Poetry from the Heart over Eight Decades

by Margaret Dimock

Three Sections:

Childhood Joys (1920 - 1933)

Maturing Thoughts (1934 - 1974)

Visions and Insights (1975 - 1998)

Preface by Margaret's Daughter:

My mother said she never talked about her feelings to her parents. In the 1920's or 30's I suppose this was common. I think of the stern photographs from the early part of that century, when emotion was not yet on the surface as it is most of these days.

Mom was kind of proud of not "wearing her heart on her sleeve." Was she taking after her father? Like many women of the patriarchal age, she opted to emulate her father's intellect and political views. Her mother seemed both emotional and unsteady, hallmarks of the feminine stereotype. (Never mind that her unsteadiness had resulted from neurological damage in a car accident.) The feminine path seemed somehow inferior.

Yet inside Mom, from her early teenage on, a passionate spiritual and emotional life swept her along. Nature evoked such a strong response in her, direct and unfiltered, that she might be called a pantheist. But it did lead her to God, that One who lifted her out of herself and provided a constant source of inspiration. Her nature poems often transform into prayer.

These poems have allowed me to see inside an otherwise shy and reserved person, to glimpse the yearning, aspiration, passion and inspiration of the poet. I hope the reader too comes to know and share this poet's inner life.

Marti Dimock

From my newly-lit heart,
I will reach out to bless
Kinfolk—strangers—enemies no less.
Let the light shine!