as a reminder that we’re never too old to try something new, even something far beyond the reaches of our wheelhouses.

I shared his first draft on my personal Facebook page. This “final” draft is not much different in content, though he added a couple of lines and also allowed me to do some very light editing to it, mostly in regards to line breaks and flow.

"Great Country" by Don Klimesh

A great country has
compassion and empathy and
universal health care and

A great country does not have
a convicted felon as president and

A great country does not
threaten other countries with annexation or
impose unusually high regressive tariffs on other countries with the
     unreasonable expectation they will solve labor problems and

A great country does not
ban books or rewrite history and

A great country does not
indiscriminately fire federal employees or
dehumanize people, even suspected felons, or
indiscriminately release convicted felons or
intimidate and punish patients and medical workers for performing needed
     procedures

A great country encourages
diversity

Officials of a great country
own up to their mistakes and
do not seek retribution

So now I wonder

Is our country on the path to greatness?    

My dad fretted a bit over how to end the poem, commenting (half-jokingly), “Poetry is hard!”

My dad’s not completely ignorant of poetry, though. An avid reader, he has actually read some poetry before. Namely, Billy Collins. Specifically, Whale Day and Other Poems (2020).

I had the pleasure of meeting Billy Collins, one of my favorite poets, at a reading in 2022. After the reading, I purchased Collins’ book Whale Day and Other Poems, in part because of the poem “Walking My Seventy-Five-Year-Old Dog” (which he’d read during the reading). My dog Rosie was just about to turn 17 at the time, so I asked Collins to sign the book to both Rosie and me.

From Billy Collins’ book Whale Day and Other Poems, autographed by Collins at a reading I attended in 2022. My dog Rosie was just a couple of weeks away from her 17th birthday at the time.

Not only has my dad read a tiny bit of poetry before, but “Great Country” is actually his second poem!

That’s right. My dad wrote his first poem in 2012, in response to an “incident” that occurred with my lawn mower. I think he thought that I might pay more attention to his message if it were in “verse,” thus endeavoring to appeal to my literary senses!

Here’s that 2012 poem:

“Fluids” by Don Klimesh

mower
gas
no gas no mow ok
gas mow
last mow before snow
run till gas gone
oil
no oil mow no mower bad
check oil then mow
oil dark drain old add new
car
gas
no gas no go kill pump bad expensive
low add gas before gone
oil
no oil no car walk
new month check level
change when?

In both of my dad’s poems, he’s writing about subjects he feels strongly about, which is another good reminder.

When we feel passionate about a subject, we’re more willing to go all in, to try to find some (possibly other) way to express what we want to say, what we’re deeply compelled to say.

What Will My Dad Try Next?

This past Friday, my dad, brother, and sister attended a 10-minute-play showcase with me, a culmination of the playwriting class I just finished taking, in which we six students from the class had the wonderful experience of seeing professional actors read our scripts in front of the small audience (mostly family and friends). It wasn’t a full production, but it was enthralling to hear how others (a director and actors) interpreted my script. A discussion followed the showcase, allowing us playwrights to get audience (and actor and teacher/director) feedback on our work, providing us with useful guidance for revision.

As we walked out of the theatre, my dad said, “I’m not going to write a play!”

So, poetry may be the extent of his literary attempts.

Be that as it may, I’m not done exposing my dad to the arts! For his birthday, I gifted him a couple of one-hour drawing lessons (with the same teacher I take lessons from).

Perhaps he wonders why I gave him drawing lessons. But what do you get an 88-year-old for their birthday?? Besides, folk artist Grandma Moses started painting in her late seventies.

It’s never to late to explore one’s artistic side, be that visual art, poetry, or something else!

At Friday’s 10-minute-play showcase. Photo credit: Lia Klimesh.

Upcoming Workshop

It’s also not too late to register for my upcoming submissions workshop, which takes place on Zoom on April 17. More details here.

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