The following is a story that ran in the Monticello Messenger:



Monticello Native Writes Prize Poems



Lea Kilgore-Nottingham, Detroit, honored by publishers

Mrs. Lea Kilgore-Nottingham received the first copies of her book, "Bittersweet," just off the press. It was published by Horizon House, as the first-prize entry in a poetry contest that it held, participated in by 300 contestants from all parts of the United States. The above is from a Detroit newspaper. Mrs. Nottingham is the former Lea Kilgore. She was born here, taught in the public schools for several years and has made frequent visits to her hometown. Mrs. Nottingham is a sister of Mrs. Geo. C. Steinmann, of this village.



- Monticello Messenger, 1942



Her entire book of poems can be found at monticellohistoricalsociety.org/digitalpubs.html. One of her poems seems appropriate for this season:



Housecleaning Time

I wish I were a lucky bruin,

And when the sun shone in the spring,

To show the utter rack and ruin

The dinginess that winters bring,

Then when I gazed on wall and ceiling

Where cobwebs hung in gay festoons,

I never once would think of kneeling

To clean the dust and clear the rooms,

But would, without a look behind me,

Leave my old den, with brief adieu,

And, when approached the winds of winter,

Go find a cave, both clean and new!



- Lea Kilgore-Nottingham