Poem and Creative Notes

gift of faith
during my hardest years
lights down the beach
moon and stars at night
sunrise

Blogs are a good way to organize our work. I subscribe to my blogs by email, so I have an extra copy in my computer files. Good to have copies of our creative work. As I grow older, I am also grateful that WordPress takes good care of my work. I hope to blog for a long time!

This poem is from March 11, 2012, at my first site, Poems From Oostburg, Wisconsin. I was reflecting upon past experiences – and of course, not knowing what the new challenges would be. Family, my health, and our common history. We plan the best we can, and take good care.

Praying the Psalms is part of my life, through all the chapters. Many layers of memories. Faith grows. The Psalms are honest prayers, and they lead to trust and praise. I have so much more to learn.

I review my archives – over 10 years now – at Poems From Oostburg, Wisconsin. I am also working on a book, as I can. When we began in December 2009, I wanted to reprint my best work and thank the editors who publish my work. So as I work on a new book, I have the credits to acknowledge, with the posts. I save the print journals and books where my work has been published. I cannot save everything I receive, so I also give poetry away. When my mother was in a nursing home, I donated to their library.

And I know the poems for this book, and next step is to decide upon the sequence. Then add photos by Karl. My hope is to publish by December 2020, yet I can revise my goal as needed.

Now when I write new poems, I write directly in a post draft. Often as I read my Bible, and look out the same windows, I am inspired. Everyday life. Psalms and Nature. The sky, and also the earth.

Thank you,
Ellen Grace Olinger

Photo by Brett Sayles on Pexels.com

Short Poems: April 2020

These are new poems from posts this month at Poems From Oostburg, Wisconsin.

raindrops
robin in a daylily
garden

after rain
the beautiful earth
and gardens grow

sunrise stillness
branches and clouds
light

late afternoon
sunlight on the
April calendar
one step one day
at a time

grey sky
mourning dove
on a birch tree branch

time with the Psalms
a dove on the branch
pictures a poem

Ellen Grace Olinger
April 2020

Two Poems

clouds with some blue
outside my study window
some days God seems so clear
other days I must dwell more deeply
in my reading of the Psalms

*

writing and reading
I don’t see the dust

then seeing
I remember

and know He does not forget
and understands

with Love

Psalm 103: 14 (KJV)
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth we are dust.

Poems from my Archives
Ellen Grace Olinger

Simple Tree Drawings are courtesy of Reusable Art.

poems and photo

my large print Bible
rests on the Thanksgiving tray
the bread of life

*

late November
sun fills a glass
for a time

*

John 6: 35 (KJV):  And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life:  he that cometh to me shall never hunger: and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

*

Credits for poems by Ellen Grace Olinger:

“my large print Bible” was published in Time Of Singing (TOS), Fall 2016; and “late November” was published in TOS, Fall 2013.

Photo by Karl

early hours

wpclipart

early hours
of quiet and poetry
gardens overflow
and if some winter
my mind forgets
my heart will know

*

We’ve had a lot of rain.

Yesterday I went to Mead Public Library in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.  I had not been there for a time.  They had a large selection of used books for sale.  I bought two poetry books, for less than one dollar.  Lilacs were in bloom along the roads.

Then I stopped at Arby’s in Kohler.  A young person held the door for me, and people were so kind.  I am older now.  I enjoyed a salad, and brought a cup of coffee home.

*

R  ose clouds at sunrise, and the day
O  pens to songs, silence, and new
S  trength, with hope
E  verlasting

*

Our pink peonies will bloom soon.  My parents had red, white, and pink peonies in their yard.

wpclipart