Three Dashes of Poetry

In honor of April's being poetry month, my good friend and fellow blogger Hamlette has been hosting a grand month long celebration! (Be sure to check it all out HERE.) Hence, I'm here to contribute my official post. :)

#1

The adventure of our lives brims over with great fluctuations and contrasts and sometimes everything happens at once. As I'm in the midst of wedding planning, it seems that every day is also freshly and visibly bringing my great-grandma closer to the hour when she will stand face-to-face with her Lord in the heavenly spaces.

And the thought of that glory is enough to take my breath.

At 103, my great-grandma has been gifted with an incredibly full and amazing life. An artist, adventurer, world traveler, music and history lover, and a voracious reader, she's an amazing woman, her memory filled with marvelous stories. I wrote the following short poem for her a few years ago. Including it here seems fitting:

Moments in the Hundred Years of a Painter
A bright mind and a long life--God has given--
And a deft hand--catching vignettes
Of the cosmic strokes of the Master.
A spinning wheel--done motionless.
Barns--sleepy and still; brown, orange, and red--
Green in a foreground tree.
A little girl, bright-haired under scarlet flowers.
Mountains, rivers.
The little girl again--in an orchid hat.
A small boy--red with delicious sauce.
Dashes of light, captured in color,
Vignettes--small corners on the great canvas.
A long life, a bright mind, and a deft hand--
Has the Master given.
Heidi Peterson

#2

My second contribution comes from Dante's Divine Comedy. I first ran across it in one of my favorite essays in The Christian Imagination edited by Leland Ryken and I promptly read it so many times I memorized it. It inspired me to read the entire Comedy, which I'm now so glad I did! I don't agree with all the doctrines and positions in the Comedy, but (allowing for some literary license) it's deep and brilliant and justly deserves its masterpiece status. This passage is absolutely thrilling and always convicting. I'm including the short intro from the essay by Janine Langan:

"The Divine Comedy records the imaginative reeducation of a very great Christian poet, Dante, by a very great pagan poet, Virgil. Virgil's first lesson is a blunt one (Inferno ii, 43-49):

"If I have understood what you have said"
Replied the shade of that great-hearted one,
"Your soul has been assailed by cowardice,
Which often weighs so heavily on a man--
Distracting him from honorable trial--
As phantoms frighten beasts when shadows fall."

#3

And.... there are so many many other dearly loved poems I'm really at a dreadful loss what to highlight for my third, hence I'll leave you with one of my best loved, Tip Top Favorites Of All Time:

"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken.
The crownless again shall be king."
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Tell me! Are either of those second two your favorites as well? :)

Book Review // Mara: Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

I finished Hamlet last week and I’m working on marshaling my thoughts somewhat for a post, but meanwhile (starting this week off a bit under the weather) I was blessed with some unusually long extra hours of reading time and chose to delve into Mara. Twice through in two days, back to back and cover to cover. (Which, lest the point escape you ;), is a high honor reserved for only the most incredibly loved of favorite stories.)

I first heard about this book when I was about twelve so, as you can see, it took me a ridiculous amount of time to actually get to it! But most thankfully I now have and, in short, I’m utterly and completely head-over-heels. Seriously, it fits right in with some of my favorite stories of all time, the ones I’ve loved since I was about 10 to 13: i.e. Caroline Dale Snedeker’s books set in Greece and Rome (and Nantucket), Margaret Leighton’s Journey for a Princess, Beverly Butler’s Song of the Voyageur, Jean Bothwell’s books in India -- those ones that, looking back, have shaped me most, given me parameters of comfort in my own writing, helped me see. And, perhaps because I’ve always mentally associated it with those others (though I hadn’t yet read it), Mara now slides similarly right into their lofty ranks. I honestly hadn’t thought I’d really find another story to ever join them in quite the same way, but I was wrong.

It’s a wonderful feeling.

