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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

Skelton4@earthlink.net

650.343.7269


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.