By Kim Mayer

Falling in love through the written word sounds like the premise of a novel or romantic comedy.

But Betty Bleen-Montgomery and Douglas Montgomery have poetry – and the Westerville Poetry Group – to thank for helping them find their soul mate in each other.

Betty had already been attending meetings of the Westerville Poetry Group, which meets at the Westerville Public Library every month, when Douglas came for the first time in November 2006. Their encounter wasn’t exactly love at first sight.

“We saw each other every month, said hi, shared poetry and went our separate ways,” Betty says.

Eventually, the couple says their poetry made them see they were compatible.

“Our poetry is a lot different (from each other’s). We gradually saw through our poetry that we did have some things in common,” Douglas says. “And of course when we started dating it became more apparent.”

Their first date was in July 2007, and poetry has been a significant part of their relationship ever since.

“Since we’ve been dating, we’ve written each other a lot of poems,” Betty says.

“I think every couple should write each other poetry because it’s very therapeutic,” Douglas added.

After more than a year of dating, Douglas’ marriage proposal came unexpectedly, and wasn’t the romantic prose that you may have anticipated from a poet.

In October 2008, Betty called from Interstate-71 with a flat tire. Douglas went to help.

“I’m down on my knees changing the tire and I say, ‘Why don’t you marry me?’” Douglas says.

“That wasn’t exactly it,” Betty corrects him. “I said, ‘What would I do without you?’ and he said, ‘Marry me.’ I thought he was joking, so I didn’t really answer. He said later that night that I didn’t answer his question. I said I didn’t know it was a question, but I said yes.”

Douglas wanted to set the date right away. His suggestions to marry on Christmas and New Year’s Eve were too soon to make all the plans, so the couple decided on Valentine’s Day. The wedding was appropriately decorated with lace and a color theme of red, white and pink.

In addition to traditional church vows, Betty and Douglas wrote their own vows and read original poems they wrote for each other. Wedding guests included Betty and Douglas’ children and grandchildren, which made the event special.

“It’s kind of cool to get married and have your granddaughters walk down the aisle,” Betty says.

Poetry looks to be a lasting part of Betty and Douglas’ life together. Betty’s book of poetry, Bad Red Shoes, will be published this summer. She and Douglas say they will continue to attend the Westerville Poetry Group meetings, which take place at the Westerville Library at 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month.

Kim Mayer is a contributing writer for Westerville Magazine.

To celebrate National Poetry Month in April, members of the Westerville Poetry Group will perform Trilogy of Life Part 3: Dramatic Poetry Readings, which weaves together the members’ original poetry to create the play’s script. Directed by Joanne R. Hollman from the Inner City Performing Arts Conservatory Poetic Circle, the play will be performed on April 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Westerville Public Library. For more information, call 614-882-7277.