MacDougall, Ethel. “Electricity.” Montreal in Verse: An Anthology of English Poetry by Montreal Poets. Montreal, QB: Canadian Authors Association, 1942. 31.
Is this the same woman as Mrs. R. E. MacDougall, who won the Montreal Poetry Contest in 1926 for the poem “Old Age”? It seems highly likely, but I have no biographical information yet to confirm my suspicions.
Electricity
I threw a spangled net across the city’s dusk,
And hung a necklace on the bridge;
Re-blazed a trail for all the million souls,
Placing a holy symbol on the ridge.
And none can know how mightily I am born,
Conceived of air or waves or sod—
For like the waters, earth and rushing wind,
Maybe I too am one with God!
Ethel MacDougall was my grandmother and she had to be the same person. She was a prolific writwer and poet and was, indeed, married to Robert (R.E.) MacDougall. If I can help with any other information, please contact me.
Thank you so much! I will certainly be contacting you by email to get whatever biographical information you can share. Delightful how helpful people are at filling in details for us–or starting us on the search in the first place, as you are doing.