Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 21, 1993                   TAG: 9310200404
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: W-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

POETRY A LIFETIME PASSION

Those were cherished times when Kime developed his love for reading and poetry.

"I always loved the poetry," he says. "I memorized the poetry."

Today, living in comfortable retirement from a career of writing, Kime is a man of several titles, including published poet and artist.

He just published his third book of poetry, had a painting accepted for the City of Salem's permanent collection in City Hall and will have a one-artist show Friday at Olde Salem Framing & Gallery.

He has paintings in the Art Museum of Western Virginia at Roanoke's Center in the Square and in collections in nearly all 50 states.

But Kime cannot claim all the honors in his family. He must share this with his wife, Doris, who also recently published a book of poetry.

It is poetry written primarily for members of the Southern Cross Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, of which she is president. "I wanted to express my feelings about the Southern soldier," she says.

But Doris Kime does not claim to be a poet in the same class with her husband. "Writing is rather new to me," she says.

Nevertheless, the 20 short poems in her small volume is a creditable expression of sentiment in meter and rhyme.

Penn Kime's poetry is more free-style, and his latest volume, "Many Houses Of Rooms," includes verse on a number of subjects dating back four decades.

He hopes to publish other poetry in the near future.

Kime not only writes poetry but reads it and believes everyone should read it, especially children.

After hearing poetry and literature from his grandmother, he continued his learning at Academy Street Elementary and Andrew Lewis High schools.

"It's very important to teach poetry in public schools," he says.

"A poem creates a feeling or a mood for the moment," he says. "It is important what the poem says to you, not what the poet says."

The words don't have to make sense, but it's important that they create a mood, he says.

Kime says he would teach poetry and the classics at every grade level because "you can't start too early."

He began writing in his teens and says the main charm of poetry is that it appeals to one's emotions and intellect.

Classics, on the other hand, could offer a measure of stability to children who are seeing too much violence on television and are not learning the basics, he says.

He also reads a lot of prose and has published a novel of his own, "The Bright Circle." He reads the classic authors, many of whom are represented in his large book collection.

He also plays the piano; Chopin is his favorite composer.

Kime, who will be 74 this month, once was assistant editor of the magazine for the former Norfolk and Western Railway and worked at other writing jobs in several states.

While serving in the Navy during the Korean War, he wrote a manual on railroad operation for troops going to the war zone.

While working for the Sun Oil Co. in Baltimore, he wrote that company's first manual for operation of service stations.