The Buckley School's founder believed that all public speakers should hone their presentation skills by reading poetry out loud. We keep that worthwhile practice alive by including a poem in our magazine each month for you to read aloud.
"Her flirtations are here, in all their ephemeral intensity; her friendships, even her athletics; also her observations of characters and situations, presented with irony, compassion, or reverence, but always with a keen sense of drama."
– "Poetry" magazine founder Harriet Monroe
A poet, novelist, and critic, Marion Strobel was also associate editor of Poetry magazine from 1920 to 1925. Her connection with the magazine continued for more than 45 years, where she got to know other poets including Edna St. Vincent Millay, Carl Sandburg, and Robert Frost, among many.
Strobel reviewed poetry for the magazine and also authored two collections of poems, published in the 1920s. By the 1930s, she had turned her attention to fiction and published five novels by the early 1940s.
Novels by Marion Strobel
Strobel was born in 1895 and lived and worked in Chicago. She married Dr. James Herbert Mitchell in 1922. The couple had two daughters. One of their daughters was the painter Joan Mitchell. Strobel died in 1967.
Below, a poem by Strobel for you to read aloud.
Spring Morning
by MARION STROBEL
O day—if I could cup my hands and drink of you,
And make this shining wonder be
A part of me!
O day! O day!
You lift and sway your colors on the sky
Till I am crushed with beauty. Why is there
More of reeling sunlit air
Than I can breathe? Why is there sound
In silence? Why is a singing wound
About each hour?
And perfume when there is no flower?
O day! O Day! How may I press
Nearer to loveliness?
