tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72756108877528882142024-03-13T04:59:25.646-07:00Elaine and FrancisElainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.comBlogger103125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-51350009073273969112016-12-26T19:58:00.003-08:002016-12-26T19:58:25.666-08:00Next Book Now!<div class="MsoPlainText">
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Dear Family and Friends, <o:p></o:p></div>
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I welcome this joyous Christmas season which invites us
to catch up a little with each other and our lives. And, during this divisive,
even frightening time after the election – more than ever. There is so much
more I’d want to say about the aftermath of this toxic election, but I’m
grateful that one of my friends has already given honest and poignant
expression to it in his own Christmas letter. He told me it’s a Christmas
letter it took him three days to write. Francis knew this friend I’m referring
to – Dominican, Brother Joseph Kilikevice OP, who, living in Oak Park,
Illinois, has been my mentor in the Dances of Universal Peace since 1999.
Francis and I even sponsored his coming to Portland years ago when he led a
weekend retreat in The Lord’s Prayer, chanted in Aramaic. In any case, because
Brother Joseph’s letter expresses what I want to say – before I sign off, I’m
attaching his letter to mine.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Last Christmas I quoted for you these lines from my poem
“THE HARVEST IS IN”: “Why am I crying / “Joy and thanksgiving!”?
/ It’s <i>my </i>lot / to leave our legacy of love – (Francis’s and mine) /
in poems and prose: three books in five year,/ since he died.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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By now, close to <b><i>seven </i></b>years since then,
it’s not surprising they still resonate with me: because I have another book in
the works! But, here’s a relevant aside: When I heard what a Parisian said,
when interviewed on TV this fall, one year after the Paris attacks, I jotted
down his words: “I wrote a book,” he said. “Writing puts distance between my
pain and me.” Simply in the way I immediately reached for pen and paper, then
read and reread them, pondering – it’s evident there’s some truth for me in his
expression. But, as my quoted poem notes in pointing out the subject and
purpose of my writing: “to leave our legacy of love /
(Francis’s and mine)/ ” – <i>that</i> makes
the difference! That explains the joy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In my March 31, 2016 letter “My Next Two Books – No April
Fool Joke,” (It’s posted here: <a href="http://elaineandfrancis.blogspot.com/">http://elaineandfrancis.blogspot.com/</a>)
I went into detail about my fourth book, <i>A Friend Who Knows the Tone</i>.
But I didn’t say much about the second one, except to announce that I was ready
now to take up again the book which I had started, but set aside. I had
originally entitled it: “THIS NEW LIFE - Selections from A Widow's Journal.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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By now, however, Christmastime 2016, even though I still
plan to use selections from my journal since Francis died, I have a <i>new</i>
title and even a new angle for this fifth book: “A Widow Traces Life’s Arc of
Love.” As I told a friend, recently: “One of the side things I’d like to do in
this book (in the “Tracing,” if I can) is to share (with a secular culture) how
what is called the “communion of saints” helped me – wholly spontaneously too,
after Francis died. And I can’t believe how much energy is behind it.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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But I’ve had to work at being patient about what has felt
like multiple distractions pulling me away from writing time as much as I want.
The groundwork for that book has been completed. But recently, just as it’s
calling me more and more, besides the distraction of the election, my attention
has also been taken up with supporting our indigenous brothers and sisters at
Standing Rock. Posting select articles on my Facebook page has somehow helped
me deal with these events. And they seem to have helped others also, including
former Thornton Academy students, among other friends from the past. For
example, after I posted Brother Joseph’s Christmas letter on my FB page, people
responded, in essence, with: “Thank you - this helps”!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here, though, has been the biggest distraction of all:
Ever since thick mud seeped into my cellar after a heavy rainstorm, in the fall
of 2015, I’ve been necessarily overseeing months and months of work repairing
the foundation of my 115 year old house. To say the least, it hasn’t been easy
to put up with interminable delays, some of them due to outside complications.
But, blessedly, finally – as of December 12 – that major job has been completed!
Yay!<o:p></o:p></div>
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To pay for it, I’ve had to dig deep into my savings. Of
course it was also necessary repair for my own sake. No more moldy smelling
insulation underneath the floor of my bedroom now – not since that modern
styled insulation that mice can’t get into has replaced it! I had to vacate the
house with my sweet cat Bella for 24 hours until it dried. By then, no toxic
fumes. (Luckily Bella and I stayed overnight at Lynn, Lee and Rowan’s house in
Portland which is used as an Air BnB since they moved to New Jersey where Lee
teaches at Rutgers University.) <o:p></o:p></div>
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But through it all, this <b><i>year+long</i></b> house
repair job – what was on my mind more than anything else, was the awareness
that my goddaughter Rowan will be inheriting this house. That made the
challenge to see this project through to conclusion <b><i>more</i></b> than
worthwhile. It’s my great pleasure and joy that in her, Francis and I (who had
no children of our own) have an heir for this sweet bungalow house, now
restored.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This isn’t a recent idea, either , Rowan’s inheriting
the house (which also happens to be, since 2008, a permaculture demonstration
site). It’s a site Francis and I, with some help, created together . . .
(Further digression: Someone told me: “The permaculture is a living legacy of
Francis.”). I expressed this house inheritance idea on page 139 of my second
book, <i>SING TO ME AND I WILL HEAR YOU - A Love Story. </i>In the section
entitled<b> “Permaculture for Rowan and Family”, </b>I wrote: “‘All this,’ I
told myself and Francis as we worked, ‘is for Rowan.’ It was for her sake
we got our first chicks in the summer of 2009, in time for her fifth birthday.
. . . ” (Yes – on page 139)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Rowan was 18 months old when Francis and I started doing
child care for her once a week. (She’s now 12 going on 13.) I’d pick her up
from school, bring her to our home, let her play with the chickens etc., read
some books with her sitting on my lap, then feed her supper until her mother,
Lynn, picked her up. The fact that some of Rowan’s childhood memories were
created here – picking fruits from the orchard, watching frogs in the pond
etc., adds to our joy – her parents’ and mine, as well. <o:p></o:p></div>
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One of the highlights of my year was having a “Permablitz”
held here on November 5, that is – renovation work done by the Portland Maine
Permaculture Meetup, which Francis and I joined in 2006, the year after it was
founded, in 2005. Also known now as “the Resilience Hub,” this permaculture
community has replaced several “work parties” used in the past, with a
workable, novel approach called “permablitz,” in which all the work is done by
a large group – in one day. <o:p></o:p></div>
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When Lisa Fernandes, co-founder, and another person from the
Permaculture community came for a “site visit” preliminary to this unique
Permablitz – before going outdoors, we sat first in the living room to talk
things through. I was unprepared for the joy that would come of this. First,
there was the tender moment when Lisa remembered having sat on a particular
chair here, pregnant with her only child during a permaculture meeting in
Francis’ and my living room, 10 years earlier. Then, what I had not expected
was the fact that Lisa’s approach was – not just to restore what IS, BUT – to
meet MY needs as I “age in place” !!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Since, in my 80’s, I’m certainly not going to be doing any
winter harvesting, we agreed that the aging cold frame and hoop house will not
be replaced. Instead, sea berries and goji berries were planted in that area
near the pond along with . . . can you believe it? – two hazel nut bushes!
(More good things to share with neighbors in exchange for their help, in
various ways.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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After the permablitz, I posted a newsy report about it
onto my website, right here under “About Us” and “Permaculture”: <a href="http://www.elainemcgillicuddy.com/about/about-us/">http://www.elainemcgillicuddy.com/about/about-us/</a>
(Just scroll down till you see: “Permaculture Permablitz 10 Years Later.”
And/or here is the link on the meetup’s site for where you can view 20 photos
taken during that joyous, daylong unique permablitz (unique because it was the
first one done on what someone called “a mature permaculture site” – one
already created, beginning with 10 years earlier:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.meetup.com/maine-permaculture/photos/27404154/455809951/?a=socialmedia">http://www.meetup.com/maine-permaculture/photos/27404154/455809951/?a=socialmedia</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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I felt full of gratitude for the love with which I was
surrounded, having this community with me again, because – since Francis died,
due to my absorption with writing my books, I rarely went to their meetings –
only a handful, e.g. like viewing a film like “Gaslight”. But I want to
participate more now, in ways that I can, (not in permablitzes, because the
work is too much at my age) but in other gatherings. For example, I went to a Permaculture
fund-raising meal at b.good restaurant scheduled the week after the permablitz.
And that was very moving for me: to meet again with people who knew Francis
from our early work party years. That night, Lisa’s husband, David Whitten, to
whom I had given some of Francis’ clothing after he died, selected one of
Francis’ especially handsome sweaters to wear. <o:p></o:p></div>
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An octogenarian, now, it’s not surprising I’m beginning
to hear a “Letting Go” theme in my life. I hinted at it in my Christmas letter
last year by noting that, although I was still, once a month, <i>leading</i>
the Dances of Universal peace, I had passed on the role of organizer to a
younger leader. This past July, however, I let these friends know that this is
the last year I will be formally leading the Dances of Universal Peace – after
having done so for 20 years.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Of course this doesn’t mean I’ll never do this kind of
thing again. As a matter of fact, I was invited in February of this year to
give a three hours presentation on the Aramaic Lord’s Prayer at ChIME –
“Chaplaincy Institute of Maine.” And three weeks later, responding to another
invitation, I gave a similar presentation at the Unity Church in Portland.
These were both unsought “assignments.” That’s what happens, I guess, when one
has been around for a long time. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But letting go is good. I was reflecting the other day,
along these lines: After 23 ½ years of teaching mostly high school English, I
taught yoga at the Portland Yoga Studio which Francis and I co-founded in 1989,
until 2011 – for 30 years! Of course I didn’t stop <i>personal</i> practice.
