In an unassuming house on an unassuming street in the City of Delaware lives a man and his family. What makes this man special is he has recently been named Ohio co-Poet of the Year for 2009.

Sitting in his gaily colored gazebo in the quiet neighborhood as hummingbirds flitted around, Terry Hermsen, the newly named poet laureate, talked about his life as a poet as a friendly cat sprawled nearby. Hermsen was selected for the honor for his book The River’s Daughter.

A professor of poetry, composition and literature at Otterbein College, Hermsen shares the honor with Steve Haven, who teaches at Ashland University.

It was in 1938 that the State of Ohio set the third Friday of every October as Ohio Poetry Day. Since those early years, a poet of the year has been named each year by the Ohio Poetry Association in conjunction with the state title.

Unfortunately, Hermsen, currently on sabbatical from Otterbein, will not be able to attend the ceremony in his honor. He will be in Chile where he will be poet in residence at a bilingual school for three and a half weeks. Hermsen will also give a couple readings in Santiago and participate in the International Congress of Chilean Poetry.

Growing up in Illinois and Michigan, Hermsen’s interest in poetry began in high school where “you start trying to figure out the world and this was my way.”

After high school, he attended Wittenberg University which was followed by working in a bookstore for five years and construction for three years.

“I feel real lucky to have started something back in high school, then to be able to stay with it the bulk of my life,” he said.

Hermsen was accepted in 1979 by the Ohio Arts Council into the Artists in Education program where he worked with students in elementary, middle and high schools throughout the state. He was with the Arts Council for 25 years, until 2004, doing work for them.

“It’s difficult to make a living,” Hermsen said of being a poet. “It was not a full income but piecemeal, but it allowed me to grow as an artist.”

The experience not only allowed him to grow, but the students as well.

“There is language in all of us,” he said.

The poet published his first book in 1985 with Bottom Dog Press, Thirty Six Spokes: The Bicycle Poems. It was hand-stitched and the second book published by Bottom Dog.

“Then I did what many poets do. I got an MFA,” he said, referring to receiving his master’s degree from Goddard College in Vermont. Hermsen then worked as an adjunct, teaching at the Marion Correctional Institute where he taught poetry, literature and composition.

The program was canceled by the state in the early 1990s. Too bad, Hermsen lamented, “It was a really nice program.”

Hermsen received his doctorate from Ohio State University in 2003. And then in the fall of 2004, he began teaching at Otterbein.

“Most poets piece together a living because you (need to) create time for writing,” he said. “Finding the time (can be) difficult to carve out. I still have to carve out the time to write.”

He explained the role of a teaching artist is emerging, adding that his college students appreciate the fact that he produces work as they do.

Learning from all his students, he said he was “actually knocked out” by some of the fifth grade writing.

“If they have the metaphors, where are mine?” he asked. “So I gave myself the assignment to do more metaphors.”

Living in Delaware since 2001, Hermsen has given a couple readings at Beehive Books.

“Actually I adore this town,” he said. “I love the blend of houses, the downtown. I am happy that the downtown is still surviving to a degree.”

He spoke briefly about his award.

“I’m excited. Poetry is not often recognized,” he said. “Especially Midwest poets get lost in the mix.”

Besides Thirty Six Spokes, about crossing the country on a bicycle published in 1985, Hermsen also wrote Child Aloft in Ohio Theatre in 1995 followed by The River’s Daughter published last year. He also edited Taste and See, a book about food poems where he and other poets conducted readings around the country.

“With my latest book out last year, I have another decade to publish,” he laughed, adding that it is more important to him to connect his poetry to the world than to publish. On a more serious note, he added, “People say you are only as good as your last poem. Poetry keeps me alive, keeps me thinking. Without poetry, the day can go flat.”

lrobertson@delgazette.com