Margaret Havill "Mandi" Reid: Her Legacy

When Margaret Havill Reid died in July 2004, she left behind an enormous quantity of art and thousands of poems. Actually, there are probably no more than 300 poems all told. But Margaret was a perfectionist who could never be satisfied with a first draft. She re-worked all her poetry three, five, even six or seven times! Even her prizewinning verse did not escape revision. (Margaret was named "Poet of the Year" in 1993 and achieved Chief Runner-Up status in 1994).

Fortunately, she had finally succumbed to a great deal of persuasion and agreed to publish an anthology of her poems under the title, "Song of the Wayward Wind". She had selected the poems and completed most of the artwork for this book before her death.

Margaret was anything but a stand-alone artist. She was an active member of five poetry societies and as many arts organizations, in one of which she served for many years as either Secretary or President. It was often remarked that Margaret spent so much of her life encouraging, offering advice and correcting proofs for other writers and artists, it was a wonder she could spare any time for her own work.

In order to carry on this tradition of a "helping hand", Margaret's executor established the Margaret Reid Prize for Traditional Verse which currently offers $5,350 in prize money.

By "traditional", Margaret would certainly include free verse, although not prose poems or storoems. She would also exclude haiku and other Oriental forms, but the judges have decided to allow such entries. So prose poems are virtually the only categories that are excluded from the contest at the present time.

ASIN: 1411623436 PR_ID: #109670	SONG OF THE WAYWARD WIND and Other Poems   (Rated: 18+)     Product Type: Book     Review Content Rated: E     Reviewed By: johnhowardreid
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