"Ardyth Kennelly . . . recalls that her first printed writing was a poem in the Albany, Ore., Democrat-Herald to which her initials were signed. 'It came out on a hot Saturday afternoon,' says Miss Kennelly, 'and I felt so famous I could hardly stand to eat dinner that night. I read it over and over and couldn't see anything wrong with it.'"
--Miss Jay Tower of the Literary Guild, quoted in the Albany Democrat-Herald, March 28, 1953 (when Ardyth's novel Good Morning, Young Lady was chosen by the Guild as its selection for May 1953)
The poem was probably "Phantasy," printed in the "Saturday Section" of the Democrat-Herald under the initials "A. M. K.":
ReplyDeleteI sat alone by a sunlit lake,
pondering . . . .
You sang alone in a shadowy woods,
wondering . . . .
I wished for you.
I hoped you'd be true,
longingly . . . .
Then I prayed for you,
And God answered, too,
solemnly . . . .
Date was May 7, 1927. She had numerous other poems published in the paper that summer and fall, and two more in the first half of 1928.
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