Here’s for a short summary from the dustjacket: “On an escapade in the marketplace in Menfe, Mara, the mistreated slave of a wealthy jewel trader, attracts the notice of a mysterious white-hooded man who buys her to use as a spy in the service of Queen Hatshepsut, half-sister of Thutmose. On the Nile river boat, The Silver Beetle, Mara becomes acquainted with Sheftu, a youth who describes himself as 'a scribe’s apprentice' but is in reality Lord Sheftu, leader of the movement to depose the profligate queen and to put Thutmose on the throne of Egypt. Sheftu also decides to employ Mara as a go-between at court for himself and Thutmose.”

And I’m sorry, they go on to give some tremendous (and I mean tremendous) spoilers, so that’s really all I can share of that, but suffice to say the whole story is rich and gripping and vibrant, moving purposely forward with layers upon layers of sparkling brilliance and complexity. And, fresh and vivid -- with a flavor of swirling intrigue in the very manner of the telling -- it’s all most deftly and superbly rendered, with an easy tossing back and forth of narrative like a juggler’s golden balls. 

There isn’t a single superfluous character and -- while it’s rich with detail -- it’s all utterly and perfectly balanced. Listen to this description: 

“He grinned down at Mara, and her retort died on her lips. As he turned to murmur something to Nekonkh, she struggled to regain her composure. What was it about his smile? Its warmth? Its sudden intimacy? It rushed to the head like strong wine.

“She was aware of nothing but him, as he stood there outlined against the noisy, torchlit room. All day she had nerved herself for this meeting, fearing to find him again the curt and glittering stranger he had been in the lotus garden. Now, all in a moment, her fears had vanished. Here was no gold-hung lord, but her companion of the Beetle—warm, teasing, dangerous. Her spirits rose like a sail.”

There isn’t a single moment where Mara herself changes all at once. It’s imperceptible. You can feel it happening. As for Sheftu. . . he now fits right in with some of my favorite heroes: the strong and silent men with a mission -- serious, passionate and hard to read, yet oft-times showing a gentleness, flashing forth too with a startling, winged smile -- Mr. Thornton (Gaskell’s N&S), Baudouin (Leighton’s Journey for a Princess), Bjorn (Sutcliff’s The Shield Ring) Barney Snaith (Montgomery’s Blue Castle), and Cedric in my own WIP.

As for the romance. . . Obviously, the political overcurrent of intrigue intensifies the romance between them (creating even further depth in all the running under and cross currents of their purposes and desires), but -- what I’m also getting at -- is that you can see the romance by their choices and actions -- by what they are and are not doing, what they are or are not saying to others -- and then it makes the actual moments between them so razor sharp and intense! It’s breathtaking.

Of course, I love immersing myself in the ancient world -- here particularly Egypt, Egyptian history, and archaeology -- but I think I’d love Mara anyway. The characters (major and minor), the fluidity of the narrative and the evocative language, the beautifully crafted conflict, the intensity, the romance. . . it’s all magnificent.

So yes, it most definitely has my thorough and ongoing stamp of full love and approval, has joined my top favorites, and I’m quite certain will be read again and again and again!!! :)

Tell me! Have you read Mara and what did you think?

Favorite Cinderella's Round the World

Along with many other fairy tales and legends (St. George and the Dragon comes to mind), Cinderella pops up in different forms yet with wildly similar details all over the world. Along with this, there are probably hundreds of beautiful picture book renditions. I’ve read or dipped into a good many over the years and these are my six top favorites!

