A local poet is hoping her words, just published as With Each Word-I Follow, will touch others.
Bea Darbe was born and raised in Holbrook, and at 70 is boldly taking on a new phase in her life as a writer.
“I began writing in 2004, right after my mother passed. I was experiencing so many feelings and I felt inspired to write them down,” said Darbe. What began with that inspiration has led to a 120-page book of poems not only about her own life experiences, but those she is told about by others.
“I started thinking maybe it shouldn’t just be about my family. As friends would tell me about tragic events in their lives, I wrote poems about what I perceived they were feeling and I’d share the poems with them,” she explained.
Darbe not only wrote about the experiences of friends, she also wrote about experiences related to her by strangers. One man she met at the gym in Holbrook told her about his struggles with addiction and how much he was hurting as a result, prompting her to write the poem, My Cross. “I hope I see him again some day so that I can share it with him. His experiences really touched me,” she noted.
Darbe says that she feels as if she’s a conduit for others, and is able to put into words what others are feeling and struggle to express. For her, this ability is rooted in her faith. “God is a big part of this and I hope others feel that. Having faith is what will lead them to spiritual feelings where the healing can begin,” she stressed.
Darbe, who has been married to Mike for 46 years, related that it was never her intention to stay in Holbrook. “Mike is retired Air Force and after we were married we moved to North Dakota for awhile, but then we came back here. He absolutely loves it here, but it was a real struggle for me to come back,” she recalled.
She went on to explain that she spent years hating that she was in Holbrook, hating her home, and always planning on how to leave and live in other places. “My poem My Home talks about that struggle. I learned after many years that this is my home and I needed to stop my prayers to leave. I gave up the fight. Now I love my home, I love where I am,” she said.
Darbe, who is a retired classroom aide at Hulet Elementary School, now spends what time she can with her two children and her grandchildren in the Valley. “I’m devoted to my family, and now to my writing. My greatest hope is that my words can touch others, that I can speak for them,” she said.
Her book is available for purchase for $17.95 locally and $22 if it needs to be shipped. She will be doing a book signing and reading at Jalapeño Poppers at 11:30 a.m. today (Dec. 14) and again at the Holbrook Public Library from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 16. To purchase a book outside of those events, contact her at (928) 524-2716 or message her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BeaDarbe.
