Legacy of Poems: Remember Well

By Angela Kiel Willoughby

My desire is to remain alive in generations beyond my lifetime. Much of my work is experiential. Feeling empathy towards peoples grief and pain was conveyed to poetry.

My poetry speaks to thoughtless, cruel treatment of animals not treated as sentient beings, even those feeling and trusting creatures of the sea.

Nature, love, friendships, retirement, African American men, birth and death are reflected in Legacy of Poems . Downsizing elicited stinging rebuke from my pen. Subtle advice is expended, but the last poem becomes overt.

I received merit awards for the Sound of Poetry and was included in Best Poetry of the Year four times and also in Celebration of Poets, a showcase edition.



Book Review

Reviewer: Cindy Skelton, High School Teacher
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Angela Kiel Willoughbys Legacy of Poems spring from her life experiences and observations. The first section of poems feel familiar as she writes about her family and growing up in Illinois. Memories and My Mother particularly remind me of stories my father told me about growing up on a farm in Roseville, Illinois. They hearken back to a simpler time or perhaps a more difficult one: picking down for a featherbed, gathering eggs, feeding chickens in addition to a myriad of other daily chores. Through the poems, we learn of strong character traits inherent in her family; an example of the strength required to raise seven children.

For several years, Ms. Willoughby worked as a labor and delivery nurse, giving her a great insight into health care issues (and what could be more timely) whether it was delivering babies or considering an ailing relative in a nursing home. She honors colleaguesboth doctors and nursesand shares definite opinions on those that have a poor bedside manner. Assisting in all those deliveries, her writings acknowledge the trauma of a stillborn birth, the agony of carrying a baby to term and giving him up for adoption and the difficulty of a pre-mature birth. These poems, written when Ms. Willoughby was still working, must have been a way for her to cope with the often tragic events associated with her profession.

She takes the opportunity to write scathing poems about health care professionals who were not so professional. In Mildred Maries Final Hospital Days and Mildred Marie Willoughby the reader completely understands her anger at the poor way Mildred was treated during her final days and we can only hope that we never encounter a nurse as horrible as the one described in these poems.

Over the years, she has developed a passion for animal rights advocacy. Included in this volume is a letter/poem to President Clinton urging him to uphold the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Acta letter she sent to members of congress and the senate as well. She writes a poem to the CEO of Proctor and Gamble, Praying for World Enlightenment, urging him to ban animal testing. These poems are passionate pleas to honor and protect the lives of animals.

On a final note, the layout of this book is particularly comforting. Ms. Willoughby takes care to have only one poem per page, often with a corresponding picture from her own collection. The reader is allowed to linger and savor each poem as it is discovered. We are fortunate that Angela Willoughby chose to compile some of her best poems into this volume. She writes each poem with a thoughtfulness and deliberate point of view, enabling the reader to experience clear snapshots of these moments in her life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 5, 2010
• ISBN: 9781462813070

Angela Kiel Willoughby

I was born in the country near Brussels, Illinois close to the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. My parents were William and Dorothy (Schmidt) Kiel. I married Joseph Victor Willoughby. We have four lovely daughters, and nine attractive grandchildren. I worked as a registered labor and delivery nurse: studied real estate and the Swedish language. I am a member of environmental and animal concerned groups, being proactive with love for all creatures great and small. Born of soul wealthy parents I embraced the intrinsic worth of every living soul, and love eternal for my family.

Book preview

LOVE BEYOND

When in obscurity I lie

My words perhaps do not die

Life tenuous, temporal be

But poems commit to legacy

As Earth’s destiny fulfill

A part of me standing still

Upon a shelf, written word

Waiting, wanting to be heard

Leaf through silent pages

Alive, your notice engages

Blood of my blood on through ages

Hope of my memory contagious

If only a slant of light

Filters through—darkness ignite

As oxygen from me squeezes

Gentleness of autumn breezes

Memories of winter freezes

Snowfalls, snowballs, colds, and sneezes

Spring-fresh, you are there

Plucking flowers for your hair

Summer, climbing, swinging in apricot tree

Sweet, ripe, juicy fruit and bumblebee

Memories, summer, ocean, sand and tide

Daddy and dog Missy at your side

Photographer at bay ready to convey

Family journey to that mortal day

With love beyond eternal way

Angela, your mother, grandmother, and on and on . . .

Image 2.tif

Old barn appears standing so tall

In reality doesn’t stand at all

MEMORIES

Pleasure just rambling about the barn

Treasure found ambling around the farm

Barefoot over cool soft soil

Of farm and earth meant to toil

Freshly plowed soil, disk and rake

Planting beans, corn, wheat, for market take

Watching men harvest the grain

At times rushing to beat the rain

Bringing food for father and brothers’ break

Homemade bread, sandwich, and coffee cake

For them work, for me game

So much to do before evening came

Mud-spattered clothes and cheek

Making mud pies in the creek

Mud cups, saucers, plates, and cake

Upon the creek bank, sun bake

As time and sun descend

At last a feast pretend

Clean, clear water washing hands

But never drink, mother demands

Did we listen, at times not much

With seven children it was such

Seven children in seventeen years

As many years of love, fears, and tears

Mother’s time and mind never free

But her faith in God and prayer her key

Father, self-made man, honesty his stand

His life with dignity manned

They are long gone but burning bright

Our memories and love they gave us day and night

Image 3.tif

Denis B Kiel, my brother, inherited William and Dorothy Kiel’s farm. By Denis is Aunt Bertha, William’s sister.

GENTLE MAN

William Charles Kiel

June 6, 1902-February 15, 1981

You are the essence of my soul

Helping me to eternal goal

A father so loving be

Spoke his feelings candidly

Soft-spoken voice so powerfully

Rich in pleasure would be

Sharing a lesson learned

For us wisdom to be earned

Not a harsh word nor dish flung

Stirred the depths laughter rung

Stroked the tendrils of the soul

Stoked the furnace-feeding coal

Tended our spirits, our bodies warm

Self-made man dismissed alarm

Awakened with the rooster crow

Donned overall, milk pail in tow

So many chores but never fail

Cranked the pump, carried water pail

Crowding at the fence, pigs squeal

Cows bawling for feed meal

I hear the milk pelting in the pail

Fresh, warm, sweet milk the senses assail

Horses in their stalls ready for hay

Then harnessed and worked another