Bremerton Poet Publishes Second Book - June 30, 1976

Reading septuagenerian Mildred Nesbitt Wilson's poetry is like pouring a cool, refreshing lemonade on a hot summer day and savoring every luscious drop until a thirsty palate is satisfied.

As if by magic, the life of the author unfolds poem by poem and catches the reader deep in empathy as words of memory and wisdom merge gallantly with her life and the times.

Hot off the press for the second time, Keepsakes, her 1975 work of art, leaves little left unsaid about life. Days of listening to my grandmother recite from "Ideals" spring to mind as her thoughts become deeply entrenched in my emotions:

"A little old man that used to live at Horton Nursing Home," says Mildred as she jokes that he must have just finished reading Valley of the Dolls, "paid me a great compliment." He said, "Millie, that's a remarkable book. There isn't one vulgar word in it."

Here's a sample of her work

I WONDER WHAT HIGH-BROWS WOULD DO WITHOUT EYEBROWS?

Do you suppose the writers
Of some poetry we've read
Could phrase in just plain English
What it was they thought they said?

Mildred's words in black and white mean exactly what they say.

I REMEMBER...I REMEMBER

How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood
...or would be if they are still there...
The old home estranged; roads paved and all changed
while car after car fouls the air.
Houses crowd closely where apple trees grew,
markets sprawl where we picked berries;
the old pasture hill, once verdant and still,
roars with the traffic it carries.
Stop-and-go lights have replaced the deep wood;
the scenes of my childhood are gone.
Only the good of the old neighborhood in memories' album
...lives on.

She has a lot of memories of Bremerton and how it used to be. Born in Minnesota and after spending a part of her life in Livingston, Montana, where her Dad worked for the railroad, she came to Bremerton to live in 1910.

"We came to Bremerton on a railroad pass and my father was offered a job at the shipyard as a first-class toolmaker." Her husband, Arthur, built seven Bremerton schools, three drydocks, many piers and Warren Avenue Bridge," Mildred says, for a starter.

CONTRASTS

Once that house held hopes and dreams
for those who worked to build with care;