Some 30 years ago, Barbara Gutho began writing poems about such subjects as family, summer and pets.
Last year, she self-published a book filled with some of those poems.
The book, called Poetry Emotions, is available at restaurants and gift shops in Waupaca and Iola. The cost is $7.
She plans to seek additional outlets in the area for her books and to publish a second book of poems this year.
“I found another 20 poems,” said Gutho, who lives in rural Waupaca with her husband Mike.
She worked with Waupaca Color Graphics on her first project and said her next book of poems will be published through Author House in Indiana.
Her husband thought it would be nice for her to have a hard-covered book, which is why she will work with Author House on her latest project, she explained.
Gutho and her husband were living outside of Iola, raising their family, when she first began writing poems.
“I think I started writing when my father got cancer in the 1980s,” she said. “It was just a release.”
She also found herself putting thoughts onto paper when things were bothering her and said some of the poems are songs.
Gutho, who wrote for the County Post in the 1980s, said she did not publish her poems until now because she was insecure about many things.
As an example, she cited not knowing how to do certain things, such as email something as an attachment.
Gutho turned feelings of frustration into a poem.
One evening, she decided to write a poem about those feelings before going to bed. She titled that particular poem “Tired out.”
Poetry Emotions also includes several poems that were written by her late mother-in-law, Phyllis Gutho.
Of her own work, Gutho said, “It’s amazing how when you make up your mind, things come together.”
After she completes her next book of poetry, she plans to write a devotional book about healing.
Gutho said if someone wants her to speak or share her poems with a women’s group or a church group, she may be contacted at 715-942-7217 or via email at [email protected].
“If felt really great when it was done,” she said of her first book.
“It’s just something that I knew had to be done.