“Summer” and “read” are synonyms (Spiritual Journey Thursday)

Summer. Even saying the word makes me feel good. I think the magic of this season is so much a part me because of the rhythms of school ingrained from childhood. From my earliest memories it has always been ten months of school (September to June), two months of summer holidays (July and August)—the standard in Canada.

Then there’s the weather. Where I live, in the northern hemisphere, much of the year is chilly. The warmest months of the year argue loudly for a break in routine. And that’s what summer is for many of us.

One of my favourite summer activities is reading. I read all year but summer with its beach mornings, its lazy afternoons, its long light evenings makes it especially conducive to getting lost in a good book, or series of books.

“Egghead” sculpture by Kimber Fiebiger (On exhibit in Castlegar B.C., 2016)
 Explanation of the sculpture: “Egghead is a tribute to all people who are excited by a good book.”

A couple of summers ago I read all of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books. Last year I indulged in Tolstoy, completing Anna Karenina (not the most upbeat read but long-lasting).

A Story
Tradition
not in her memoir.
No Grannies
bone china.
Grew up in fast company— 
tale of Twisted Tea.
© 2018 by Violet Nesdoly

This year I’m reading the Lord of the Rings books. (Are there three or six? The Kindle collection I downloaded has six!) Though I’ve already been reading it for some weeks, I am only at 36%, it will probably take me much of the summer to complete, and thus it’s the perfect fat summer tome (especially as it’s readily available, without added weight or bulk, on my iPad).

Feeling Small
Joined by marigolds
I am safe in Mother’s arms
reading giant tales
© 2018 by Violet Nesdoly

As well, summer is the perfect time to read the bestseller of all time—the Bible. Whether you read it chronologically in great chunks or selectively a few verses at a time, it’s sure to enhance the spiritual aspect of your summer reading. If you’ve never read it before, try reading a modern version (like The Living Bible – TLB). A good place to start might be the life of Jesus as told in the Gospels of Matthew or Luke (the first and third books of the New Testament).

What about you—do you also enjoy wiling away the summer hours with books? Which ones would you suggest?

(The poems are from my 2017 “Summer Shorts” photo / poem project.)

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This post is linked to Spiritual Journey (first) Thursday, hosted today by Margaret Simon on her blog Reflections on the Teche.

 

 

Layered deconstruction

First of all, HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all my American friends!

On December 11th last year, an apartment complex that I pass on one of my walking routes burned.

Apartment fire – December 11, 2016 (Photo © 2016 by V. Nesdoly)

It wasn’t totally destroyed but has been unliveable these many months as it’s being repaired.

Though it’s not the most beautiful subject, there is something compelling about repairs going on behind curtains month after month and  so it has been my photo / poem subject several times in the last while. On July 25th, in response to the photo prompt “Layered,” I took the photo below and wrote about it (in a shadorma):

Apartment repairs – July 2017 (Photo © 2017 by V. Nesdoly)

Layered

 

One afternoon
massive fire engulfed
water wrecked
smoke sullied.
Months later still rebuilding
layer by layer.

© 2017 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)

On October 16th in response to the photo challenge “Deconstruction.” I photographed and wrote about it again (this time in a senryu):

Apartment sheers – October 2017 (Photo © 2017 by V. Nesdoly)

Deconstruction

Construction gauze—
band-aids for fire-singed rooms
healing their scars

© 2017 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)

It will be a happy day when all that reconstruction is done and its people can move back in. (And so I’ll probably write about it again.)

I’m adding that last ditty to Michelle Heidenrich Barnes’ November Padlet, where this month’s challenge is to “write a poem that finds beauty in something that is not usually considered beautiful.”

Oh, and speaking of Michelle, she’s just completed the publication of The Best of Today’s Little Ditty 2016. I’m pretty stoked to have a couple of poems in that volume. What a great collection of poems from all the lovely Poetry Friday peeps! Congratulations, Michelle (and committee) for another great book!

(To add icing to that ditty cake–between when I posted this and now, my physical copy of the book arrived! It’s so cool to hold it in my hands!)

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This poem is linked to Poetry Friday, hosted today by Carol, at Carol’s Corner.

