American Poets – Journal Notes Blog

Emily Dickinson

reading poems
by Emily Dickinson
flowers I know too

reading poems by Emily
a new flower for me –
the gentian

Quiet Christmas Poetry: 2020 Update is a new post at Quiet Christmas Poetry. I share the book anew each year. The posts that became the book can also be read.

paintings of trees
on old pine walls
quiet music

Ellen Grace Olinger

Published in Four Hundred and Two Snails, Haiku Society of America Members’ Anthology 2018, edited by Nicholas M. Sola.

PETALS ON WOOD

The daylilies in the vase
Are ending

Petals drop on wood

I leave them
They express something poignant

That words never could.

Poem by Ellen Grace Olinger
ARTS ALIVE: A LITERARY REVIEW (1988)
The Tinley Park – Park District
Illinois – The Midwest, United States

Quiet Hours

quiet hours
of reading
before dawn

reflection
of a lamp
in the window

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Psalm 119:105 (KJV)

Seasons

once the tree grew tall
before the Emerald Ash Borer
and then a storm

hosta plants
grew green again
around the stump
in Spring

they grew large
and flowered well
so blessed by rain
and a red begonia planter

now there is an
orange pumpkin
on the ash tree stump

and hosta leaves are gold
in the brilliant morning sun

Routine Care

routine care
and happy to wait my turn
I watch the world go by
and my heart
fills with love