Marie Ponsot published her first volume of poetry in 1956. After a twenty-five-year hiatus, she returned to poetry in 1981 and continues to publish today in her nineties. Thus, her Collected Poems is substantial and difficult to summarize in a limited space. Ponsot often finds inspiration from her life. Subjects vary from the major to the mundane: from her divorce to non-vegetarian cooking, from grief at various loses to bird watching, from a friend’s birthday to burning old papers. She also seems equally at ease with both formal and less strict forms. To all of this, Ponsot brings a strong classical background, a poet’s eye for connections, a delightfully defiant sense of a woman’s place, especially as she ages, but, most of all, an exquisite command of language. Many lines are a joy to read aloud and will remain with the reader. For example, in “Pourriture Noble” or “Noble Rot,” Ponsot takes a refreshing view of aging, concluding: “Age is not / all dry rot. / It’s never too late. / Sweet is your real estate.” Marie Ponsot’s Collected Poems is a testament to a life well lived and an art well practiced.
(Reviewed in exchange for a copy of book for San Francisco Book Review.)
For the amateur artist, working from real life may provide a significant challenge. With so many changing variables in a real life situation, working from a photograph seems far less stressful. In her latest book, however, Cathy Johnson not only makes “on the spot” sketching seem possible for the average artist, but strongly preferable.
In Faithful, teenager Shelby Richmond is driving one winter night with her friend, Helene, when they become involved in a horrific car accident, which leaves Helene in a vegetative state. Unable to forgive herself, Shelby in effect stops living that night, and Faithful is the story of the painstaking process by which she slowly pieces her life together to become whole again. At the same time, this is an Alice Hoffman novel, and the supernatural is at play: miracles begin to be attributed to Helene after the accident, and an angel who appeared to Shelby on the night of the accident remains a presence in her life. That said, the real strength of Hoffman’s writing is her ability to see the magical or mystical in the everyday without those elements becoming the focus of the work. Rather, the supernatural merely enhances the human emotions and actions at play. While an angel seems to oversee Shelby’s life, her recovery is complicated and occurs primarily because of Shelby’s own efforts. This perfect balance of the mystical with gritty realism makes Faithful an incredibly satisfying novel.
In Summerlong, a mysterious young woman named Lioness appears on an island in the Pacific Northwest and enters the lives of middle-aged, long-term partners, Abe Aronson and Joanna Delvecchio, and Joanna’s adult daughter, Lily. As these three become increasingly aware of Lioness’s unique abilities and troubling past, their own lives become more tumultuous. When the havoc subsides, what will remain?
Miss Emily Dorothea Seeton is a sleuth like no other. Trouble seems to follow the sweet, retired art teacher, who is either the law’s greatest asset or nightmare, depending on the officer queried. Armed with her ever-present brolly and her art supplies, she purports to draw culprits, but in fact makes bizarre sketches for Scotland Yard that baffle until fairly eccentric connections are made to reveal the culprit.
The Muse revolves around two interconnected story lines. In the 1960s, Olive Schloss moves with her art dealer father and her depressive socialite mother to a Spain on the verge of revolution. There, the secretly artistically-gifted girl falls in love with Isaac Robles, a revolutionary, and befriends his sister, Teresa. Robles becomes Schloss’ muse, spurring her to paint brilliant works. These paintings are passed off as Robles’ to Schloss’ father, as tensions rise between the characters and in Spain. In late 1960’s England, a young writer from Trinidad, Odette Bastien, becomes a typist at the Skelton Institute of Art. There, she comes to the attention of an older woman, Marjorie Quick, but when Bastien’s boyfriend brings a lost Robles’ painting in for evaluation, Quick begins to lose control.
The premise of Paula Huston’s One Ordinary Sunday is really quite simple. She attempts to explain the power of Sunday Mass in her own life for herself and for those who do not really understand what occurs during Mass. To do so, she researches Church fathers and contemporary theologians, popes and Christian historians. She proceeds to meticulously examine each aspect (and sometimes individual lines) of the Mass, tracing them as far back as their Jewish roots. To stop here, however, would only tell half the story. As Huston sits in her pew reviewing her research, she also reveals her own inner struggles: her vague, gray feeling of grief over the deaths of those she has lost, her worries for her grandchildren’s futures, and her discomfort with aspects of the Mass because of her Protestant upbringing. Indeed, in one poignant quote, Huston says, “Do I understand all of it? No. Do I believe it? I am trying.” Therefore, the beauty of One Ordinary Sunday is how it reveals the coming together of human beings, with their problems, doubts, and sorrows, to be transformed by a 2,000-year-old liturgy which is suspended in time, pulsing, and occurring around the world on any given Sunday. In capturing that coming together of human frailty with ancient liturgy, Huston encapsulates the power of Sunday Mass for those who may feel disconnected from it.
In Illuminating the Way: Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics, Christine Valters Paintner applies the modern psychological concept of archetype, or “primordial blueprint” in human consciousness, to twelve famous and not-so-famous figures. She then leads readers on a gentle inward journey to hidden insights into their own psyches’ light and shadows. Her choice of monks and mystics is refreshing and unexpected at times: Francis of Assisi, King David, the Virgin Mary, Dorothy Day, Desert Mother Amma Syncletica, Brigid of Kildare, Brendan of Nursia, the Old Testament’s Miriam, Rainier Maria Rilke, Hildegard of Bingen, and Thomas Merton. Each of these provides a basis for an archetype: the Inner Fool, the Sovereign, the Mother, the Orphan, the Warrior, the Healer, the Pilgrim, the Sage, the Prophet, the Artist, the Visionary, and the Monk. She addresses each monk or mystic and his or her related archetype in a separate chapter in which she provides a reflection on the person in question, a discussion of the “light” and “shadow” aspects of each archetype, and a connection to a Gospel story. She then suggests a meditation and a mandala practice. Finally, she lists questions for reflection and includes a poem addressing that monk or mystic as a closing blessing.
In Seasons in My Garden, Sr. Elizabeth Wagner ponders through each season the grounds of her home at the Transfiguration Hermitage in Windsor, Maine to discover thought-provoking meditations and reflections. Sr. Elizabeth often starts with an unexpected observation then gently leads the reader to an equally unanticipated insight. A tree crashing in the road on Christmas Eve leads to questions about human vulnerability and peace. Liturgical ordinary time during summer induces a discovery of the extraordinary in less celebrated moments. Autumn with its final blaze of color provides an opportunity to look inward and see our true selves, or God, as the light begins to diminish. Furthermore, although she encourages readers to follow their own questions to mystery or their dreams, Sr. Elizabeth also provides an interesting account of the daily life and challenges of a contemplative in a semi-eremitical community. In sum, Seasons in My Garden is a lovely book with insights to be savored.