A Family of Poets: The Legacy of Birdell and Elva Sorensen

Poetry is one of the oldest devices of communication and culture. Our history is told in ballads and songs as a method to easily retain both the events and the feelings of the time. Who hasn’t sung, “I’ve been working on the railroad” or “She’ll be coming ‘round the mountain,” yet have any of us really done or seen those things? Think about the child’s poem, “Ring around the Rosies.” We may not even realize we’re teaching about the great plagues of the Middle Ages. But that imagery is in our minds.

Our parents raised a gifted and accomplished family. We have all gone to college, some of us with advanced degrees. Not bad for a coal miner and a high school dropout who married an older man when she was 15. Our home fostered a love of learning, encouragement to be inquisitive, and a joy of coming together for games, puzzles and actual conversation.

Poetry has been at the heart of our family. This book contains a collection of the poems written by members of the family for the annual reunion Poetry Night. Beginning in 2013, the Friday night before our big outdoor celebration, most of the family would gather and orally read or recite the poems written for the gathering.