Today I am reading the new WestWard Quarterly, The Magazine of Family Reading. Shirley Anne Leonard is the Editor, and Dr. Richard Leonard is the Publisher.
Two of my poems that have been published in this print magazine:
spruce tree branches
by the windows
each day a painting
Winter 2021
L ove of literature
I nspires countless
B eautiful hours of
R eading many
A uthors, and sometimes
R ereading beloved books
Y early
LIBRARY
Fall 2018
Poems in this post are by Ellen Grace Olinger.
The Academy of American Poets began National Poetry Month in April 1996.
What was your favorite toy as a child?
I remember my first published poem, written in high school.
I love to sit and dream of days long past,
Of a chubby, brown-haired girl
Dressed in checks and stripes, a feather-
plumed hat on her head–
Sitting in her little doll room
Eating a pound of potato chips
–laughing–
Published in Parnassus in Print (1971) and The Discerning Poet (2004). Reprinted here on December 27, 2009.
As I thought of the prompt for today, one memory led to another. I often write about the language arts. I remember libraries and also the wonder of owning a few books. Still a wonder. Crayons and crafts, learning to cook, and working at a bakery in high school. In college, at UW-Madison, I worked at a Pizza Hut as a cook and waitress.
A few years ago, I read Becoming Madeleine: a biography of the author of A Wrinkle In Time by her Granddaughters Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Lena Roy (Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers. Copyright 2018 by Crosswicks, Ltd.). You can learn about the book here. It is a unique work, and the design is beautiful. I think I will reread a little today.
Two Pages from the official Madeleine L’Engle site are Home and About Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007).
A photo collage:
sometimes
many years
needed to write
a poem
in a few minutes
December 2014
S ilence
E nlivens
A nd
S olitude
O pens
N ew thoughts
To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose
under the heaven . . .
Ecclesiastes 3: 1 (KJV)
SEASON is one of the poems from Quiet Christmas Poetry, which is both a site and a large print chapbook. Please see the post there, Quiet Christmas Poetry: 2020 Update, if you would like more information.
calm weather
still life arrangement
with quiet Fall colors
October 9, 2021 – My Best Short Nature Poems
gold leaves
and evergreens
what changes
and what stays
the same
October 4, 2021 – Grief And Acceptance
If you follow more than one of my sites, you know that I like to reprint poems in different ways; and try new ideas with design, colors, and images. As I review my archives, I may see that I can edit a poem better. I also reblog posts, and you are welcome to reblog too.
Large Print Poems is now in its second year. I place these posts in all kinds of Categories and Tags, including Assisted Living, Nursing Homes, Education, Language Arts, Photography, and Libraries. This is a free resource that is growing slowly. Sometimes large print is best for me now as well.
Perhaps on some Sunday mornings, I can review the week in a post here. The blogs bring together my experience over years. Times I have been away – and then so easy to begin again here when the time is right. One step at a time.
Thank you and blessings,
Ellen Grace Olinger
predawn
and watching
the sky grow light
gift of another day
to read and write
Poems From Oostburg, Wisconsin 