That’s something else. I have a long daily yoga practice – simply to keep my
problem hip and my arthritic joints pain free. . . . I don’t mean to brag now
but listen to this because it might help somebody: I’ve had osteoporosis (the
full blown thing, not just osteopaenia) for years. Well, I fell and landed on
my right wrist and left jaw and temple, on August 20 this summer – BUT nothing
broke. With osteoporosis, some bones should have broken, right? Dr. Babbitt,
specialist, now retired, had allowed me to be on NO MEDS – because every day I
do what I call a doorway handstand (leaning on one side of the door frame as I
walk up the other). The fact my fall did not break bones is big time proof that
pressure on bone calls forth those osteoblasts which build bone. Conversely,
when there’s no pressure on bone, the osteoclasts eat it up! . . . Ha! Looks as
if I’m teaching a little yoga after all – the theory behind its benefits.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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30 years teaching yoga, by next June - 20 years leading
the Dances of Universal Peace - So that leaves my Peace community and my
Permaculture community. Working for peace will go on. How could it not? Francis
did this our whole lives together. Even in 2003 when we started the anti-torture
vigil, before he took sick. But I’m still clear about preferring to participate
in peacemaking actions organized by others, rather than being the organizer. I
can’t help thinking that I’ve been organizer long enough.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But now what about this younger vibrant
community? Portland Maine Permaculture’s (aka) Resilience Hub?<b> </b>I’ve been
a member for <b><u>10 years.</u></b> I feel as if it’s time for me to engage
with them more often now. After all, residing on a living, active permaculture
demonstration site with an orchard and garden to tend to and fruits of various
kinds to enjoy and share as I age in place here, (God willing) it fits right in
with my “largely monastic life” which very clearly continues to call me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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With gratitude and love for your
precious friendship,<o:p></o:p></div>
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Elaine<o:p></o:p></div>
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PS Dominican brother Joseph
Kilikevice OP who directs the “Shem Center” in Oak Park Illinois, <a href="http://www.shemcenter.org/shemcenter.org/Shem_Welcome.html">http://www.shemcenter.org/shemcenter.org/Shem_Welcome.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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and who has been my mentor in the
Dances of Universal Peace since 1999, wrote such a moving letter at this
Christmas time, that, with his permission, I am attaching it to mine, here
below:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="color: #010101;">Flowers silently accompany us in times of
joy and in times of sorrow.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #010101;">- Okakura (1862-1913) Master of Chado,
(The Way of Tea)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Dear
friends,<o:p></o:p></div>
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Christmas,
2016, calls for some deep reflection on what we value in life. What I believe
is foundational for us as
citizens of the world is simply, respect. This is followed by inclusiveness,
kindness, fairness, peace and justice
for all people and indeed for creation itself.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Christmas
is also a time to savor the delights of the season, summoning lovely memories
of happy get<o:p></o:p></div>
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togethers,
good cheer, joy and the glee and delight of children. But I am finding that
this time, Christmas is different.
There has always been trouble in the world but the joy and peace of Christmas
always seemed to triumph.
I’m finding it hard to shake off the long months of assault on human decency
the political campaign
brought. We’re being asked to shake off the negative energy that afflicts us
and to come together as one
nation. Sure, we’d like to do that but it’s not as easy as wishing for it or
denying the profound hurt many are
feeling. I’m struggling to proclaim the Christmas message of hope while still
feeling so disoriented from</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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the
long, tiresome political fiasco.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There
were moments when our character as a nation seemed to break through and a sense
of our greatness as a
people began to surface, but the rhetoric of fear, deception, hostility,
disrespect, hate and mistrust trampled
on these moments of hope. A deeply divided nation is being asked to come
together now. Really, just
like that? Can we make our way out of this murkiness into light. It’s at this
point that I’m thinking this in not a
Christmas letter I want to send my family and friends. Is it better to stay
quiet, isolate and deny ourselves
the companionship we need to find our way out of our collective heartbreak. Our
story has moved beyond
victory or defeat, beyond one political party or the other. We’ve been violated
as a people and much of the
rest of the world sees it. Healing will take time.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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So if
you’re still reading this letter and have not abandoned my polemic as too hard
to take, perhaps my first paragraph
has something to offer. It is, I believe, a time to reflect, and to do so
together rather than to deny our
pain. We deserve the companionship that the honest naming of our wounds and
what we still value calls for.
What can connect us to each other and what can connect us to God is the
question to consider. Can we talk
to each other about how we are really feeling, and then reflect and listen
deeply to what each of us needs right
now? Can we recover respect and kindness as qualities we still value?</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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I
regularly meet with a small group of friends and in a recent conversation,
fear, Islamaphobia, racism and hate were sadly acknowledged as the new normal. I
brought flowers for each of my friends to take home that
night, remembering how “flowers silently accompany us in times of joy and in
times of sorrow.” I also read
them a favorite poem by the 13th century Chinese sage, Wu Men.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Ten
thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow
in winter.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>If
your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your
life.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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May
10,000 flowers bring you the promise of another spring, and bless your days
with courage and hope this Christmas time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Joseph Kilikevice, OP<o:p></o:p></div>
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Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-21125730669052772422016-03-31T11:13:00.000-07:002016-03-31T11:13:01.381-07:00My Next Two Books - No April Fool Joke<div class="MsoPlainText">
Dear Family and Friends,<o:p></o:p></div>
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Life sure is full of surprises. I knew that you would be
surprised to learn that I wrote a fourth book - and I'll give you details about
that one, here below, since it was published today!<o:p></o:p></div>
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But, here is more news: In recent days, and
significantly, on the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25 - I myself was
surprised by an unexpected, though clear call to pick up again the book I had
started to write but dropped, last summer. (I gave my reasons for that decision
in the letter I wrote on July 14, 2015 entitled "With Diminishment -
Fulfillment". It's posted on my website under the Elaine and Francis
blog.) Looking back, I'm concluding that the timing must not have been right,
earlier.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I envision this fifth book will have something like the
same title - "THIS NEW LIFE - Selections from A Widow's Journal."
But, from what I sense, this one may, or likely will, have a more specific
focus.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Interestingly, I also intuit that publishing the fourth
book, A Friend Who Knows the Tone, somehow, unexpectedly, actually set the
stage for resurrecting what will now be, my fifth book - the "Widow's
Journal." book!<o:p></o:p></div>
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This fourth one is a small book, consisting mainly of
thank you poems to my editor, Mike O'Connor - thirty-two poems, to be exact.
Its title, A Friend Who Knows the Tone - is significant, as I'll explain. And
with that explanation will come the second reason for my writing it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Though Mike lives in the Pacific Northwest, he walked
with me, so to speak, through every one of the poems in my first and third
books, and also during the two year process I spent writing Francis' and my
love story in prose. As my editor, he's the one who most directly assisted me
in writing these books after Francis died. In that sense, he helped me answer
my call.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So you can imagine why I want to thank Mike. I'm even
certain Francis would want me to do so. In fact, knowing Francis as I do, I
believe that in some way, he has been, all along, thanking my editor.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In my Christmas letter, two and a half months ago, I
wrote: "At this point, it's difficult to convey the depth of my gratitude
and joy that the three books I felt compelled to write after Francis died, have
been completed."<o:p></o:p></div>
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And then, in that letter, I copied for you what I called
"this recent little poem - THE HARVEST IS IN.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What I didn't tell you then, however, is that I had left
out a stanza. This poem, you see, is actually one of the poems in this new
book. Here it is now, with the omitted third stanza restored. <o:p></o:p></div>
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THE HARVEST IS IN<o:p></o:p></div>
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Why am I crying<o:p></o:p></div>
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"Joy and thanksgiving!"?<o:p></o:p></div>
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It's my lot<o:p></o:p></div>
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to leave our legacy of love -<o:p></o:p></div>
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(Francis's and mine)<o:p></o:p></div>
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in poems and prose:<o:p></o:p></div>
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three books in five years,<o:p></o:p></div>
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since he died.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But take a bow, my editor:<o:p></o:p></div>
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they wouldn't exist<o:p></o:p></div>
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as they do,<o:p></o:p></div>
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without you.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Joy and thanksgiving!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
The same David Gawlik of Wisconsin, whose company,
Caritas Communication, published my first three books, has published this one,
A Friend Who Knows the Tone. (David, also a non-canonical priest as Francis
was, became our special friend ever since we joined CORPUS, in 1991.) But,
because David is using a different system now (something like print on demand)
I will no longer be required to buy copies of my book, in bulk. Although that's
good for my pocketbook, it means I won't have copies of this book on hand to
give or sell to others.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Those interested in a copy will have to order it directly
from amazon.com.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
As far as my living room is concerned, however, that's a
good thing, too, since I already have stacks of books in boxes from which to
fill out orders for my Sing to Me and I Will Hear You books.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
I can, however, give you the flavor of the poems in A
Friend Who Knows the Tone by copying for you here a few of the significant
ones. How in the world did I end up with an editor from the Pacific Northwest?
To me, it's pure "Providence." But this poem goes into detail:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
THE LINKS<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
My "yes" to a student's request -<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
"May I tell your story of grief?"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
A widow's response from afar<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
to its national radio airing:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
"That's my experience, too!"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
My question to her,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
this new email friend:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
"What to do with these poems?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
They keep coming!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Could they fit in a memoir?"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Her offer:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
"Shall I ask my neighbor?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
He's done something like that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
He's a poet and editor, too."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
His response when he read them:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
"There are good things in these.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
I'll help you."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Yes, indeed, it took<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
all of these links -<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
each<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
one<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
in conjunction<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
to bring my editor to me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
And here is one of the last poems in the book:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
OUR WORDS<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
No other one<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
walked through my grief<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
as you did, for<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
you worked with my words;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
you worked with "his" words.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
None could walk now<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
in that way<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
through my grief<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
as you did, for<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
the bare naked time of that<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
raw early pain<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
has gone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
That period is gone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
But as you walked with me then,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
you still walk with me now. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
The significance of this book's title points to another
weighty reason, besides gratitude, why I wrote it, . . . or, to be more
accurate - it's what in the first place, prompted my writing A Friend Who Knows
the Tone. But first you need to know this:</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Besides being a poet, writer, and editor, Mike O'Connor,
is also a translator of Chinese literature. As I learned from him by
happenstance after concluding business over the telephone - the Chinese word chih-yin means "to know
the tone." A Friend Who Knows the Tone is a good title for my book, then,
because without question, from the beginning, Mike grasped, as if from within,
what I was expressing in my poems. Perhaps the fact he was still grieving the
death of his own mother, not long before deceased, had something to do with it.
