Almost My First Poem Ever

Martha Kennedy 16 Comments

Judy Dykstra found the first poem she ever wrote and asked her readers to share their early poetry. I don’t have the first poem (it was on a card I wrote for my mom for Mother’s Day sometime in the late 1950s) but I found a BUNCH.

Here is a poem I wrote in 1963 or 64 — I was 11 or 12. It was the poem that convinced my dad to give me the typewriter, a Royal portable.

And here is one I referred to in this post, “So, Uh, what’s your sign?” a poetic editing of a translation of a poem by Catullus that a friend, a Classics major and classmate, asked me to do. These were saved from the purging of The Examined Life of (literally) song and story.

It’s probably no surprise that most of my early (and now) poems are nature poems. I don’t think I’ve changed a whole lot!

16 thoughts on “Almost My First Poem Ever”

  3. That first one is so very engaging – I could see and feel the wonder and joy while perched in the topmost branches of that tree!!

  5. Nature has been, mostly, at the bottom of mine, as well. When I discovered, early on, Robert Frost and, then, William Stafford and Mary Oliver it was like coming home. Richard Hugo also made me feel a connection.

  6. MAK, I don’t know why I tear up so much at this stage of life, but your first poem did it to me again. Your heart and love for nature, and words, we’re definitely evident at such a young age. I remember having deep thoughts of nature (particularly trees, clouds, and the sky) at a young age; but couldn’t exactly find a way to put those on paper until older. I’m so happy you have these journals and artifacts! How fun to reflect! 💕💚🥰

Comments are closed.