‘Memories and More’: Kamloops man’s first poetry collection published

Murray Dovauo never considered himself particularly artistic, and hadn’t written poetry before. But his creativity came out during the pandemic.

“One morning I had an urge to write a poem, which I did, which was about the special staff (at Kamloops Seniors Village). And I gave it to Bonnie.”

Bonnie Johnson worked for Kamloops Seniors Village at the time, and she and Dovauo became friends. She was who he trusted to give an honest review of his initial work.

“I was pretty impressed,” Johnson says, “He said, I just wrote this poem. And it was just on a little piece of paper. And I said ‘that is really fantastic’, and then he just kept coming up with more poems.”

A fire had been lit, and Dovauo wrote more pieces about people who were important to him, the staff whose work he respected during the pandemic (and beyond), and poems about the course of his life.

“I was writing pretty steady,” he explains, “Sometimes I could go to bed at night and a poem would come into my head, I’d get up in the morning and write it out.”

‘Memories and More’ by Murray Dovauo is available now. (Image: CFJC Today)

With help from family and friends, Dovauo’s book was submitted to a publisher, and over the summer of 2023, it was printed and distributed. He’s now 97, but in Dovauo’s view, age shouldn’t exclude people from trying new things.

“I’m not sure what age has to do with it,” reiterates Dovauo.

“You know, I think it’s something that everybody could learn from,” adds Johnson, “Life doesn’t just stop.”

Dovauo’s approach to not viewing age as a limitation actually encouraged Johnson to pursue a new career after she retired from Kamloops Seniors Village.

“I retired, and I started a business,” says Johnson, who now owns Happy Day Seniors, which helps seniors keep their independence through companionship, and transportation services. “And Murray was a really large part of encouraging me, like, ‘You can do this. You can do this.”

From Dovauo’s side, the inspiration is mutual.

“That first poem I wrote and gave to Bonnie, and she thought it was good,” he says,”(But) if she had said ‘that’s terrible’, and thrown it away, I probably would’ve ended it.”

‘Memories and More’ is currently available on Amazon, and other online book retailers, and eventually, Dovauo hopes to get it on shelves in Kamloops through the university and local bookstores.

by Dylana Kneeshaw

‘Memories and More’: Kamloops man’s first poetry collection published

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