In any case, Mike has been, and continues to be, for me - one who knows the
tone: a chih-yin. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
But, to get back to that second source of inspiration
which nudged me to write this book. Once I heard the story behind the word
chih-yin, I wanted to spotlight it for our contemporaries. Why? Because I see
it as a "treasure" from the historical period called: "The
Spring and Autumn Period of Ancient China." So I did, by making it a
prominent part of my preface.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
I'm glad, realizing right now, that even without buying
my book - you can read this ancient chih-yin story for yourself, right here:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<a href="https://www.unf.edu/mudlark/mudlark07/oconnor.html"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">https://www.unf.edu/mudlark/mudlark07/oconnor.html</span></a>
It's Mike who had his particular contribution posted, in 1997 in his friend's,
William Slaughter's, "Electronic Journal of Poetry & Poetics - Never
in and never out of print."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
But his own offering is entitled "Mudlark No. 7
(1997) Only A Friend Can Know Poems and
Translations on the Theme of Chi-yin by Mike O'Connor"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
The great thing is - you can read for yourself, here, <a href="https://www.unf.edu/mudlark/mudlark07/oconnor.html"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">https://www.unf.edu/mudlark/mudlark07/oconnor.html</span></a>
not only the story itself (which is all that I copied, verbatim, to include in
my preface) but also, Mike's translations from the Chinese, of several poems written
by selected ancient Chinese poets. They're mixed in alongside several of Mike's
own poems.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
The point is that these poems, both ancient and
contemporary, are all written in the "chih-yin" spirit. Or, as Mike
called them: "Poems and Translations on the Theme of Chih-yin".<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
I encourage you to read, as well, the detailed
"Notes" at the end, because they're instructive. In fact, this
particular Mudlark No. 7 (1997) will enable you to understand something about
the character of my editor - A Friend Who Knows the Tone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
So here it is, dear family and friends - not an April
Fool's joke, but an announcement: "My Next Two Books."</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
As I told David this evening, (He's my publisher and
Francis' and my longtime friend through CORPUS <a href="http://www.corpus.org/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">www.corpus.org</span></a>): "I'm quite happy about this - my call to pick up again what will now be my fifth
book, THIS NEW LIFE - A Widow's Journal!"</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Loving regards, and Easter season blessings to you all,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Elaine<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-1196031084447764782016-02-27T08:19:00.001-08:002016-04-01T17:40:46.386-07:00Postscript on a Widow's Journey<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;">Dear Family and Friends, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;">I recently joined a Facebook Page “community” entitled
“WOW,” (“Women’s Older Wisdom”). It was created by Pat Taub, a family
therapist, writer, activist, and life-long feminist. Look here to read her
interesting “Introduction to WOW: <a href="http://wowblog.me/about/">http://wowblog.me/about/</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;">At some point, Pat asked me if I would be willing to write
two guest blogs about my experience as a widow. “The widow’s voice is
missing,” she explained. So I agreed to to fill this void, and thereby open up
a topic which is clearly relevant for us older women. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here, then, are my two guest blogs, A Widow’s Journey
Parts I and II, which Pat posted on her blog in late February and early March, 2016: </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> </span></span><a href="http://wowblog.me/category/life-as-a-widow/" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">http://wowblog.me/category/life-as-a-widow/</span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;">But – I want to tack on an open-ended addition. Beyond the constraints of a word limit for the those two essays, I have need to say more. So here it is:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"> POSTSCRIPT ON A WIDOW’S JOURNEY<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I recently
came upon a 73 page pdf I found so helpful, I added it to the annotated list of
books on grief and death that helped me after Francis died. It’s on my website
under Elaine’s blog: “Mourning and the Transformation of Object Relationships,
Evidence for the Persistence of Internal Attachments” by John E. Baker, PhD of
Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Hospital <a href="http://www.griefcounselor.org/articles/prof-article-mourning-and-transformation-baker.pdf"><b><span style="font-family: "garamond" , "serif";">http://www.griefcounselor.org/articles/prof-article-mourning-and-transformation-baker.pdf</span></b></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-size: small;">After Francis’ death, I found the most help from Greg
Mogenson’s book, <i>Greeting the Angels An Imaginal View of the Mourning
Process </i>- because it closely mirrored my experience. That book
was published in 1992.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I can now
say, however, that this recently published article goes even further in
supporting my ongoing widow’s journey. <span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-size: small;">In reviewing recent clinical and empirical literature on
the subject of mourning, its author declares: “Mourning is seen as a process of
inner transformation that . . . involves not the breaking of an object tie, but
the transformation of that attachment into a sustaining internal presence .” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;">When I read the following, I immediately identified it as <i>my
</i>experience. This what I <i>do</i>! – <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;">“Widows or widowers who review
the events of the day in their imagination with the person who died are using
the internal relationship not just to decrease their feelings of loneliness,
but also to sort out their own thoughts and to define their own wishes, needs,
and feelings. They are using the internal relationship to define and maintain
their sense of self-identity. . .<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;">Since these few other passages go even further in
illuminating my way, I’m going to quote them here below, without further
explanation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;">I hope that my writing and sharing of resources that help
me, is of help to you, or to others you know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;">Loving gratitude,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;">Elaine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;">“<i>In healthy mourning, some of the functions of the
internal object are gradually taken over by new relationships with new objects
in the external world. Yet there are aspects of the internal relationship with
the deceased that remain unique. The self is never again the same as it was in
that relationship, and the object too is found to be unique in ways that cannot
be fully replaced. It is this core of individuality, of uniqueness of the self
and object representations, that characterizes a continuing, healthy
"introject" in the personality of the bereaved individual. . . .<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: small;">Although we know that after such a loss the acute state
of mourning will subside, we also know that we shall remain inconsolable and
will never find a substitute [for the person who died]. No matter what may fill
the gap, even if it be filled completely, it nevertheless remains something
else. (E. L. Freud, 1960, p. 386) A continuing internal relationship can
coexist with the development of new object relationships, which in turn enrich
the inner world in their own unique ways. It is this coexistence of inner
attachments in the mourning individual, even long after the death of the love
object, that needs to be recognized and better understood. . . . <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-1524925090585608262015-12-27T10:05:00.001-08:002017-04-11T13:28:31.262-07:00The Harvest Is In<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">December 25, 2015 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dear Family and Friends, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Can you believe it’s close to <b><i>six</i></b><i> </i>years since Francis died? (on January 3, 2010)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">What I intuited and expressed in the “Postscript” of my first book, <i>SING TO ME AND I WILL HEAR YOU – The Poems</i>, published in the spring of 2012, has turned out to be prophetic. I admitted there that it was the first time I was publicly using the expression “largely monastic” to characterize my lifestyle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">By now, I can confirm that this lifestyle does suit me, and on different fronts too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Since monasticism is characterized by “work and recreation,” as well as by “prayer and study,” I am not deprived. Certain activities are staple diet for me, such as regularly going to Portland Symphony, attending plays, and participating in a wide variety of other activities, like demonstrations for peace and justice. (My days of organizing these, however, are past.) But, simultaneously with cultivating friendships which I cherish, I need and thrive on silence, and living at a slower pace. (I think my background of being an only child and of having spent15 ½ years in the convent underpins all this.) Even my long, daily yoga practice (which keeps me pain free) and being one of the leaders (but no longer the organizer of monthly gatherings for) the Dances of Universal Peace – accords with this “largely monastic” picture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">My lifestyle also goes hand in glove with the considerable work of maintaining the permaculture-demonstration site garden and orchard which Francis and I created around this little bungalow we bought in 1972. I couldn’t live in a more mutually supportive neighborhood, I believe, than this modest one, bounded by two dead end streets. We look out for one another, and I, in particular, experience how my neighbors watch out for me. For example, they help me with shoveling, and one of those neighbors also mows the lawn path around my house. On my part, it’s satisfying to be able to reciprocate with vegetables and fruits from these gardens, e.g. strawberries, blueberries, plums, and – did you know there are edible dogwood tree berries? (Cornus Mas): They’re delicious! And, listen to this: A person I hired to wash my windows this fall insisted that all he wanted as payment would be concord grapes next summer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">In the same Postscript to my first book, I went on to say that my own poems, “given me to work with,” would guide me. I compared them to “custom-made maps” and to “bells ringing out my truth.” Well, having become aware of it, multiple times since then – I can affirm that that prediction also was prophetic. My poems actually do, still, apply to my life as it evolves – for example, these lines from a poem (</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10pt;">PAIN’S SHARP EDGE</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">) in my first book: “Heart’s remembering sharpens / sense to touch / new you, now, any when.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Here’s one example of my heart’s naturally “remembering”: Every now and then I go onto my website <a href="http://www.elainemcgillicuddy.com/">www.elainemcgillicuddy.com</a> where the elaineandfrancis.blogspot.com is “parked,” to see what was going on, on the same day, . . . and now, it’s six years ago. When I did that last week, I was so moved by Francis’ immediate response to Anne Underwood’s comment then, I sent her an email entitled: “Thank you six years later.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Here’s my note to her: “Anne, you made such a significant remark in response to my letter, “A Turn in the Road,” six years ago – look here at what it elicited from Francis: To your saying – "Everything happens as you are ready for it," (as I expressed it then) – “He shot right back: ‘I'm ready!’"<br />And I signed off my email to Anne: “At peace,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> / </span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Elaine</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">,/ </span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">and Francis too”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">At this point, it’s difficult to convey the depth of my gratitude and joy that the three books I felt compelled to write after Francis’ death, have been completed. But this recent little poem tries to do that. It came as they all do – because a certain feeling or train of thought so moves me, it begs for expression:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">THE HARVEST IS IN<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Why am I crying<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Joy and thanksgiving!”?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2in;">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">It’s <i>my</i> lot<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">to leave our legacy of love –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Francis’s and mine)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">in poems and prose:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">three books in five years,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">since he died. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Joy and thanksgiving!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">It was my publisher, David Gawlik’s idea to have his graphic designer create a 4x6 postcard depicting the covers of my three books – a trilogy, really. He ordered 1,000 cards, so I’ve been liberally giving them to whoever is interested. It’s attached in this email, but also on my website, here: <a href="http://www.elainemcgillicuddy.com/book-readings/">http://www.elainemcgillicuddy.com/book-readings/</a> What motivates me to hand them out is joy from the fact that “It’s <i>my</i> lot <b>/ </b>to leave our legacy of love . . .” But my eagerness also comes from wanting to share with whomever it might help – a certain unexpected development to which Providence or Synchronicity has given a boost.