In October 1996, Owen and Jeanette Hardage made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The photo accompanying this article shows Jeanette at the Pool of Siloam, near the entrance to Hezekiah’s Tunnel. This trip clearly made a deep impression on both of them. Afterward, Owen …
Read MoreGuilty Pleasure
Steeped in the Brethren religious tradition, Jeanette Hardage’s family had a decidedly conservative approach to the American cultural practices around them. One of my favorite poems from her Faith and Other Matters anthology is one in which she rebels just a bit against her church …
Read MoreJust Published
Catch a couple of Jeanette Hardage’s poems in the most recent edition of Bloom literary magazine, published by Red Penguin. Her poems “Conquest” and “Sister’s Mind” are included. “Conquest” has only appeared before in a June 30, 2021 blog post, while “Sister’s Mind” was first published …
Read MoreLooking Ahead
The poems of Jeanette Hardage often express her hope in a heavenly future. The poem below, handwritten by in April 1997 and never before published, instead anticipates possible future joys on earth. At first the reader may get an impression of disappointment with life, until …
Read MoreLooking Back
On this fifth anniversary of Jeanette Hardage’s passing, it seems fitting to contemplate her death through the lens that she provided as she reflected on her own experience of losing someone dear. The poem below is included in her Faith and Other Matters anthology. Lastingness …
Read MoreBeautiful Surrender
Jeanette Hardage anthropomorphizes nature in the poem below with its imagery of fog “conquering” a hill. As a frequent resident of coastal California, she had many opportunities to witness this phenomenon. She first wrote this in 1961, probably as a class assignment. She reworked it …
Read MoreI Have Known Rain
Some of Jeanette Hardage’s most powerful verses are those that dwell on painful subjects. She frequently employed nature as a metaphor in her poetry. In the poem below, published in Faith and Other Matters, she uses rain to express her heartfelt sadness, melancholy, even despair. …
Read MoreA Brush With History
As a young seaman at the end of World War II, Owen Hardage had an unusual, if brief, encounter with an important personage. Here is Owen’s previously unpublished story, as ghostwritten by his wife Jeanette. (The story has been edited from the original for length). …
Read MoreIn Love With the Sea
Owen Hardage started going to sea when he was just a young boy, making his first trip across the Pacific Ocean at the age of eight in 1934. As a young man, he served in the Navy during World War II, then later made a …
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