(3/3) “I wrote my first poem when my baby sister was born. She is seven-and-a-half years younger than I am, and I wrote the poem about her because I thought she was my Christmas gift that God had given me. She was born in December, if you can imagine. I wrote poems about school and I wrote for the school paper when I was in high school. I wrote for all the churches where we were and I wrote some plays and stories. In 1935, I wrote this poem:
‘Who is Dolores? I often wonder. She surely must be the family blunder.¶ She reads a book or writes a play while dreaming of being an author some day.¶ But if real life is not that large, I know that Dolores will be in charge.’
My husband laughed every time he read it. I have little pamphlets [with my poetry] in the gift shop and the money goes to the benevolent fund. I’ve lost a lot of my poems. I’m trying to keep as many as I can on my computer.”
Age In America 