Sing to Me and I Will Hear You

Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – The Poems Nine months after Francis’ death in January, 2010, Elaine was given a gift of two books of poetry by Donald Hall. In The Painted Bed and Without, he was lamenting the death of his wife. With this model of a grief-stricken poet to hearten her, poems of her own started to come. She cried out in the first of these, “At Last” – “I could not bear the void . . .” During Francis’ last one hundred days, Elaine had written “Dear Family and Friends” letters which were posted on www.elaineandfrancis.blogspot.com Some of the poems in her first book, Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – The Poems, published in 2012, were sparked by Elaine’s memories during Francis’ last one hundred days, many of them recorded in these journal letters. But the poems express as well, Elaine’s own experiences during the two years following Francis’ death. Many of the poems originated in prayer, or, as Elaine prefers to call it, her “sitting practice.” They offer a glimpse into the progression of her journey through grief.

Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – The Poems Nine months after Francis’ death in January, 2010, Elaine was given a gift of two books of poetry by Donald Hall. In The Painted Bed and Without, he was lamenting the death of his wife. With this model of a grief-stricken poet to hearten her, poems of her own started to come. She cried out in the first of these, “At Last” – “I could not bear the void . . .” During Francis’ last one hundred days, Elaine had written “Dear Family and Friends” letters which were posted on www.elaineandfrancis.blogspot.com Some of the poems in her first book, Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – The Poems, published in 2012, were sparked by Elaine’s memories during Francis’ last one hundred days, many of them recorded in these journal letters. But the poems express as well, Elaine’s own experiences during the two years following Francis’ death. Many of the poems originated in prayer, or, as Elaine prefers to call it, her “sitting practice.” They offer a glimpse into the progression of her journey through grief.

Elaine G. McGillicuddy, a native Mainer, is a retired high school teacher of English composition. She lived in Missouri, New York, Massachusetts, and Waterville, Maine, during the 15½ years she was an Ursuline nun. In 1968, while Campus Minister at Colby College, during the heady anti-Vietnam war years, she met and later married Francis A. McGillicuddy after he left the clerical priesthood. Elaine has a B.A. in English from the College of New Rochelle, New York, an M.A. in Religious Studies from Providence College, Rhode Island, and is a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher, leader of the Dances of Universal Peace, and a permaculture designer. The main title of her two published books and a CD repeat Francis’ words to her before he died. Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – The Poems, as well as her CD entitled Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – Elaine G. McGillicuddy reading her poems, were published in 2012. Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – A Love Story was published in 2014. find.mainewriters.org Her third book is in progress. It will include more poems and her “Widow’s Journal.” Living a largely monastic life at home in Portland, Elaine is on sabbatical from teaching yoga at Portland Yoga Studio.