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is what happened: </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">First, my former doctor, Dr. Daniel C. Bryant, now retired, and a publisher poet and writer too, wrote me a long letter in response to my second book, <i>SING TO ME AND I WILL HEAR YOU – A Love Story</i>. He ended with this: “Finally, that last section when Francis is dying, and your conversations are recorded, is not only moving, but invaluable. Nowhere else, in any of the “death and dying” books and conferences, have I seen such documentation of the final stages, the final farewells, of a long, close relationship. That last section should be required reading for medical students and chaplains, if not for everybody.”<b><u><o:p></o:p></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Then, in July (just when <i>SING . . . A Love Story</i> was published) I made friends with new neighbors, just moved from Vermont – Rabbi Joshua Chasan and his wife Cathy. So of course, Joshua and I swapped books.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> When Joshua heard about Dr. Bryant’s comment, he immediately offered to connect me with two doctors who do exactly what Dr. Bryant was talking about – bring books to the attention of medical students.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> After email correspondences, I mailed a package of all three books to each of them, since they both work at the University of Vermont, College of Medicine. So, what Dr. Bryant proposed, has already started happening!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">So that’s why I carry those 4x6 cards with me. If, prompted by my web address on the card, those to whom I give them go to my website, they will learn about that development, in addition to seeing people’s responses to all three books, including Dr. Bryant’s. And they might find material that could be of help to them; for example, an annotated bibliography of books that helped me after Francis died. I’ve also been told by several people who grieve the loss of loved ones, that my writing helps them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Tonight I was remembering what Francis said to me, unexpectedly, six years ago, tonight – toward the end of our first of five “Last Supper” conversations: “Your presence was deeply drawn into my soul, and so, I am very happy.” I knew enough at the time, hearing this, what an extraordinary conversation that was – and how those words of his expressed for me the fulfillment of our marriage, the preciousness of which one could not dare expect in a marriage. It was such a “zenith” moment in my life, that later, it drew a poem from me: <span style="font-size: 10pt;">NADIR AND ZENITH</span>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Last Christmas I printed and tucked a copy of that poem in some of my Christmas cards. By then, it had not yet been published. But this year, it can be found on page 61 of my third book, <i>SING TO ME AND I WILL HEAR YOU – New Poems</i>. (As you may remember, since Francis’ doctor, Dr. John Devlin, brought us his recorder to use, the last chapter of SING . . . Love Story entitled “Last Suppers” is a <i>literal</i> transcription of our<i> recorded</i> conversations . . . so even in just reading that chapter – it <i>sounds</i> like Francis! I told my editor and publisher, that even while <i>proofreading </i>this chapter in preparation for publication, I felt I was walking on holy ground. And for me, that impression still holds. So, no wonder Dr. Bryant said that that last chapter should be required reading for medical students and chaplains.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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There’s so much more to say, for example, about: how my 80’s birthday party brought in over $2,000 for African refugees in my parish (Thank you!);<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">how my having been (not the “victim,” but) the object of identity theft has overburdened me (We’re just on alert now, and I’ve learned so much about this kind of thing!); how adopting a Siamese mix cat has been time consuming but so rewarding. I’ve enjoyed taking advice from the excellent book <i>Thinking Like a Cat</i>. Eight pound, 16 months old Bella is, as Lynn said, one of the most beautiful cats she’s ever seen. Indeed, she delights me with her beauty, playfulness, and sweet, loving ways – even when, as the predator she also is, she runs at high speed from one side of the house to the other to hop up onto the bow window sill (one of several perches I’ve set up for her in the house) so she can spot prey. When Bella bit me only a day after she arrived, I didn’t blame her, because I soon learned that the fault was mine for having let her play with my hands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">That bite did, however, inaugurate other trips to Mercy Hospital’s Express Care. After a tetanus shot for that, I had to return in ensuing weeks for two other reasons: a cut lip, and then an infected finger! (See why I’ve been delayed in writing this letter?)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">The other big news in my life is this: Lynn accepted a position at Rutgers University where Lee has been teaching for years. This means that Lee no longer has to commute from New Jersey to Portland every weekend! Of course I miss them, but we’re in touch, the way a grandmother is kept in touch. And since they did not sell their home in Portland, they return regularly to keep connections with friends. So, as Rowan’s godmother, my relationship with “my little family” is strong as ever. The timing of the move is also good, since Rowan was due to move up to Middle School anyway. In hearing that she has made friends, and has also made an excellent adjustment to her new school there (where she gets top grades, as ever) I’m so proud of her! Rowan recently wrote a poem, <i>Reverence From Earth to Soul</i> that so moved me, I emailed it to friends of mine – two gifted, beautiful Penobscot Indian women leaders: Sherri Mitchell, an attorney, and Maria Girouard, a historian. (Do look them up online.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Last night, I had the great privilege again, at our Christmas Eve liturgy, to chant the ancient Christmas proclamation from the Roman Martyrology. It’s something that’s done mostly in monasteries. In 2013, the idea of doing it in our parish came to me spontaneously during a conversation with a friend, when I was recalling my love of the Advent “O Antiphons,” as we sang them during convent days. If you use this link<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cWykjM1k90">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cWykjM1k90</a> you can hear a Benedictine monk chanting it. . . .<o:p></o:p></div>
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I guess the nun part of me is still strong. It’s fitting, then, to close with two poems (both in my third book) since they express where I’m at right now.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">THE NUN, THE WIFE, AND THE WIDOW <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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The nun knew,<o:p></o:p></div>
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on the eve of her departure,<o:p></o:p></div>
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the reason she would leave<o:p></o:p></div>
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the convent.<o:p></o:p></div>
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She quoted the bride<o:p></o:p></div>
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of the Songs of Songs<o:p></o:p></div>
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in her unconventional<o:p></o:p></div>
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Christmas card –<o:p></o:p></div>
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in alluding to him,<o:p></o:p></div>
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the priest:<o:p></o:p></div>
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“I found him whom my soul loves,<o:p></o:p></div>
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and I will never<o:p></o:p></div>
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let him go.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Words declared as wife and widow, too.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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* Song of Songs 3:4<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>MY STUDENT </b><o:p></o:p></div>
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“I’ve never had a love<o:p></o:p></div>
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like that!” she cries,<o:p></o:p></div>
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looking at the cover of<o:p></o:p></div>
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my second book –<o:p></o:p></div>
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that look –<o:p></o:p></div>
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between my love and me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We embrace,<o:p></o:p></div>
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my former student and I.<o:p></o:p></div>
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She loved him too;<o:p></o:p></div>
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had heard he was deceased.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But she weeps for herself<o:p></o:p></div>
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(I can tell)<o:p></o:p></div>
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more than out of sympathy for me –<o:p></o:p></div>
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that she, beautiful and single still –<o:p></o:p></div>
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has not yet found <i>her</i> love.<o:p></o:p></div>
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To hearten her:<o:p></o:p></div>
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“You’re young, it’s not too late!” <o:p></o:p></div>
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She smiles through her tears.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hearing hers and other women’s tales,<o:p></o:p></div>
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I know the price I pay<o:p></o:p></div>
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– widow aching for his arms –<o:p></o:p></div>
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weighs nothing like the worth of<o:p></o:p></div>
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such a love I’ve known.<o:p></o:p></div>
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A Blessed rest of the Christmas season to each and all of you – culminating in the illuminating Epiphany,<o:p></o:p></div>
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and good health, peace, joy and love in 2016 and beyond,<o:p></o:p></div>
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My love and gratitude,<o:p></o:p></div>
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Elaine<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">December 25,
2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-88452797405256840602015-07-14T18:34:00.000-07:002015-07-14T18:47:57.778-07:00With Diminishment - Fulfillment<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dear
Family and Friends, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">There
are four chapters in my third book, <i>SING TO ME AND I WILL HEAR YOU New Poems</i>
– recently arrived! Each chapter is taken from a line in one of my own poems.
In one of those, entitled “</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">BIRTHDAYS,”
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
refer to my “<b>new imperative</b>” (second chapter heading):<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“.
. . we could not know <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">what
lay ahead –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">how
our birthdays that year<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">would
usher in<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">a
new and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">different
kind of life <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">when </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">through my loss <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
found you again –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">transformed, </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">but near – </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">enabling me</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">in my new imperative <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">to tell our story,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">to share our love.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">During the five and a half years since
Francis’ death, and in particular, when poems started to come, and then, after
the publication of each of the first and next two books (our love story, and
this latest, second book of poems) – I’ve ended one of my daily prayers, “Come
darling Francis, fill me with your spirit. . . ” by asking him: “Give me
courage and the will to live – and help me write our books.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And he has! I had a dream around the
time when I sent my publisher the final manuscript of <i>SING . . . New Poems</i>
which made it clear that he has. In the dream, the way that Francis firmly took
me by the shoulders, and smiling, thanked me for having completed the books,
was <i>so palpable</i>, it felt almost like what I related in the poem,
“VISITATION,” in the first poem book. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So I fully expected I would be moving on
to the fourth book, now. I had even already announced its title: “THIS NEW LIFE
A Widow’s Journal”. In fact, since I had already begun writing a <i>third</i>
book that initially included <i>both</i> the poems and the widow’s journal –
what I had indicated in recent letters (that that fourth book was already
“in progress”) – was correct. Correct, then.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But
last Sunday, I went </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">into my website’s home page, and I deleted this
sentence: </span><span style="background: #FFFEED; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">A fourth book is in progress: "THIS
NEW LIFE Selections from a Widow's Journal"</span><span style="background: #FFFEED; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">What happened?
