Yvonne Hampden now has three books available, two poetry collections and a journal with quotes to prompt the writer.

Hampden, originally from New York, now lives in Salisbury with her husband, a Vietnam veteran. She has been a licensed practical nurse but because of an injury now works at home in the medical field and as a freelance writer.

She began to write poetry when she was in junior high and high school. She went to a Catholic school which assigned many essays. She didn’t like writing essays, so she wrote poetry instead.

She read poetry and novels and liked nonfiction about people’s lives and people of color.

Robert Frost, and E.E. Cumming (e e cummings) are some of her some of favorite poets, and she “trying to learn Shakespeare.”

“The Reacquaintance of Love” poems came about because of a broken heart. She married and divorced the man who broke her heart. Now she has remarried and been with her husband for 30 years. The poems were rewritten to reflect her love for him — a reacquaintance with love.

The journal contains quotes she gleaned from talking to people. She realized everyone has a good side and a bad side.

She learned some things from an old Italian man in Yonkers, N.Y. When she walked through the mixed neighborhood, the man would talk to her and offer advice. He told her, powerful women marry powerful men to help them survive their families.

Hampden also talked with the young people in her family. “I have lessons to teach them. … My husband kept asking me to write it down.”

“A Woman’s Lover” contains poetry about her parents and their relationship. It includes photos of her parents and other ancestors. Her father died in 2017. She saw her mom and dad so in love, but they separated. “When I started that book I understood something about my parents’ relationship and relationships in general.”

Her books are available online, through print-on-demand sources.