 

SJT – Redemption (Midwife Openings)

This week’s theme Spiritual Journey Thursday word “REDEMPTION” had me scratching my head at first. I know the traditional religious meaning of the word “redemption” is the rich concept of salvation from sin through the atonement of Christ. But one also hears the word redemption used in another way. I read or hear it used often as a theme in story or movie.

(The site ranker.com, for example, has a list called “The Best Movies About Redemption.” The opening paragraph describes the theme:

“Some of the most beloved movies of all time feature the theme of redemption. These are the stories that motivate us to hold on to hope, fight to survive, always believe in the best, and recognize that anyone can change. This theme reminds us that life is a series of choices, and for every act of injustice there is justice around the corner!”)

One of the dictionaries I consulted defines this type of redemption:

“the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing a debt.”

Many Bible stories include this theme. The story of Joseph comes to mind. Another much shorter tale is the one of the two midwives who defied Pharaoh’s command to kill the Hebrew male children as they were delivering them to help Pharaoh control the Hebrew population explosion. Bible commentaries suggest these two women, Shiphrah and Puah, were Egyptian overseers of a guild of midwives and that they were middle-aged. The Bible tells their story in Exodus 1:15-21.

Some years ago when I was writing a series of poems on Bible women, I wrote one about them. Here is their story of redemption:

Shiphrah and Puah (Artist unknown)

Midwife Openings

Pharaoh said,
Kill each newborn boy!
Midwife code, training
each prospective mother cell
cries, Our lives, not theirs!

We will risk
raising Pharaoh’s wrath.
We fear God Yahweh.
To commit infanticide
means blood on our hands.

Hebrew boys
live despite king’s plot.
Yahweh smiles on us.
We grow great with fruitfulness!
Midwives may apply.

© 2015 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)

This post is linked to Spiritual Journey Thursday, hosted by Holly Mueller at Reading, Teaching, Learning.

What’s your favorite story of redemption? Have you experienced redemption in this way?

 

Membrane (Limp – 2)

Membrane

“The membrane between the normal and unthinkable is exceedingly thin” – mother of an autistic child

fall, fracture
pops rainbow bubble
thin unseen
fragile skin
between normal everyday
and life ever changed

disappeared
flight 370
Oso Slide
membrane slashed
now mud, rubble, tears, searching
no going back

© 2014 by Violet Nesdoly (all rights reserved)

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Around the time I had my accident, Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 went missing and the people of Oso, Washington suffered an unimaginable tragedy. Viewed from the perspective of those incidents, my mishap was peanuts. Still, all three contained elements that reminded me of what the mother of the autistic little girl my daughter used to babysit said the day she told her story to the women at our church–the poem’s epigraph.

This poem is the second in the LIMP poems series. Click on the “LIMP sequence” category below to view all.

 

Pose

Photo by Sam Taylor Wood (via The Picture)

Pose

Frozen in
precarious leap
balanced on
chair-leg tilt—
push that chair! Engineer a
Photoshop escape.

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Yesterday’s prompt at Poetic Asides was an ekphrastic poem, based on a photo. We were given four photo choices on the site, or invited to use our own.

The shadorma, above, is based on one of the suggested photos.

 

Spring

Spring

Cream-tinted
blossom filigree
a wedding
a party
line dancing with the breeze, I’m
caught under spring’s veil.

– Violet Nesdoly

 

Maui Scrapbook – Wild ride

Surfer at Ho'okipa Beach Park

Wild ride

Crouch, stand tall
mount the curling foam
up and down
in and out
for the wild ride back to shore
any wave will do

© 2012 by Violet Nesdoly

 

Maui Scrapbook – Stalk

Surfers lying in wait - Ho'okipa Beach Park

Stalk

Surfboards poised
eyes scan restless sea
calculate
curl and height
Maui surfers float and drift
stalking the big one

© 2012 by Violet Nesdoly

 

Maui Scrapbook – Voyeurs

Snorkelers in Honolua Bay

Voyeurs

Snorkelers
watch another world
lazy drift
gill, fin, tail
turquoise Honolua Bay
maritime voyeurs

© 2012 by Violet Nesdoly

 

Maui Scrapbook – Winter flora

If Hawaii blooms like this in winter, what must it look like in spring and summer?

Winter flora

Orchid leis
Birds of Paradise
Hibiscus
Butterfly
Plumeria—Maui’s blooms
make us long for spring

© 2012 by Violet Nesdoly