Did I – or <i>why</i> did I – lose, seemingly suddenly – the “imperative”
to write the fourth book?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Two former
students of mine, now widowed, told me last year that my writing helps them.
After I offered to mail them copies of this third one, one of them emailed,
inquiring: “How do you feel now that the new book has been published?” I
responded: “Oh my, what a big question, Mary!” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But I told her
truthfully that I felt teary, and, without quoting the penultimate stanza of
the poem “WHAT WOULD YOU DO?”, I referred her to page 80 and added: “This poem
mentions what I’m driving at. In spite of the ‘let that go . . .’ in the last
line, it’s still a thought that returns. I’m grateful to have a spiritual
adviser with whom to talk this over. It’s good you have your girls to keep you
going.” (I was grateful to hear in Mary’s response, that my admission of
feeling teary helped her all the more.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">These
are the last two stanzas of<b> </b>“WHAT WOULD YOU DO?”<b>: <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Ever
since your death, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ve
taken relief in the thought:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ll
write my books, then die.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But
now I know it’s time <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">to
let that go . . .”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
reaction I confided to Mary was strong enough to initiate deep reflection, and
some soul searching. In the end, I took it as a sign I needed to do something
different from what I had expected was my next step.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m
aware that <b>several factors compounded in June to make me feel especially
vulnerable.</b> But my decision – specifically, to let go of the fourth book,
and also, to slow down – was only reinforced by each of the following:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">1)
I came down with unexpected, acute pain in the left hip. X-RAYS confirmed
there’s significant cartilage degeneration in both hip joints. And this was
complicated by reactive tendonitis of hip flexor muscles in the left hip. (I’m
much better now, and have returned the borrowed canes I used for a few weeks,
thanks to yoga which now keeps <i>both</i> hips in good working order.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As a result of <b>this episode,</b>
however, though I will still lead some Dances of Universal Peace (DUP), I
decided to hand over to the other two leaders of our “circle” in Portland, the
organizing role I necessarily took on since I started it, in 1997. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">2)
For someone like me who has <i>had</i> to do daily yoga to keep the <i>right</i>
hip pain free (as a result of which my health and energy are very good) the
shock of having had to use a cane, and of being unable to plant my garden
without help, raised a scary question: Will I be able to “age in place”? Some
of my contemporaries have moved, or will be moving, to be near their children.
Will I be able to live here till I die? Will I be able to keep up with all the
work there is to do in maintaining the permaculture? (Then I remembered a
neighbor I had hired to help free me to be totally available to Francis at the
end. And I talked with her about this, if I need help, in the future.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
3) Turning 50 years old was a big thing for me thirty
years ago, but, psychologically, turning 80 is huge. After over a year of being
in awe of this fact (One of my new poems is entitled “I’M GLAD I’M OLD just
thirteen months / from my eightieth year. . . ”) it’s gratifying to realize
that I’m actually, honestly, “glad,” about it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
This is what I wrote to a friend
only last night, about the “switch” in our DUP circle: “Interesting how much
real joy there is in doing that – making way for the next generation. You know,
I haven’t been able to completely shake off what I wrote in more than one of my
poems, such as this one – “I’M GLAD I’M OLD” . . . or “EN ROUTE”
which refer to my willingness to be reunited with Francis in whatever
mysterious way that will happen someday. . . . Ah! The poem “WHEN MY TIME
COMES” refers to it specifically. Here’s that poem . . .”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So,
the “teary” reaction which led me to a different path, creating a juncture or
crossroad, has brought me new resolution, and even deeper joy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
found myself reasoning like this in favor of putting aside the second book and
slowing down:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If
the third book<i>, SING . . . New Poems</i> traces my journey through
widowhood, and goes even deeper into that experience than the first one could
(and it does) – why comb through past journals to assemble selections for a
fourth book entitled “THIS NEW LIFE A Widow’s Journal”? Especially since it
would, in essence, convey in prose, much of the same thing? So my widowed
former students need not be disappointed (as one expressed last year) at the
postponement of “widow’s journal.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Besides,
if I did write a fourth book, by publication date, I might be 81 or 82 – and so
less spry to do the modest book tour I’ve envisioned doing (because I <i>love</i>
doing book readings. . . . and I’m good at it too. What I especially like is
how it engages people to reflect about their own lives. My last book reading
lasted two hours, because of the questions after my presentation.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Moreover,
if I did not write a fourth book – wouldn’t I be more thoroughly <i>living</i>
“This New Life” since I’d use that time to be more engaged with my local
community? I could be <i>doing</i> some of the things Francis and I did
together – e.g. by being more available on the peace and justice front? Or by
formally teaching English to Africans, rather than merely informally, after
mass? (Francis used to sit in on those classes, and enjoyed interacting with
our African friends.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Writing
requires a certain amount of solitude which I actually like, even thrive on.
This necessity has been a genuine “excuse” why I have had to isolate myself
just a little. But I believe it would be good for me to be more engaged in our
Portland community, without sacrificing the solitude I still want and need.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Finally,
since I like writing so much, and poetry in particular, there’s no reason why I
couldn’t keep myself open to new poems’ coming, even if the likelihood of my
publishing another book of poems is far-fetched. When/if more poems come,
there’s the Elaine’s Blog on my website where I could “park” them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ve
been trying to think of what to call this letter. “With Diminishment –
Fulfillment” is an okay title, but “only okay” because the “diminishment” part
of it sounds pretentious. In particular, because the “diminishment” is not as
dire as it first felt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But
the “fulfillment” is real because, with the arrival of the third book, the
three form a trilogy now. And this trilogy is entitled by my late husband’s own
words – Francis’ request of me when he would die: “Sing to me and I will hear
you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">My
amazement over this remarkable request of his (which inspired two poems in the
first book – “WHOEVER HEARD?” and “DUET”) continues, even now, five and a half
years since Francis’ death. This was demonstrated some weeks ago when a friend
introduced me to another of her friends. When I explained this simple fact to
her, both of us were caught in the emotion of this exceptional and loving
request Francis made of me. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. Nor would I
want to!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Gratitude
and Love to all,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Elaine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">PS:
<i>SING TO ME AND I WILL HEAR YOU – New Poems</i> is available through Amazon
and at local bookstores and selected libraries in the greater Portland area
(including Biddeford ME). Through my website <a href="http://www.elainemcgillicuddy.com/">www.elainemcgillicuddy.com</a> you can
also order a book from my local bookstore in Portland ME – Longfellow Books
which has multiple copies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-25434103041016989422015-03-10T13:06:00.000-07:002015-03-10T13:06:30.592-07:00A Different Kind of Letter<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p>Dear Family and Friends,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At first I thought this might seem to you like a different
kind of letter from the ones I’ve written since September, 2009, when Francis
and I received news of the cancer that would take his life. My letters since
then have included news of the writing I’ve been doing since his death. (The
third book, by the way – <i>SING TO ME AND I WILL HEAR YOU – New Poems</i>
should be available in May. And now I’m engaged working on the fourth book –
“THIS NEW LIFE – A Widow’s Journal.”)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In reality, however, this is <i>not</i> a very different
kind of letter. And I think you’ll see why, if its length does not deter you.
;o) But I’ll tell you right now. In a nutshell, it’s this: What I write about
below are happenings Francis and I experienced together. In their very telling,
then, he comes among us. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Here’s why I wrote my letter:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.35pt;">
<span style="color: #363636;">Because Francis and I made a three week tour of Vietnam
in 2006, when I read the following on <a href="http://www.vietnamfulldisclosure.org/">www.vietnamfulldisclosure.org</a> –
I knew I had to respond:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.35pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.35pt; margin-left: .5in;">
<i><span style="color: #363636;">“This year marks the 50<sup><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">th</span></sup> anniversary
of the landing of U.S. ground troops in Da Nang, Vietnam. Many
consider this to be the beginning of the American War in Vietnam. To mark
the fiftieth anniversary of the war the Pentagon is undertaking a ten-year,
$65-million campaign to rewrite and whitewash the history of the war in
Southeast Asia.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.35pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 1.5pt;">
<i><span style="color: #363636;">In response, Veterans for Peace has announced the Vietnam
War Full Disclosure project to offer a more truthful history of the
war. As part of the project, Veterans for Peace is asking all who
were affected, directly or indirectly, by the war to write letters addressed to
“The Wall” (the Vietnam Veterans Memorial) describing their experiences and
sharing their grief over its devastating consequences. The project
welcomes letters from both soldiers and civilians.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Shortly after Francis’ and my return, I had given a one hour
slide show presentation about our tour to the Audubon Society’s Travel Club. So
I knew I had material ready at hand in all the notes and a few articles I had
written. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I opened those files, my eyes brimmed with tears. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My letter is posted on the website <span style="color: #363636;"><a href="http://www.vietnamfulldisclosure.org/">www.vietnamfulldisclosure.org</a>
that includes much information, and – <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #363636;">in this specific place</span>: <a href="http://vietnamfulldisclosure.org/index.php/upcoming-events-for-developing-ideas/memorial-day-event/memorial-day-event-letters-in-support-of-vietnam-full-disclosure/">http://vietnamfulldisclosure.org/index.php/upcoming-events-for-developing-ideas/memorial-day-event/memorial-day-event-letters-in-support-of-vietnam-full-disclosure/</a>
<span style="color: #363636;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-9353227224955726452014-12-11T21:58:00.001-08:002014-12-11T21:58:25.520-08:00My Fifth Blessed Christmas<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dear
Family and Friends,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
our dark season approaches the return of light which is Solstice, and then
Christmas, I’m becoming aware how this grand, ongoing drama of life is taking
place also, within myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A
few of the large-scaled dramas have touched me personally this month, e.g. when
I participated in last Sunday’s march for Racial Justice (escorted by police
down Congress Street) at the end of which, in the Portland High School gym, we
listened to stirring talks. Having translated from French to English some
African asylees’ “Declaration” papers to present before US Immigration, I’ve
learned a lot. For example, one politically active young man, happily settled
here now, had to flee for his life for doing a similar thing in the Congo. The
newspaper’s quoting an African onlooker’s expression of amazement witnessing
this <i>peaceful</i> demonstration means something. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
other one relates to Francis’ and my having started a weekly Anti-Torture Vigil
at Monument Square in 2003. I used to read everything about that dark subject
to select materials for handouts – at that time. Since Francis’ death, however,
I haven’t had the stomach (good cliché) to follow any of this closely. Now,
with the release of the long-awaited Senate report on interrogation techniques
used by the CIA, however, I’m grateful indeed that finally, the truth has been
publicly acknowledged by our own government. That too means something.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">About
my writing work, something new has developed within the last week. It mirrors
what happened in 2011 when I was puzzling how to handle poems that were coming
at a time when I wanted to write Francis’ story and mine in <i>prose</i>. At
that time, I was poised to include both poetry and prose in one book, just as I
was about to do now. But, as I finally chose to do, then, I have decided to do
the same now: write two books, not one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So
the content of the third book,“SING TO ME AND I WILL HEAR YOU – New Poems,”
will include these new poems by themselves. And the fourth book, “THIS NEW LIFE
A Widow’s Journal,” will include selections from my journal which I’ve been
keeping since Francis died.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">To
speak about <i>my</i> journey now (almost five years after his death on January
3, 2010) – when I went to bed last night, I felt downright surprised at the
depth of my joy. When I awakened even more happy, I wondered at it. The reason,
I decided, is that I had spent most of the previous day selecting the order . .
