[dropcap]M[/dropcap]Meet Lee Ann Eckhardt Smith, a long-time resident of Richmond and professional writer with two acclaimed non-fiction books and many magazine articles to her credit. An amateur genealogist as well, Lee Ann loves to tell historical stories, and has helped many people do that through her workshops, her blog and website, www.leeanneckhardtsmith.com.

Recently, Lee Ann has returned to her love of poetry, which she is inspired to write from the photographs she takes. “I look for beauty in my everyday world,” she says. To help celebrate Richmond’s 200th, we will be publishing a series of photographs Lee Ann has taken in and around the village, each with its accompanying poem.

Lee Ann invites readers to “pause and spend a moment somewhere beautiful, and read the thoughts that a place or object has inspired in me. Hopefully you’ll be inspired too, by beauty in Richmond!”

The first photo in the series was taken in Lee Ann’s back yard; the poem is called, “Abundance.”

You may also download and print a copy here.

Abundance

Mother Nature holds
Nothing
Back.
Every season
Every year
She blooms with abandon
Flings trillions of seeds to the wild wind

Zippers open the sky with lightning.
Unpredictable
Untameable
Irresistible
She’s the kind of friend
Your mother worried about.