TOLEDO– Local writer and former Jeep union steward Dan Denton has released a new poetry collection titled Fight Songs for the Underdogs, a book that captures the lives, frustrations, and endurance of America’s working class through Denton’s signature raw, conversational style.
Denton’s journey to becoming a published writer was far from easy. Growing up in poverty in a small Midwestern town in Illinois, Denton dealt with a lot of hardships.
“We were like the poorest family in town… I grew up in the projects, and when I got to my teenage days, I got into drugs. But still, books were always a part of my life,” Denton said.
Addiction and homelessness marked his early adulthood, shaping the raw honesty of his writing. It wasn’t until Denton got sober in his 20s that he began writing consistently.
“When I got sober 19 years ago, I started writing pretty much every day then,” Denton said.
Even as a factory worker and union steward at Jeep, Denton continued to nurture his writing. In 2013, Denton joined Jeep and spent a decade working there, where he also served as a union steward. During his time at Jeep, Denton would write down poems any chance he got. “It wasn’t uncommon for me a lot of times to write a poem while I was on the assembly line,” he said.
Over the years, Denton has published four books. His newest book, Fight Songs for the Underdogs, is a compilation of various poems that include selections from his self-published “chat books.”
“This poetry collection isn’t all just my very best work; it’s a collection of 10 or 12 of those homemade chap books I’ve made over the years for gas money on my road trips and tours. Over the years, Jason Ryberg from Luchador Press had said, ‘Hey, man why don’t you put a group of those books together? Let’s publish it as a book.’ And so finally, this year – it took me about six months – I finally put together the ones I like and sent them to him,” Denton said.
The poems take inspiration from Denton’s life experiences, struggles with drugs, poverty, mental health and homelessness.
“That’s kind of like my signature poem from the early days. It’s called “Bury My Heart in the Gutter.” And that poem has actually been covered by other poets who have also performed that poem in poetry slams and won awards,” he said. “It honors my life of addiction and homelessness and my mental health, and how I grew up in the gutters and the projects, and how, even though I’ve gotten beyond that, that was the first place where I learned to love, and I learned value of work. So it kind of honors that,” Denton said.
Denton chose the title of the book based on one of the poems of the same name in the book. “It’s called “Fight Song for the Underdogs.” And I felt like that poem encapsulated what I try to do as an artist. You know, it’s a poem about…a fight song or an anthem. [About] pretty much everybody who’s been left behind or overlooked. The underdogs,” Denton said.
Denton’s poems stand as a testament to endurance, each line a small rebellion against despair. For the underdogs still out there fighting, Denton’s words are a rally cry: keep going, keep writing, keep living.