. , in other words, I was sequencing the poems for my third book. That’s cause
enough for joy, for sure, because those approximately 70 poems that have come
since publication of the first poems book, reengage me with the experiences
Francis and I were privileged to share. These new poems also touch on my own
experiences adjusting to this never-before-traveled road I’m on – the state of
widowhood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">There’s
even a deeper reason for the blessedness I felt last night and this morning.
It’s what I’ve discovered through writing both the poems, and my widow’s story.
And it’s this: I’ve come to appreciate this time in my life, <i>just as it is</i>.
Widowhood has given me the opportunity not only to grow in new ways, develop
gifts I didn’t realize I had, but also, to advance in understanding that comes
with age. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Moreover,
all along, since Francis died, I’ve felt “called” to write. But now, with a
deepening, reassuring surety about it – that my current writing of two more
books (for a total of four) continues to confirm that I’m still engaged in the
work I must do before I die – no wonder I felt almost euphoric! For what deeper
satisfaction can there be than doing what one feels called to do? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">May
each of you and your loved ones experience the joy of this season through the
diverse ways of celebrating it, including Christmas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">May
you be blessed with good health and energy to carry on with your own good work
for the common good of all people – and for the restoration of our planet. (On
this subject, here is important information I’ve discovered: <a href="http://www.context.org/about/plans/cis-long-term-strategy/">http://www.context.org/about/plans/cis-long-term-strategy/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Loving
regards,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Elaine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-36485981068637527532014-09-25T21:18:00.003-07:002014-09-25T21:44:52.218-07:00Life Changes<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Dear Family and
Friends,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
I was pensive last night, the 24th of September, because
it was on that night, in 2009, on the eve of my birthday, that Francis and I
got the disturbing results of his MRI. I wrote a poem about it in my first
book, Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – The Poems, called: “We Missed All the
Signs.” And in prose, Sing . . . A Love Story –
I wrote about it again, in the penultimate chapter“Crossroads,” under
the section (p. 179): “TWO SCENES”. In
fact, two years ago at this time, I wrote yet another, a second, poem (to be
included in my third book in progress): “Nadir and Zenith.” I even shared it
with you then, in 2012. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
This third reference to those “Two scenes on that dark
day” – in the “Nadir” part of this poem called “The Blow”– recalls “the shock
of the 24th / the day we learned / you soon would die.” Then in the third
stanza, the poem expresses, not exactly a question, but a kind of foreboding,
as if bracing myself ahead of time to expect – that “future birthdays / may be
dyed purple.” Last night was the fifth year, not the third after that “dark
day.” I sat in my usual place, not for meditation (or “sitting,” as I prefer to
call it) this time, but simply to reflect, in the presence of both Francis and
my parents, as a kind of honoring of this “anniversary” night. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Having begun working on my third book, “THIS NEW LIFE A
Widow’s Journal and Poems,” I already knew something had changed, but I wasn’t
sure, ahead of time, how much it had. I was almost surprised to realize that,
(not just as at Christmas, 2013 when I wrote you, “It’s Different Now”) even
for an anniversary like this – I no longer felt that heaviness. I was sensing,
as at Christmas, not just Francis’ joy that “our” first two books are already
published, but his joy that I am now turning away from a direction I had begun
to take. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
I wont, since I can’t anyway, go into detail about this
at this time. That is the subject of the third book, the writing of which is
very much, still, a process of discovery. I knew from experience that writing
reveals something new, but I didn’t realize until now, how much.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
So, feeling assured on Francis’ part, I felt joyful last
night, noticing my attention was lingering on my parents, instead of on that
“shock,” the day we got the awful news five years ago. I was thinking of my
mother who gave me birth 79 years ago, and of my father who watched with joy as
I came into the world with my whole life ahead of me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
It’s not Thanksgiving yet, but I feel its spirit already.
During the annual reunion with my McGillicuddy family, early last month
celebrating “Shrine Sunday” (pages 84 – 86 in Sing . . . A Love Story) I was
heartened by the experience of how familial bonds deepen as the surviving
members carry on traditions we once shared with our beloved deceased. They are
still very much with us, as members of the younger generation step into their
shoes. And I found that very moving.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Loving regards to you all, dear family and friends,<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Elaine<o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-6740371256754408132014-05-13T22:45:00.000-07:002014-05-13T22:45:22.420-07:00Job done! = Ex Libris Maine: May 2014<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dear Family and Friends,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There’s a lot of work involved in promoting a book. It’s
something I did only minimally for the first one<i>, Sing . . . The Poems. </i>For
this one<i>,</i> <i>Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – A Love Story,</i> I not
only set up dates for readings and book signings (July 10 at Longfellow Books
and August 1 at the Portland Public Library), but I also spent a good bit of
time submitting required information and photos to the directors of two allied
nonprofit organizations – Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance (MWPA) and Find Maine Writers (FMW).” But that important <i>part</i> of the job is now done (I say with an exclamation point)!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/770769/132fc3c227/1478970691/cec9aac4dc/">Click
here</a> to read MWPA’s monthly “Ex Libris Maine” E-newsletter. Then you’ll see the bare bones synopsis I had to write and the cover photo of my book. And that, in
turn, will bring you to my website where you’ll see - but just click here <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #0000f6; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://find.mainewriters.org/" style="font-weight: bold;">f</a><a href="http://find.mainewriters.org/" style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">ind.mainewriters.org</span></a></span></span> to see both my book cover and profile now included among those of other Maine writers. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(By the way, people really like the cover photo. It was taken
by my publisher, David Gawlik of Wisconsin, who is also an excellent
photographer. He took the photo at a CORPUS Conference, in 2005. One couple
after another – married priests and their wives – lined up before David’s
camera.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To be honest, this is the part I like least – getting
these little tasks completed. It’s daunting for a newcomer like me who is not
hard-wired to grasp web formatting, if that’s the right expression. But I
hasten to add that it’s been rewarding to experience the kindness of Joshua
Bodwell, of MWPA, and Stephen Abbott, of FIND MAINE WRITERS. Co-directors of
these organizations, they patiently directed me as well. Their work makes us
Mainers proud; it’s responsible for keeping our literary community vibrant.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you haven’t yet received a copy of my <i>Sing to Me and I
Will Hear You – A Love Story</i>, you could support local bookstores where I’ve
brought copies – Nonesuch Books in both South Portland and Biddeford, The Book
Review in Falmouth, and three bookstores in Portland – Letterpress Books at
Northport, Sherman’s on Exchange Street, and of course, Portland Portland’s
well loved independent bookstore – Longfellow Books. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fact, if you’re out of town and need either of the books
or the CD delivered, <a href="http://www.elainemcgillicuddy.com/">www.elainemcgillicuddy.com</a>
has a direct link to Longfellow Books. Chris Bowe its co-owner said: “You do
the writing. We’ll do the distributing.” Now I’m eager to get back to work on
the third book and to garden! <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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With loving gratitude,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elaine<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p>And now – go to Ex
Libris Maine: <a href="http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/770769/132fc3c227/1478970691/cec9aac4dc/">Click
here</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-89249599910689812262014-04-14T09:22:00.000-07:002014-04-14T09:25:01.977-07:00Another Synchronicity!<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dear
Family and Friends,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
just finished getting copies of <i>Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – A Love
Story</i> to local bookstores – in Portland (Longfellow and Letterpress Books),
South Portland, Falmouth, and Biddeford, Maine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If
you would like a copy but cannot reach these bookstores, my own local bookstore
– Longfellow Books – will, <i>from now on,</i> be the distributor of my books,
the CD of my reading the poems, and the next one in the trilogy (now in
progress) – <i>Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – the Uncollected Poems and
Journals.</i> (“Journals” here refers to my own journal since Francis died). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Of
course you can go to Amazon.com to buy this second book, <i>Sing . . . A Love
Story</i>, but if you’d like to support “Indie” bookstores instead – the folks
at Portland’s beloved local bookstore can mail it to you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">All
you have to do is use the link posted here on my new website: <a href="http://www.elainemcgillicuddy.com/books/synopses/">http://www.elainemcgillicuddy.com/books/synopses/</a>
Calle<span style="color: purple;">d “fiercely loyal to Maine's community
of readers and writers,” Longfellow Books
– when it suffered water damage from a burst pipe
last February – experienced how much our community appreciates
them; many rallied to help them. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But what does this have to do with “Another Synchronicity”?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: purple;"> It’s the
result of what happened three Sundays ago.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
my friend, Lesley Hoey, asked to interview me for a personal project she had
undertaken, I agreed to meet with her at a local tea shop. In the middle of our
conversation, a young woman, Jessica Bland, approached to inquire if <i>she</i>
could interview <i>us</i>. She explained that she was commissioned to write the
“PlayNotes” for an upcoming play at Portland Stage Company. (For years, Francis
and I bought season tickets to attend performances at this longest running
theater in Portland.) For this one in particular, “Savannah Disputations,” the
staff at PSC wanted input from the community. So Lesley and I gave her forty
minutes of our time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Well,
today, with my bookstore deliveries completed, just when I was planning to
write this letter – Jessica emailed me the link to PSC’s PlayNotes. This means
you can read her interview with us in the PlayNotes! It will be handed out to
theater-goers when the play opens next week. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">On
top of that, there’s this added bonus: Jessica used, in that PlayNotes
interview, my book’s actual cover photo! What perfect timing, since just last
week I also dropped off copies of the <b>(<i><u>attached)</u></i></b> 4x6”
promotion card in strategic places on Portland’s main Congress Street – places
like the Maine Public Library, the Maine Historical Society library, Maine
College of Art, etc. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">More
visibility means more books for Longfellow Books to sell. And it means more
people can hear of the love story I was privileged to live and am now
privileged to share. Our world needs love stories. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Just
scroll down to page 18, here: <a href="http://www.portlandstage.org/Page.15.PlayNotes"><span style="color: #1155cc;">http://www.portlandstage.org/Page.15.PlayNotes</span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Joyous
spring to all,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Elaine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">PS:
Please don't hesitate to let me know if you'd rather not continue receiving
these letters. (Just write REMOVE on the subject line). We'd still be family
and friends.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-90720532367838286252014-03-12T11:31:00.000-07:002014-03-12T11:31:14.033-07:00Blame (or Credit) My Publisher<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dear
Family and Friends,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s
David Gawlik, married priest from Wisconsin and owner of the small publishing
company, Caritas Communications, whom I blame or credit. Anticipating the
publication of <i>Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – A Love Story</i> (coming out
soon!), he proposed that I get my own website to promote this second book. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">After
some scouting around, the person I chose to create the website is my editor,
Mike O’Connor’s own graphic designer – Nina K. Noble. Like Mike, she also lives
