Local poet gets first book published

By MaryHelen Swanson
North Branch native Karen Swanson has a gift - taking our everyday words and arranging and rearranging them until they turn into little vignettes of her life, stories with words that sound alike in the end.
Swanson is a poet, and now, sheís a published poet.
Swanson is as surprised about it as anyone, because it all happened so fast.
In fact, the word she used was ìbizarre.î
On the first Monday night in February she got a call from her husbandís nephew, Troy Dreier of New York.
Heís also the coupleís godchild.
Swanson said he asked her if she could get some of her poems together to be printed in a book. He needed them by Wednesday.
Swanson scrambled to collect her poems, she even wrote 17 on Tuesday to be added to the collection.
The nephew sent the collection to several publicists. At the end of March, Swanson received her book.
ìItís all very, very new to me,î said the delighted poet.
Swanson said she started writing poetry after high school, and over the years people kept saying she should write a book.
ìI love to write poetry,î she said. Much of what she writes are poems dedicated to individuals for birthdays, anniversaries, going away parties etc.
ìItís so much fun to do,î she said.
She also writes about the serious, emotional and tragic moments of our lives in longer, more thought-provoking prose.
Swanson said everyone has a gift from God - she believes writing poetry is hers. ìMy family wishes it was cleaning,î she chuckled.
She said sometimes the words come fast, as fast as she can write, but at other times she will sit for hours trying to get started.
One of her favorite poems, which is included in the book, was written after 9/11. Titled ìThank You God for America,î it relates the feelings of sadness and patriotism that came out of the national tragedy.
The 91-page book contains serious poems about God, country and true stories from her life, with a smattering of ìnonsense in rhymeî to lift the spirits of the readers.
One of the most humorous is about her thank you notes after her wedding. It talks about how different the meaning of a word can be with the addition of just one letter.
It is titled ìMisspelled Catastrophe.î
The book is dedicated to her husband Don, her children Lori, Mike and Mindy and, of course, to her godchild, Troy.
Swanson will be reading from and signing her book at the North Branch Area Library April 26, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and April 29, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Her book will be available for purchase that night. It is also for sale online at 1st.com, Amazon.com and at the Barnes and Noble Web site.
Swanson finds it so exciting having a book published that she is already penning rhyme for a second.

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