When it comes to poetic styles, beauty is often found in simplicity. Edgar A. Guest, Eddie, was a poet who thrived on the simplicity of every day happenings. In his own words “I take simple, everyday things that happen to me and I figure it happens to a lot of other people and I make rhymes out of them.” Guest was also called “The People’s Poet”.

Guest, first a copy boy, then a journalist for the Detroit Free Press, Guest started a column called Chaff in which he published a “poem a day”. His light hearted poetry became widely published in over 200 newspapers. His popularity also lead him to host a Detroit radio show in 1931-1942, and eventually he hosted a television show for NBC- “A Guest in your Home”, which was featured in 1951 Time Magazine article “A Heap O’ Rhymin’. “ Known for his sincerity and optimism, Guest published almost 15,000 poems that reflected the simple sentimentality of life.

In 1909, Edgar Guest published one of several poems in honor of his father. I couldn’t help but laugh when I read his poem Father as it captured the heart and mind of a father in a humorous light. In 1916, he published Only a Dad which takes on a more serious tone while bringing honor to the one who raised him. Note the simplicity and beauty of his writings that has captivated much of Northern America during the beginning of the twentieth century:

Father
My father knows the proper way
The nation should be run;
He tells us children every day
Just what should now be done.
He knows the way to fix the trusts,
He has a simple plan;
But if the furnace needs repairs,
We have to hire a man.

My father, in a day or two
Could land big thieves in jail;
There’s nothing that he cannot do,
He knows no word like “fail.”
“Our confidence” he would restore,
Of that there is no doubt;
But if there is a chair to mend,
We have to send it out.

All public questions that arise,
He settles on the spot;
He waits not till the tumult dies,
But grabs it while it’s hot.
In matters of finance he can
Tell Congress what to do;
But, O, he finds it hard to meet
His bills as they fall due.

It almost makes him sick to read
The things law-makers say;
Why, father’s just the man they need,
He never goes astray.
All wars he’d very quickly end,
As fast as I can write it;
But when a neighbor starts a fuss,
’Tis mother has to fight it.

In conversation father can
Do many wondrous things;
He’s built upon a wiser plan
Than presidents or kings.
He knows the ins and outs of each
And every deep transaction;
We look to him for theories,
But look to ma for action.