Infrequently Asked Questions

Q: What were you THINKING?

A: This was kind of a pandemic project, starting in early 2021, when I wasn't getting out much.

I got the idea when a South Dakota friend emailed me about a new book, "Rattlesnake Summer," which has poems about each of South Dakota's 66 counties.

And mainly, it was a way for me to revisit the 99 counties, which my son, John, and I visited during the summers of 2003 and 2004, two weeks each year, when he was 16 and 17.

Q: Who are you, anyway?

A: I'm John Patrick (Pat) Dodds. I was born in Ames, my Dad's hometown, in 1950, and I lived there most of the time until I was 14, when we moved to Fresno, California. In my 20s, I worked on newspapers in Sac City and Cedar Falls. Now, my wife and I live in Seattle, close to grandchildren.

Q: I hate to be rude, but this has already been done. Didn't you know that?

A: After I'd started this project (Honest!), I was Googling "Iowa county poems" or something, and came across "99 Voices, 99 Lives: County Poems of Iowa" by John David Thompson. I immediately ordered a copy, and I've enjoyed it very much. Mr. Thompson is a real poet, while I'm just goofing around and trying to make the second lines rhyme with the fourth lines.

Q: What's with the Notes?

A: I wanted to explain some of the more obscure or interesting references. The rest, you can look up for yourself.

Q: Your pronunciations of Iowa words are all wrong. Can you fix those?

A: Please email me at jpatdodds@gmail.com with corrections (especially pronunciations) and comments. Thanks.