Poetry Journals and Memories

Another print journal I am grateful to receive is The Lyric (1921 – 2017).  I looked at their website today.  I see their current site is also with WordPress.

The Summer 2017 print issue (Volume 97) is here by my computer.  The Current Issue page at their website lists the contributors and also sample poems.

Jean Mellichamp Milliken is Editor.  The Associate Editor is Nancy Mellichamp Savo.

The Assistant Editor is Patrick Milliken, and the Collegiate Contest Coordinator is Tanya Cimonetti.

The Lyric is “the oldest magazine in North America in continuous publication devoted to traditional poetry.”  I remember sharing this journal with my mother, Enola M. Borgh, who was born in 1917 and taught literature and composition.  She often quoted Robert Frost and admired his craft.  I read his poetry to her during her last illness.

I see The Lyric also looks to Frost for inspiration.  See their Submit Poetry page.

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Editors and journals vary in their styles, guidelines, and policies.   I read and reread carefully, before offering work for review.   And I enjoy many forms of poetry, print and online.

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Ellen Grace Olinger

Favorite Poem

EASTER DINNER

The background is red
Her hair has become silver
And her dress is rust.
Her smile these days is pure gold
And her eyes sparkle anew.

Ellen Grace Olinger

This is a favorite poem, written for my mother a long time ago.  It was published first in Time Of Singing.

Photo credit: wpclipart

Taking Turns

taking turns
letting each other go
only to learn again
how love grows,
Mother

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another year has passed
since my mother’s passing
I sit and quietly read
a book she would like too

in loving memory
Enola M. Borgh (1917 – 2004)

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Poems and photos are by Ellen Grace Olinger.

“taking turns” was published in Bell’s Letters Poet (No. 115, January 2006).

Daily Prompt: Volunteer

via Daily Prompt: Volunteer

After my father died, his brother encouraged my mother to volunteer at a nursing home.  Mom was in her mid-60s then.  She did not drive and my Uncle Carl took her there every Friday for many years.  This nursing home took care of her in her last illness.  Her service was honored and she knew where she was.

Enola M. Borgh (1917 – 2004), my mother, also had a distinguished career as a professor and author in English literature and composition.  She modeled for me that service is service.  She spoke at conferences, and she folded towels.  She also taught English as a second language at a church, after she retired.  I still miss her, though the grief is more gentle now, and we shall meet again.  Meanwhile I still hope to read her published work.  I pray the Psalms and try to keep growing in new times, with lots of rest as well.

Volunteer

Ellen Grace Olinger

reading books and blogs

I am grateful to have written a lot these past years, especially with my WordPress.com blogs.  I may be slowing down, though was given this poem in January, which I am sharing in different places and ways.

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another year
has passed since
my mother’s passing
I sit and quietly read
a book she would like too

for Enola M. Borgh
1917 – 2004

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Today I am reading a new book of essays from the Chrysostom Society, that my mother would enjoy as well.  The title is Ambition, and it is edited by Luci Shaw and Jeanne Murray Walker, with an Introduction by Scott Cairns.

I continue to enjoy the wide variety of blog posts I read and view each week.  Thank you.

we hold the door

we hold the door
for older people
memories of Mom

 

Poem by Ellen Grace Olinger
Credit for picture: antiqueclipart

Memories For Mother’s Day

memories
of caregiving years

how often Mom
asked if I was writing

and I was not much
enough to be with her
and no energy to spare

now those years are over
a decade gone

I listen to music and
think of Mother’s Day soon

her life of literature
and wonder if she
was passing the torch

before I was ready to see

Ellen, today

The flowers are courtesy of http://antiqueclipart.com.