Carole Ellison began writing poems to her children in the 1970s, when they were reaching the age of reason and as she found herself in the position of becoming a single parent. She felt she needed something special to share with them -- something that would become a tradition, something they could always count on...
And so her Advent Poems began -- one day, decades ago -- with a poem each day during the Advent season in December. The poems were accompanied by a little trinket or sweet for them to enjoy. Forty years later... her children still look forward to the annual poems that started a family tradition that new generations have embraced. (Or maybe it's the trinkets they love?)
Children of the Light was among the first poems she wrote and it is included in each of the first three books in this collection. After writing hundreds of poems, it is still her favorite. Light, she explains, represented all that was good and pure and right with the world, and she believed then -- as she does today -- that those elements live in her children ... and perhaps in all of us. We need only to dare... and to reach for it.
Inspirations is a new gift book by Kathyrn Carole Ellison and her other titles include
Heartstrings,
Celebrations,
Sojourns,
Awakenings,
Sanctuary,
Inspirations,
Milestones, and
Tapestry--as well as new 2020 titles
Horizons,
Beginnings,
Moments.
Ellison, Kathryn Carole: - writing--first as a journalist. Then, because she had some life lessons to share with her children, she chose poetry as a means of communicating. The books, Celebrations, Heartstrings, Inspirations, Sanctuary, Awakenings, Sojourns, Gratitude, Milestones and Tapestry contain poems from a collection written over a span of 43 years. The "Poems of Life and Love" are as fresh and relevant today as they were when she first wrote them. Ellison began writing poetry for her children in the 1970s when they were reaching the "age of reason," and she was leaving an abusive marriage, becoming a single parent, and overcoming her own addiction. She wanted to share "life's lessons" and "words of wisdom" with them. Poetry was her way to communicate with her children to help them make good decisions in life, without a barrage of words and lectures that would fall on deaf ears. And so, the Advent Poems began. She gave her children one new poem each day during Advent, along with a trinket. More than 40 years later, her grown children still look forward to each Advent season to receiving her poems. In total, Ellison has penned more than 600 inspirational and wisdom-filled poems for living a more joy-filled life and overcoming every-day challenges. After Ellison's second husband, Bill Ellison, founder of Value Villages/Savers, died of Alzheimer's Disease in 2008, she decided it was time to share her poetry with the world. In 2014, at the age of 75, she started a business and began the journey into the world of publishing and fulfilling her life's purpose. Ellison wants to share the message that it's never too late to pursue one's dreams. She believes the philosophy that "you can be old at 30, or young at 90"--that it's all up to us. And she believes there is no better time than now to share the poems with the world at large. The present, broken world needs some good-old fashioned lessons in civility, kindness and common sense.
