Poems of Susanna Wright of Columbia, PA (formerly Wright's Ferry, PA)

The poetry OF A PLACE is not merely bound by those who are alive and writing today.  The poetry of a place includes the words that have been crafted in that locale through time.  

For those of us living in the Columbia, PA area - along the Susquehanna River - we have the good pleasure of knowing that one of the early settlers to this area - John Wright and his family - produced one such poet.  Susanna Wright (1697 - 1784) lived in this community and left her mark, not only in words, but in influencing future town development, as well as establishing silk textiles farming in the area.  

The list of her interests and activities is long, but here we want to share some of her poetry.  For that, we are deeply indebted to Milcah Martha Moore who kept a commonplace book.  

In Moore's book, not released in print until 1997, Milcah managed to copy twenty-four of Susanna's poems.  She valued them and added them into her own commonplace book.  Prior to 1997 - while Susanna was called the Susquehanna Muse - we only had four extant poems of Susanna Wright.  What a boon we were given; one Quaker found such worth in the words of another Quaker she saved them for all time.  

Enjoy these poems, revealed to time, in the journal of a Friend.  Used with Permission of Penn Tate University Press, taken from their book: Milcah Martha Moore's Book: a Commonplace Book from Revolutionary America, pp. 119 - 151, 1996.  

THE Poems of Susanna Wright: