TWA Poet: Mona Van Duyn

1921 - 2004

It’s the birthday of Mona Van Duyn, (books by this author) born in Waterloo, Iowa (1921). She was shy, and others kids made fun of her for being smart and tall. She filled notebook after notebook with poems. No one knew she was a writer until she published her first book of poetry, Valentines to the Wide World (1959), at age 38.

She said: “I believe tha…