 

The Persian Cinderella by Shirley Climo

Originally one of the tales in the Arabian Nights, this is my Favorite Cinderella Storybook Of All Time. (In fact, it’s one of my absolutely favorite books entirely. ;D)

Full of gorgeous mantles… and turbans… and pearls… and sweeping dark hair… and with a sweet heroine, Settareh (i.e. ‘Cinderella’), it's absolutely beautiful! (And… they’re Persian. And the prince has a dark beard. Sooo… yes. In short, enough said. ;))

The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo

One of the world’s oldest Cinderella stories -- based on both fact and legend -- the story of 'Rhodopis and The Rose-red Slippers' was first recorded by the Roman historian Strabo in the first century A.D. While the slippers may have been a later addition, there is historical record that the Pharaoh Amasis (570-526 B.C.) did, indeed, marry a Greek slave girl, making her his queen. 

And… since you all know my fascination for archaeology/ancient history, it’s probably fairly obvious why this quite beautifully illustrated rendition of the story makes my absolute favorites list. ;)

Adelita: A Mexican Cinderella Story by Tomie dePaola

This version (especially if you love Tomie dePaola’s work) is cute and sweet and altogether entirely charming.

(And I apologize. This picture doesn't quite do the cover justice. :P)

The Salmon Princess: An Alaska Cinderella Story by Mindy Dwyer

With lyrical prose and authentic illustrations genuinely capturing the very flavor of the Pacific Northwest, this is an original, touching (and also quite hilarious) retelling of Cinderella. (It’s also my brother’s favorite. He loves it! ;))

Smoky Mountain Rose: An Appalachian Cinderella by Alan Schroeder

Down-to-earth and full of fun, it’s impossible to read this one without ending up laughing somewhere. (And as for Rose’s party dress…! Soft blue and Edwardian, with an edging of lace -- elegant yet practical -- it's sweet and utterly beautiful!)

Domitila: A Cinderella Tale from the Mexican Tradition adapted by Jewell Reinhart Coburn

Yet another Cinderella from the Spanish-Mexican tradition (and actually one of the first I read), it’s also currently my dad’s favorite (as well as sister Arwen's :)). Reading it again, I noticed just how much emphasis in it is placed on the tangible -- beauty and goodness flowing out the fingertips. It’s lovely!

Tell me! Have you read any of these? If not, which do you find most intriguing? :)

Blue & Green and Some Happinesses of May

Following is one of my favorite short children’s poems. It was going through my head again a couple days ago as I was doing chores and looking up at the nearest thorny locust trees just unfurling their ferny fronds in the early sunset. I love those trees… (the leaves, not the thorns). Sometimes they look like something from a picture in Africa—or a South American jungle—and it’s such a pleasure to have them in our own backyard! Anyhow, they inspired me to run in and bring out my camera—and here, too, is the poem:

"I'm glad the sky is painted blue

And the earth is painted green

With such a lot of nice fresh air

All sandwiched in between."

~ Author unknown ~

And some of the Maytime happinesses I'm having…

Driving roads thick with living, early summer green while running errands.

My rosebush blooming, deep pink and fragrant.

Hot pink geraniums in a hanging pot.

A wonderful, long, heart-to-heart phone call, and encouraging emails with patient and loving friends.

Watching the old Buccaneers tv show with my family.

Starting a book I’ve never read before on the recommendation of another friend.

Dreaming of mountains and wide open spaces.

Pictures of turquoise water:

This quote from C.S. Lewis yet again:

“Joy is distinct not only from pleasure in general but even from aesthetic pleasure. It must have the stab, the pang, the inconsolable longing.”

Pondering and clinging to this verse from Zephaniah: “The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

Good dark coffee in the mornings and Oolong tea.

Listening to good music while washing dishes:

And this just makes me smile...

What are some of your favorite Maytime delights?

On “Epicurus and the Problem of Evil”

Google image

I ran across an article discussing this statement almost exactly a year ago and as I've read it multiple times since I thought I’d share it. Convicting and encouraging it brings me to my knees with thanks for the mercy of God.

Here’s the link:

http://americanvision.org/7989/epicurus-problem-of-evil/#sthash.Yy27piNk.dpbs

It’s fairly short, easy reading–and fascinating. If you have time afterwards, pop back here and let me know what you think of it!