reading
Emily Dickinson
on a rainy day
gold leaf stays
on the branch
Ellen Grace Olinger
Category: Literature
paintings of trees
paintings of trees
on old pine walls
quiet music
Ellen Grace Olinger
Four Hundred and Two Snails
Haiku Society of America
Members’ Anthology 2018
Nicholas M. Sola, Editor
Creative Notes
Almost fall, and I’m reading the Fall 2017 WestWard Quarterly, The Magazine of Family Reading.
This week I heard from the Editor, Shirley Anne Leonard, about my recent submission of poems from my blogs. One of your favorites, Acrostic for Library, will appear in the new Fall issue.
L ove of literature
I nspires countless
B eautiful hours of
R eading many
A uthors, and sometimes
R ereading beloved books
Y early
I am grateful to be able to share poetry in many ways.
Thank you.
Ellen Grace Olinger
The Psalms
The Psalms have inspired many poems over the seasons and years. I read them for strength, hope, love, and the beauty of language.
*
reading Psalms
in the sunroom
fragrance of daffodils
*
P romises of
S erenity
A nd
L ove
M editations and
S trength
*
rereading Psalms
colors of leaves
a deeper gold
*
I wonder how many poems
the trees have given to me
as I pray the Psalms
and read poems by poets
written over so much time
that passes too soon
*
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
*
praying the Psalms . . .
other times and places
cross my mind
and I am blessed
by God’s love
and care
once again
*
Thy statutes have been my songs
in the house of my pilgrimage.
Psalm 119: 54 (KJV)
Ellen Grace Olinger
Poems For My Father
love for you
became her care
until she joined you there
grief gives way to fields and wind
and now I hear your voice again
(Published in Bell’s Letters.)
*
rain in dark night
refreshes each leaf
today I think of you
no longer with grief
*
I posted my Christmas poem for my father again in December 2017:
*
In loving memory, for Harold A. Borgh (1915 – 1983). My father taught history at Wauwatosa East High School.
*
Wait on the Lord: be of good courage,
and he shall strengthen thine heart:
wait, I say, on the Lord.
Psalm 27: 14 (KJV)
*
Lake Michigan
June 2018
Ellen Grace Olinger
Poems For My Mother
When Charlotte Digregorio thanked me for reblogging her post, she mentioned that she enjoyed this blog and my writing about my mother.
I wrote a lot about my mother in the early years of this blog. Her passing was in 2004, and I had the privilege of helping with her care for years.
These are a few of the poems I wrote for my mother.
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.
(Easter Dinner was published first in Time Of Singing, 1993. The poem goes back to a time when my mother was growing a new life, after my father’s passing.)
*
God’s Grace
You went on
After more losses
Than I can name
With you as
Mother and model
I must do the same
You suffered and
I do not ask you
To bear more pain
You are eternally well
Still saying, “I love you”
Again and again
(Published in Bell’s Letters No. 109; and The Discerning Poet, Autumn 2004.)
*
Taking turns
Letting each other go
Only to learn again
How love grows,
Mother
(Published in Bell’s Letters Poet No. 115, Jan. 2006.)
*
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
in loving memory and peace
My mother was a professor in the English Department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
*
And a haiku and photo of flowers:
groceries for Mom
fresh flowers
always on the list
Ellen Grace Olinger
From Psalm 104
Psalm 104: 1 – 2
“Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain”
This is the poetry of the King James Version.
Ellen Grace Olinger