in Port Townsend, Washington state, on the Olympic Peninsula. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Nina
turned out to be <i>just</i> the right person, just as everyone “sent” to help
me with my writing imperative has been just the right person (like David and
Mike). I call those three my team. Nina is a Russian Orthodox Christian, and a
yoga practitioner, to boot. She’s even a student of Jung studies. So Nina and I
have become friends in the process of my sending her material, and her
“designing” the website. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Look
here to see the fruit of Nina’s work . . . outstanding work, I think you’ll
agree: <a href="http://www.elainemcgillicuddy.com/">www.elainemcgillicuddy.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Initially,
it was a website focused on just that – promoting the first two books, the CD
of my reading the poems, and later, the third book in progress – <i>Sing to Me
and I Will Hear You – The Uncollected Poems and Journals</i>. But I found
myself drawn to make it also a site for collecting various memorabilia. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
“memorabilia” that I most appreciate is the Portland Community Television’s
“The Second Act” interview with Francis and me, in 2005. We had to go to some
lengths to use it. I thank Lee Slater, my goddaughter Rowan’s dad who made a
“MOV” out of the only DVD I was given at the end of that interview in 2005. For
the 2012 interview with me by Bill Gregory, the TV station already had it
uploaded and available on their website. Nina just had to copy it from there.
But those <i>earlier</i> interviews were not uploaded then. But now, after
Lee’s work, emailed to Nina, you can see on my website that “Second Act”
interview conducted by Susan Hirsch with me and Francis. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
realized after that, that I wanted to do even <i>more</i> with the website. I
thought that my hip problem and yoga-to-the-rescue story might be of help to
others. My annotated list of books on grief and death which helped me after
Francis died has already helped others, so why not share it more widely?
Spreading the word about permaculture (edible landscape) is needed in our
precarious times, and the chants which, at the end, helped Francis in facing
his death – (That’s what the “Sing to Me” is all about!) – those could inspire
people as they did us. So why not include those as well? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now
viewers can see Francis and me (very briefly) in another video, a youtube video
showing Aramaic scholar, Dr. Neil Douglas-Klotz leading us in the recitation
and chanting of the first line of the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic. Of many Aramaic
prayer retreats Francis took with me, that one in the spring of 2009 was his
last– only months before he was hospitalized. There he is in that video, wearing
a blue top my mother had made for him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">With
that website work completed, I am ready now to work on the second half of the
third book. The prospect is a joyous one because I know by now that writing is
a work of discovery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Just
last week, after a long supper conversation with my friends, Joe and Claire
Brannigan, I dropped off two books I’m loaning them – <i>Old Age, Journey into
Simplicity</i>, and <i>Jung on Death</i> edited by Jenny Yates. (Because of
Joe’s terminal condition, please keep them in mind and heart as they face
together what is approaching.) My loaning them the books occasioned a little
research on my part through which I came across this fitting quote by Helen
Luke. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">"Wisdom consists in doing the next
thing that you have to do, doing it with your whole heart and finding delight
in it — and the delight is the sense of the sacred."</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Yes, it fits me like a glove. From the poems that came
after Francis died, and through the telling of his story and mine, and now with
my own widow's story coming next – writing, at this time of my life – feels to
me like a calling. And people’s hearty response to my Maine Jung Center
presentation only seems to confirm it. For that I give thanks.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
And with <i>loving</i> gratitude,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Elaine<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-79722716829868507502014-02-17T17:35:00.000-08:002014-02-17T17:35:51.471-08:00A Sweet Synchronicity + Poem and Reminder<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dear
Family and Friends,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
went to a funeral this morning. Another friend in our parish, Rosemary, became
a widow last week. Francis and I used to sit in or near the same pew in church
on which she sat with her now late husband. The two eulogies were no
exaggeration: Bob was a <i>very</i> kind, accomplished, generous, compassionate
man. We <i>will</i> miss him!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">At
communion time, another friend, Anne, who was rounding the corner of the
section where I sat, touched my shoulder and showed me what she had found in
the hymnal she was using – Francis’ memorial bookmark! (Ask me if you’d like a
copy, as a PDF). When I passed on this message to Sue, next to me (another
widow), we both teared up. It felt like a sign — Francis’ way of saying “I’m
among you!” which of course he is, as Bob, Sue’s late husband, is too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
Anne came to our pew offering to give me Francis’ card, she pointed to the
title of the hymn on the page; its last word was “dance” (and it was not “Lord
of the Dance”) – but clearly, the last word in that hymn’s title was DANCE.
My eyes widened again, for a second reason. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Since
January 30, three poems have come to me. The second one, “My Deceased Husband
Speaks to the Men in My Life,” starts out with the “guys at Hamilton’s Garage.”
The February 15 poem, “Them I Know,” is a serious one, even longer. But the <i>first</i>
one which is relevant to my story here is called “When My Time Comes.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Remember
that Francis’ memorial card marked the page for the hymn with the word “Dance”
in it:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">WHEN
MY TIME COMES<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
will I cower before the dark,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
in an unknown void,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
alone?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
Or, when my time arrives,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
will I take Death’s hand,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
enter in the Ballroom<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
joyful in knowing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
you’re waiting for me there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">That’s
the sweet synchronicity part.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now
the reminder:<span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Three
people recently double-checked with me – “Is your talk next Sunday?” The
basic facts are on the mainejungcenter website.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Chris
Bowe of <b>Longfellow Books</b> will be present to sell copies of <i>Sing to Me
and I Will Hear You – The Poems</i>, and to take orders for <i>Sing to Me and I
Will Hear You – A Love Story </i>(available in March). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Thank you for supporting our well-loved and “fiercely
independent local bookstore!<span style="color: #c00000;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Loving
regards to all,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Elaine</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-55970921138975029262014-01-15T19:52:00.004-08:002014-01-24T08:33:09.145-08:00A More Succinct Announcement<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 8.0pt;">
<strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">Dear Friends,<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 8.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 8.0pt;">
<strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">One among you who admitted to feeling “overwhelmed”
by all the information in my email, “Invitation,” asked me: <o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></strong></div>
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Are you
going to send out another more succinct email about this event?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 8.0pt;">
I’m so
grateful she told me this! When I sent out that overly detailed email, the
Maine Jung Center hadn’t yet posted this, but here it is <i>now</i>, straight
from their website, in good time for you to save the date.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Loving
regards to all,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 8.0pt;">
Elaine<o:p></o:p></div>
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<strong><span style="color: olive; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="http://www.mainejungcenter.org/index.php/programs"><span style="font-weight: normal;">http://www.mainejungcenter.org/index.php/programs</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<br /></div>
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<strong><span style="color: olive; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Aspiring
to Live Authentically</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: olive; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></b></span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 5.5pt;"><br />
</span><strong><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Elaine
McGillicuddy</span></strong><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 5.5pt;"><br />
</span><strong><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sunday,
February 23</span></strong><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 5.5pt;"><br />
</span><strong><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> 2—4
p.m.</span></strong><b><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br />
<strong>Portland Friends
Meetinghouse</strong><br />
<strong>1837 Forest Ave,
Portland ME</strong></span></b><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 5.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Elaine
will share both her journey through grief since the death of her
priest-husband, Francis, and the providential way that writing her<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 5.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">poems and
telling their love story restored her will to live and gave her a new purpose
in life. Besides relating how becoming a published poet and writer became a
healing experience for her, Elaine will read<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 5.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">selections
from her books. Participants will also be invited to sample a few energizing
yoga stretches and savor a few lines of the soul-satisfying Lord’s Prayer
chanted in Aramaic</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 5.5pt;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Elaine G. McGillicuddy</span></strong><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, MA, poet and writer, is a former nun who
married a resigned priest. She is a retired English teacher, certified Iyengar
yoga teacher who co-founded Portland Yoga Studio, and a leader of the
Dances of Universal Peace. She is now writing her third book, Sing to Me and I
Will Hear You–The Uncollected Poems and Journals. The titles of this and her
other books are drawn from her husband Francis’ words to her before he died.</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 5.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-83338470172697920942014-01-11T12:57:00.002-08:002014-01-20T12:43:52.924-08:00Invitation<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large;">Dear
Family and Friends,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large;">For
the same reason I said yes to two interviews (for a radio/podcast by Dr. Lisa
Belisle, and for a <i>Profile</i> column in <i>Maine</i> magazine), I said yes
to my former yoga student and friend, Jennifer Stanbro. She emailed me on
September 24, 2013 – exactly four years later, to the day, the day Francis was
first hospitalized. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large;">Jennifer,
now a member of the Board for the Maine Jung Center, asked if I would be
willing to give a two-hour program under the heading “Tools for Individuation,”
on February 23, 2014. She explained that the Center occasionally holds these
programs in which someone shares a personal experience of inner growth. There’s
usually some sort of expressive dimension involved. For example, in the past,
artists came and talked about their process. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large;">“I
immediately thought of you and your poetry,” she said. “I know you have another
book coming out and I was thinking this might be a nice venue for sharing your
story and your publications.” I agreed, and then drew up a “Proposal” in the
form of an outline. The Board liked it. That was three and a half months ago. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large;">Amazed
once again by the unexpected, unlooked-for nature of these opportunities for me
to share Francis’ and my love story, I spent hours pondering, revising, and
refining the content of my outline. I knew right away I would be mentioning
Greg Mogenson’s book, <i>Greeting the Angels – An Imaginal View of the Mourning
Process</i>, and for two reasons. He is not only a Jungian analyst (and so, an
author certain to appeal to such an audience), but his book also deeply moves
me. (I first read a chapter in it after my mother died in 2000.) Then, after
Francis died, I found it so affirming to find my experience described in it,
that when the time came to select who might write a blurb for the back cover of
<i>Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – The Poems</i>, I thought of him. That’s
when I discovered he lives in London, Ontario, Canada. So I emailed Mr.
