TRIEM, Eve

Photo courtesy: Mary Randlett

TRIEM, Eve. (New York City, NY, Nov. 2, 1902--Seattle, WA, 1992.). Triem grew up in San Francisco and attended the University of California at Berkeley. She married Paul Ellsworth Triem, a writer, in 1924. In 1936 after visiting Dubuque, Eve and her husband decided to stay. She and her husband lived at 570 Wilbur Lane and much of the colorful material for her poems was based on the writer's observation of the local area. (1) Triem began writing poetry and after studying Greek classics at the Presbyterian Seminary at the UNIVERSITY OF DUBUQUE, began to translate Greek poems. (2)

They moved to San Francisco in 1956, where they resided until moving to Seattle in 1960. They had two children, Yvonne and Peter. Paul Triem died in 1976.

A popular speaker, Triem spoke at the closing meeting of the Poetry Society of America in New York City in May, 1950. In 1951 she was the guest speaker at the Iowa Poetry Society's annual dinner in Des Moines. (3) In 1952 she served as the judge of the poetry contest for Iowa college students sponsored by the Iowa Poetry Society. (3)

Photo courtesy: Telegraph Herald

Her "Wild Phlox" and "Social Security," the latter a commentary on the relief administration during WORLD WAR II, were published in Poetry World. Triem also had her works published in An American Woman Poet's Anthology, American Scholar, Quarterly Review of Literature Yale Review, Ladies Home Journal, and the New York Times. (4) Her book Parade of Doves, published in 1946, while she was living in Dubuque, was awarded the Best First Volume of Poetry Award in 1946 by the League to Support Poetry and the National Award. (5) She was also awarded prizes from Poetry World of New York and Carmel Pine Cone of California. (6) In 1953 two of her poems were published in "Bodega Oscura," an artistic quarterly published in Paris under the sponsorship of the internationally celebrated Priness Margharita Caetena of Rome and Paris. (7)

Triem was a friend of e.e. cummings, lectured about his poetry and wrote a pamphlet about him, E.E. Cummings, for the American Writers series, Minnesota Press, 1969.

Many of Triem's poems were written for her husband of 51 years. Dark To Glowis a collection of such poems, she wrote after his death. She often gave him a decorated copy of a poem as a gift on the occasion of anniversaries, holidays, or his birthday. They were usually first drafts which were later revised and published under different titles. (8)

Triem's work appeared in many literary periodicals and anthologies, and she gave many readings and lectures. In 1984, she won a Western States Book award for lifetime achievement. Her published collections of poems are: (9)

   Parade of Doves, E.P. Dutton, 1946
   Poems by Eve Triem, Alan Swallow, 1965
   Heliodora, Translations from the Greek anthology, Olivant Press, 1967. 
   The Process, Querencia, 1976
   Dark to Glow, Querencia, 1979
   Midsummer Rites, Seal Press, 1982
   New as a Wave: A Retrospective, 1937-1983, Dragon Gate, 1984
   Nobody Dies in the Summer: Selected Poems, Broken Moon Press, 1993

The following is a recording of Triem reading some of her poetry in San Francisco in November, 1956. She begins by discussing living in Iowa and then reads two Dubuque poems. At the time these were called "Dubuque, Iowa" and "The Other Side of Dubuque." Today they are simply referred to as "Dubuque (I)" and "Dubuque (II)". Special thanks to Craig Nowack. https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/poetrycenter/bundles/191217

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Source:

1. "Poetry Volume By Mrs. Eve Triem is Published," Telegraph-Herald, November 10, 1946, p. 23

2. "Biographical Note," Eve Triem Papers, Archives West, Online: http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv87910

3. "Poetry Volume..."

4. "Dubuque Poet to Judge Collegians' Contest," Telegraph-Herald, February 14, 1952, p. 10

5. "Poetry Volume..."

6. "Dubuque Poet..."

7. "Dubuque Woman's Poems Will Appear in Paris," Telegraph-Herald, July 19, 1953, p. 6

8. "Biographical Note

9. Ibid.