Edna Allen Eschenbach

Edna was a wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who lived in Cincinnati, Ohio. She wrote rhymes as a hobby, often in the quiet of the late night after others had gone to bed. She was a popular guest speaker at social events like the Rotary, Eastern Star and local literary clubs. In the 1960s she published two books of her poetry.

As much as she enjoyed the wider circulation that books allowed, she loved reciting her poems for live audiences at luncheons and clubs. She made several appearances in the late 1960s and early 1970s on WLW’s Paul Dixon Show and Ruth Lyons Show – which later became the Bob Braun Show – and WKRC’s Nick Clooney Show.

Edna didn’t drive, so she got rides to her “speaking engagements” from her two daughters or one of her friends. People loved the rhythm and drama she added in her recitations, and were astonished to see her recite any poem she had ever written from memory.

Interviewers often asked if she had a photographic memory. Her explanation was that she took herself back to the writing process of each poem, and she remembered which line came next, and next and next. Most people found that even more remarkable than a photographic memory.

Edna passed in 1977. This site was built by her grandchildren to share her poems with the world.