A different way to use her voice
Aug. 9—Dorie Hubbard was not always a poet.
It was a calling she found less than a decade ago.
Now, Hubbard's poetry has landed her a finalist spot in 2022's Seniors Got Talent competition at the Lexington Opera House.
The event will be held on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Hubbard, who is a current resident of Richmond's Morning Pointe senior living residence, spent many years singing in her church's choir. Around 2014, she said she could feel her voice begin to give out. That is when she found a new way to use it — by writing poetry.
"That year, we started doing workshops during Lent... I was just then beginning to use a walker. I could no longer sing, I couldn't get up to the choir loft to sing. My voice was going anyway. So I needed a way to use my voice," Hubbard said. "I'd been doing some writing over the years, but had not considered myself a writer. The first thing I wrote was a something I had written years ago in our Continuing Dialogue Marriage group."
Hubbard retooled the piece written in the marriage group into a poem. It is one of many poems about her husband, who sadly passed away earlier this year.
Loved ones are often an inspiration for her poetry.
Her work was featured in a book called "Coming of Age: Writing & Art by Kentucky Women Over 60." It was edited by Libby Falk Jones and Julianne Unsel and sponsored by a grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women.
"Some had never written before, some had more experience," Hubbard said of the group which composed the book of poetry. "Unfortunately, it came with COVID-19, so most of our workshops and writing and sharing was done on Zoom. Thirty-two women were involved in this. We each had three or four pieces in the book."
With a laugh, Hubbard said she did not make the decision to enter the Seniors Got Talent competition herself.
Kathy West, Morning Pointe's life enrichment director, explained more about the circumstances.
"She's written poetry ever since she's been here. She wrote a poem for one of our residents for his birthday... She has done a lot of writing since she has been here with other residents and for other residents," West said. "They knew about it at corporate. They had actually suggested that she might be in Seniors Got Talent. We went over to Lexington's Morning Pointe to try out and she made it."
There are 10 contestants in the competition, all of them over the age of 60.
Hubbard said she does not "follow the rules" of poetry. Rather, she just writes what she feels. Though she noted her poems that rhyme are often (but not always) humorous or musical in nature, while ones that do not rhyme are usually more serious.
One of her "musical" poems is "Two Walkers, One House," which was inspired by her and her husband's initial experiences using walkers.
Hubbard often likes to write poems for friends, family, and other residents at Morning Pointe.
Poetry is not the only form of artistic expression that Hubbard takes part in.
Weaving, paper quilling, singing, and sewing are among some of her other creative outlets.
"There's a calming element to it. Even if it's getting the knots out as I'm starting to loom. Even with the difficult and challenging things — they just say something about who I am. I don't know how to express that. Maybe if I go in and write a poem about it I could express it better," Hubbard asked.
That creativity was a particularly supporting presence when she transitioned to life at Morning Pointe.
"All the papers I was signing, I felt like I was signing my life away. When I sat down and wrote about it, I discovered that I was signing my life away. A life I have lived fully — not done everything I wanted or finished everything I started — but I was signing to a new life. One that I intended to live fully," Hubbard said.
