faces By Lisa Aurand

Photography by Christa Smothers

Children’s poetry is former economics professor’s life

From Professor to

He’s a retired Otterbein University professor living quietly in Westerville, but that’s just J. Patrick Lewis’ mild-mannered alter ego.

When he’s not tucked away in his study, he’s traveling the country – a poetry superhero for thousands of children.

Lewis, who has written more than 50 children’s poetry books, was named Children’s Poet Laureate by the national Poetry Foundation in May 2011 and is in the midst of his two-year term. He’s only the third person to hold the title, which is relatively new. Previous honorees include Jack Prelutsky and Mary Ann Hoberman.

Thirty years ago, Lewis, 69, who used to write papers on economics, didn’t imagine that he’d end up as one of the country’s most renowned poets. A Gary, Ind. native, he attended a private school for his undergraduate degree and went on to pursue a master’s at Indiana University, both in de- cidedly non-poetic fields. Lewis knew that to teach at the college level, he’d need a doctorate, so he moved to central Ohio to further his education at The Ohio State University with doctorate in economics.

“The people I met weren’t in English or libraries. They were in the social sciences and economics, so that’s what I gravitated towards,” Lewis says. “People don’t read economics articles. They just don’t. It’s an entirely different kind of writing.”

Lewis moved to Westerville to teach economics at Otterbein and has been here since, barring a six-year stretch immediately following his retirement.

A family vacation with his three children inspired him to start writing for someone other than colleagues on Wall Street and in higher education.

“In 1979, I went to a place called Cumberland Falls, Ky. at just the right time of year,” Lewis says. “You see the white rainbow – it’s called a moonbow – and it’s the only place in America that it occurs, and that sort of inspired a story and I was off and running.”