By Harry Rothgerber 鈥69 

Each day as students, faculty and staff stream into Pasteur Hall鈥攖he only building on Bellarmine鈥檚 campus when it opened in 1950鈥攎any stop at the Pasteur Hall Express area, where a man with dark hair, mustache and glasses, popularly known as 鈥淢ister Terry,鈥 sells grab-and-go food and drink. 

Terry Yates is an affable, witty person given to wry humor and pithy philosophical snippets鈥攊n short, an ideal counter guy for busy people in a university setting. But what most of the university community probably doesn鈥檛 know is that Mister Terry is also a poet who has published one volume of his writings and is working on another. 

His first volume of poetry, Sojourn on a River (Goshen, KY, Pennington Press) was published in 2022. On the back cover of Sojourn, a collection of 53 poems, he said, 鈥淥n Thanksgiving 2018, my wife of 37 years suggested a project. To take all those pages in the back filing cabinet and make a book.鈥 By Christmas, Yates had produced spiral-bound copies of his poems as gifts for his two sons. 

To create his verses, he said, 鈥渢hings occur to me, and I write them down鈥攖hat鈥檚 how I鈥檓 wired.鈥 He started writing at 15. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 find poetry; it found me,鈥 he said. His major writing influences are Bob Dylan, William Butler Yeats and, locally, Lee Pennington.  

The production of the original draft was painstaking, Yates said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not the best typist鈥擨 use one finger strictly. Not one finger on each hand: only one finger. I just can鈥檛 use two hands.鈥 

A chance meeting with Pennington, a past Kentucky Poet Laureate under whom Yates studied at Jefferson Community College, led him to engage artist Jill Baker to illustrate the work and to connect with the eventual publisher. 

His poems are sometimes quirky and always thought-provoking. For example, 鈥淔irst Impression鈥: 

When the artist is compelled 

To explain 

All private notions 

Dissolve 

Mary Kennedy, director of catering for Sodexo at Bellarmine, is Yates鈥 sister. 鈥淩eading poetry from Sojourn on a River is like listening to my brother tell me a story,鈥 she said, 鈥渂ut hearing him recite one of his entries is like a Bob Dylan song lyric, complete with the nasal accent, or an e e cummings poem, brief, clear, and full of imagery.鈥 

Growing up in Okolona, Yates graduated from Southern High School鈥攈e was there at the same time as Phil Simms, future Super Bowl MVP鈥攁nd went into retail business. He operated Electric Shaver Sales and Service next to the old Vogue Theatre in St. Matthews for 25 years. 鈥淓very year I was there,鈥 he recalled, 鈥渢he shop earned more money than the year before鈥攗ntil 2000, when it tapered off before nosediving due to internet competition.鈥 

Twelve years ago, he appeared on campus for the first time. 鈥淚 was working for a temporary agency, and there was a temp job for a dinner at Hilary鈥檚,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 was pushing a cart through Caf茅 Ogle thinking this is where I need to work! It was like a revelation.鈥滺e was a busy barista at Einstein Bagels in Centro before taking over 鈥淭om鈥檚 Cart鈥 when longtime worker Tom O鈥橞ryan retired. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 the perfect job for me at this time in my life,鈥 Yates said. Monday through Thursday, he arrives at Bellarmine at 6 a.m. and is on sales duty from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a convenience for students and faculty who just want a snack or lunch,鈥 he said. Yates also tends bar in the Knights Hall lobby at BU basketball games. 

His student interactions brighten his day, and theirs. Senior Jada Harris stopped by one morning and asked how Yates was doing. 鈥淪emi-magnificent,鈥 he replied. 鈥淓ven if I鈥檓 just walking by, Terry and I will talk,鈥 she said.  

Junior Brando Medina said he chats with Yates 鈥渁ll the time.鈥 

鈥淚 like his personality,鈥 Brando said. 鈥淓very time I come in, he鈥檚 the first person I see, and he gives a good start to my day.鈥 

Yates is working on his second book, THESE THINGS HAPPEN. 鈥淓very time I think it鈥檚 done, I add more to it,鈥 he said. 

Supporting his poetry efforts are his wife, Tamy, and his two sons, who he says are his best critics. 鈥淚t could be 鈥極ut of the park, dad,鈥 or 鈥楾his is a miss.鈥 My wife said I鈥檓 only working here to tell jokes to the students.鈥 

Sojourn on a River is available on Amazon.