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Hoosier Poet
Arthur H. Ortmeyer (1885-1943)

His work was published in the American Courier newspaper and the Hoosier Homespun column in the Indianapolis News in the early 1940s.

He wrote humorous couplets like the following:
SHORTEST DAY
Does not the shortest day invite
Some mention of the longest night?
IMPRESSION
A waffle is, so I've heard said,
A pancake with a non-skid tread!
A THRILLER
Would not a book be keenly read,
Made up of things folks left unsaid?
THE WORLD'S A FILM
The world's a film where some appear
As stars, the rest is atmosphere!
BANG!
Just like a low-life, slapstick clown,
When no one's looking, life cracks down!
CLARIFIER
This boon will someday serve mankind:
A windshield wiper for the mind.
WHAT IT TAKES
No postage stamp has really clicked
Nor functioned properly till licked!
SHORT CUT
The safest short cut some have found
Is oft ' the longest way around
ONE WAY STREET
Despite past joys one would repeat
Life still remains a one way street.
HIGH DECISIONS
Upon the past let's turn the latch
 And gladly start each day from scratch
May scientists someday announce
A rubber check that will not bounce.
Bald heads can boast it's very rare
That anyone gets in their hair
Wartime themes:
No two-pants suits, one wit wisecracks,
Means dad must borrow mother's slacks
With girdles banned, keen wits divulge,
It's patriotic now to bulge.
The last one that appeared before his death:
One may, by being gay and blithe,
Outwit the old man with his scythe.

He self-published a 51-page book of 300 of his couplets in Braille entitled Lifelines of Wit and Humor (in Epigram).
[July 19, 2001 - I have obtained a copy of this book (probably the only one left in existence) and will be publishing it online soon. -Ron Morris]

Arthur H. Ortmeyer's Obituary
A. H. Ortmeyer will be buried in Evansville
 Indianapolis News, May 26, 1943

Funeral services and burial will be held at Evansville for Arthur H. Ortmeyer, Indianapolis insurance man, humorist and poet, who died Monday in City Hospital. He lived at the Salvation Army Hotel.
He was a frequent contributor to Hoosier Homespun in The News, and the following couplet was contributed by him and headed the column:
"One may, by being gay and blithe, Outwit the old man with his scythe."
Author of a book of poems which he prepared at his expense into Braille and circulated widely among blind persons, he had appeared recently on Hobby Lobby, radio show.
A classmate of Franklin P. Adams, the New York newspaper columnist, Mr. Ortmeyer was graduated in 1900 from the University of Michigan law school. He was active in the Bible Investigation Club of the Y.M.C.A., where he lived for some time. Previously in the insurance business in Evansville, he had been associated the last four years with the National Life Insurance Company, of Montpelier, Vt.
Survivors are a son, John E. Ortmeyer, in the service, and two nephews, Edmund F. Ortmeyer, Evansville, and Arthur D. Ortmeyer.

I have very little information on this poet, so if you know anything more him, please let me know.

Hoosier Poets