WestWard Quarterly, The Magazine of Family Reading

WestWard Quarterly
P.O. Box 250
Kirkland, Illinois 60146 USA
800-440-4043
wwquarterly@aol.com

Marsha Ward, Novelist
(Former Editor of
WestWard Quarterly)

Christian Writers Fellowship International

Note: Writing contests have been temporarily suspended. The last one ended March 31, 2007. Thanks to all who have participated in these contests! If they are to be resumed in the future, an announcement will be posted here.

WestWard Quarterly, the Magazine of Family Reading

WestWard Quarterly tries to present the best work of upbeat writers and poets, whether accomplished or beginners. We maintain a positive editorial philosophy, presenting material that is reflective, inspiring, uplifting, encouraging and humorous. This is not to say that we “bury our heads in the sand.” Some of the difficult issues of our time must be addressed, and poetry has a role to play in raising the standard of our expectations. It can do this through offering hope, instead of by magnifying what is crude or deplorable in the human condition.

We accept all styles of poetry and look for good imagery and grammar and a fresh outlook. If rhyming, we look for consistency and natural word order in the rhyme scheme. If metrical, we look for consistent scansion or “beat.” If free verse, we look for some kind of rhythm, flow, and harmony that makes a poem differ from prose.

For other submission guidelines, with subscription and single issue prices, please click the link at left. There is a sample page showing the magazine’s current style. We offer a “Writer’s Workbench” (also a regular department of the magazine) featuring helpful hints for better writing. The Archive presents back issues a year old or more. In addition you can meet our editor, Shirley Anne Leonard, and read some of her more than 600 poems. All of these features are linked on the menu bar.

Poetry Chapbooks

by WestWard Quarterly Editor Shirley Anne Leonard

THE COMPASS

81 poems about the voyage through the
seas of denominationalism into the
secure harbor of God’s Kingdom.

THE PROMISE

46 poems relating the story of mankind's fall
and God's promise of restoration.
With Richard C. Leonard.

THE JOURNEY

59 poems about the perils and
joys of the journey from the
Kingdom of Darkness to
the Kingdom of Light.

CREATION’S SONG

38 poems extolling the beauty
that God has created in the world
of nature for our enjoyment.

REMEMBERING EDEN

31 poems honoring Christ and
God's glorious plan for the
restoration of all things.

Retail price is $5.00 for each book. Order from Laudemont Press.

A Noble Proverb

“Iron sharpens iron,”
so they say.
But what if I
am only made of clay?
Obliteration —
if I get in the way!

Iron sharpens iron.
So does stone
if rough, and with a
hardness all its own
to grind the weapon’s
cutting edge, and hone.

Iron sharpens iron.
Make me so
the wheel will grind
deliberate and slow,
and sparks will not inflame
emotion’s glow.

Iron sharpens iron.
Let us talk
and mind the words we say,
lest they should walk
toward battlefields
and kill us on the way.

— ©Shirley Anne Leonard

Come Dance

Come dance with me in the morning’s light,
all you prisoners of the night!
There is a place where the sun shines through
on fields of flowers covered with dew.

Come dance with me the dance of spheres
in places where there are no fears —
No pain or sorrow, no tears or death
in the realms of the spirit where you’ll find rest.

Come dance with me on the wings of the wind
that circles the heavens above the earth.
Come dance and rejoice before the Christ
who gave His life to give us new birth.

Catapulted into Morning

Catapulted into morning,
Discharged into day,
Ejected from the world of dreams
And thrust along our way—

Reality awaits us
with sharp and piercing eye.
Reluctantly we stagger on
while stifling our cry.

Choices are before us:
Do we rise, or do we leap
For refuge ‘neath the covers,
And go right back to sleep?

Coffee, shower and e-mail
Start the reviving trend.
But once we launch our busy day,
When will it ever end?

Call from the Mountain

“Is anyone alive out there?”
“Define alive,” the echoes said.

The dictionary said, “not dead,
able to think and speak and breathe,
to feel, to move, able to see.”

Yes, able to see, able to hear
and answer me — a human voice,
a reasoning brain, a sagacious soul
if any be in this barren waste,
in these shriveling lands of shallow grace;

A heart, a mind — quick, robust,
risen from out of the cultural dust,
girded to fight for truth and beauty,
one with a passion for honor and duty.

Please call out if any be there —
send a signal or a flare!

WestWard Quarterly’s roots go back to Explorer Magazine, edited by Raymond J. Flory for nearly 40 years, and to Roadrunner Magazette, edited by Barbara Quinlan during the 1990s. In 1998, when Ms. Quinlan decided to suspend publication, Marsha Ward took over the magazine and renamed it WestWard Quarterly. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Flory also decided to retire from publication and turned his Explorer subscribers and contributors over to WestWard Quarterly.

By 2002 Ms. Ward had encountered some health issues and was unable to produce WestWard Quarterly on a consistent schedule. A writer on western themes, she decided to concentrate on her other work and suspended publication of the magazine. Shirley Anne Leonard, a subscriber and contributor, offered to take it on with the help of her husband, Dr. Richard Leonard, publisher of Laudemont Press. Under the new editorship WestWard Quarterly has retained its name for the sake of continuity, and in recognition of Marsha Ward’s efforts. The magazine continues her editorial philosophy of presenting material with a positive outlook on life — “Adversity happens; find the eternal purpose behind it.”