Mogenson. He not only said yes to my request, he agreed with me that my poems
reflect much that he expressed in that marvelous book. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large;">At
that time, or likely, even more than two years ago, I had typed three pages of
notes from Mogenson’s book. They are notes I’ve found myself drawn to read and
reread. So I reread them then, and got an idea I suddenly put into motion: I
wrote down in the margins, or right over those typed notes, using a red pen,
the titles of my poems which illustrate his words. I felt some excitement about
this because the correspondence between certain words and my poems was
something I could see, now, concretely. It wasn’t just a vague feeling I had
had. My poems did and do, in some way, echo his words! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Some
months before I had started working on the outline, passages from my own poems
began coming up for me, either with new nuances, or by way of almost stunning
me with their enduring truth. Being a new poet, that phenomenon surprised me.
You can imagine my delight to hear Richard Blanco say something similar during
Diane Rehm’s excellent interview with him on public radio, on January 2 (and
here’s the link): </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2014-01-01/richard-blanco-all-us-one-today-rebroadcast">http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2014-01-01/richard-blanco-all-us-one-today-rebroadcast</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large;">My
own poems had begun reverberating new meanings for me, and now here I was
finding yet more, by examining which ones might match with the words of this
Jungian analyst.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large;">In
the end, I carefully selected twelve quotes from <i>Greeting the Angels </i>which
resonate with fourteen of my poems. My outline took on new life. There
will now be a part two to my presentation – a powerpoint projection onto a
screen of one of Mogenson’s quotes and its page number, and the title of one my
poems. After a pause to let those present absorb his text, I will recite the
poem I feel exemplifies it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large;">Why
am I telling you all this? Because the two-hour presentation on Sunday
afternoon February 23, from 2 – 4 pm will be held at the Friends’ Meeting on at
1837 Forest Avenue, in Portland. The general public is invited, not just
members of the Maine Jung Center.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large;">I
was asked by Katie Miller, coordinator of the Maine Jung Center, to email her
information to use in their newsletter which is now posted on their website: http://www.mainejungcenter.org</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large;">It may not be wise for me to give you a copy of my outline now (attached in my email only) but it’s only an outline. It can’t deliver the live interaction
that will surely take place with those who come. (I’m looking forward to that,
even though, frankly, I feel a little nervous about doing this . . . though
that’s probably good too). But for those who can’t come – at least you’ll get
to see what has been much more than just a project for me in the last three and
a half months.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">I
invite you for now, if you’d like to come, to mark your calendar – Save the
date February 23 from 2 to 4 pm, a Sunday afternoon. And better still - </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> register online now at the Maine Jung Center's website, under "Programs" </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.mainejungcenter.org/index.php/programs">http://www.mainejungcenter.org</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large;">I’m
touched by everyone’s encouragement and support – thank you!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large;">May
you all be well and blessed beyond your expectations in this new year,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large;">Elaine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-67704807990659614112013-12-20T20:34:00.000-08:002013-12-20T20:34:09.648-08:00It's Different This Year<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 10.5pt; vertical-align: middle;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dear
Family and
Friends, <b> </b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Four
years ago today, Francis and I were embarking on the most momentous days of our
lives, approaching together his death and transition twelve days later. Last
year, because I was <i><b>writing</b></i> about that journey, I used the expression
“nadir and zenith.” But it’s different this year. I still tear up easily, but I
am so filled with gratitude and joy about the second book that this year, joy
overcomes grief. It feels as if completing <i>Sing to Me and I Will Hear You –
A Love Story</i> is the biggest thing I’ve done in my life. It was like
something I<i> had</i> to do before I die. With only one more spiral bound hard
copy galley proof to scrutinize, the book will be available early in 2014.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Two
things made a big impact on me in recent weeks: a reflection by the Aramaic
scholar with whom I’ve studied since 1996, and, hearing the Portland Symphony
Orchestra play Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata # 140 – “Sleepers Awake.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A
few times a year, those who study with Dr. Neil Douglas-Klotz receive from him
an online reflection to ponder. (He’s the one whose two biblical chants helped
Francis through his final days.) “<i>The Psalms,” </i>he wrote,<i> “mention
seven times of prayer, according to the progress of the sun. The stages of the
sun through the day can help us remember the preciousness of life and the
stages of time passing--birth (morning), full bloom of youth (midday),
mid-afternoon (wisdom of maturity), late afternoon/sunset (the day 'nearly over'
- reminding us that life in these bodies doesn't last forever), evening
(preparing to 'die before we die')”</i> </span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s
clear that at 78, I’m in the evening time of my life. I don’t mind that because
aging has its gifts. Then there’s this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
text of Bach’s cantata based on Jesus’ parable of the wise and foolish virgins,
calls for the inhabitants of Jerusalem to waken, take up their lamps, prepare
the feast, and go out to meet the Bridegroom. In Bach’s 17<sup>th</sup>-18<sup>th</sup>
century world, faith was simpler; heaven was understood literally then. Even
knowing that, and by contrast, a bit about modern scientific views, in hearing
the glorious cantata, I felt transported by that Coming it announced. After
pondering this for days, I can’t help believing that the desire for life after
death, engrained in the human psyche from earliest times, is so strong, that
that fact in itself argues in its favor. No one could convince me that love
dies with the person who dies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Francis
and I heard Sister Elizabeth Johnson speak at a conference in 2000, about her
book, <i>Friends of God and Prophets, A Feminist Reading of the Communion of
Saints.</i> She found it hard to face, she told us - what she discovered after
extensive research and reflection: “Empirically, the darkness of death is
unconquerable.” Death is a genuine end to historical life. Her book concludes:
“the only possible response {is} faith in its rawest form. Taking the risk that
God will be there. . . . The promise of God is bound to what is empirically the
end of all promise.” (p. 220) I give thanks for this gift of faith. Her next
chapter “Companions in Hope” builds on faith. That part of my book is
underlined even more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
the earlier years after Francis died, I was tempted to think I just wanted to
write my books, and then, “join” him. But then, as expressed in my poem
“Widow’s Time,” (from <i>Sing . . . The Poems</i>), I saw that I have additional work to do –
rallying to protect the environment for our children, work for peace and
justice in the world, and work also, for example, teaching English to Africans.
I already love doing that, but for now,
it’s on a limited time basis - after mass on Sundays.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> In a sense, the first two stanzas of that Widow’s </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Time poem allude to what I’ve focused on in the last four
years - “not moving on, but <i>in</i><i>,</i>” and “crack(ing) open memories’ nuts.” Now, after
having written this especially demanding second book, <i>Sing to Me and I Will
Hear You – A Love Story</i>, I sense that I’ve jumped over the highest of three
hurdles. With the first half of the third book already written – <i>Sing to Me
and I Will Hear You – The Uncollected Poems and Journals</i>, the third
“hurdle” is the journals. (By the way, I’m in <i>awe</i> at how the poems in
the first book continue to speak to me, confirming and revealing as they do -
new nuances.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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I’m also in awe at many
unexpected developments, two I haven’t
told you about yet. This one I’ll mention now is more personal, not
oriented to promotion of the books: I was invited to chant during Christmas Eve
mass the ancient <i>Christmas Proclamation
from the Roman Maryrology</i>. I did that once before in 1955, in Latin, while
in the novitiate in Missouri. It moves me no end to have this privilege a
second time - fifty-eight years later! The English text I’ll use is a combination of these two on
youtube: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cWykjM1k90">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cWykjM1k90</a><b><span style="color: #c00000;"> </span>and <span style="color: #c00000;"> </span></b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niFqd2miMCM">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niFqd2miMCM</a><b><u><span style="color: #c00000;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> As a friend in CORPUS puts it - Enjoy the wonder and
blessings of this Christmas season – and I add Solstice too, with its “long
moon.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">With Gratitude and Love, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Elaine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-36636014271417195902013-11-25T17:34:00.001-08:002013-12-13T14:10:22.241-08:00Unexpected good developments - Maine Magazine Presents: "Love, Spirituality & Self"<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dear
Family and Friends,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
July, I got a message from a Dr. Lisa Belisle asking if I would be willing to
be interviewed for her <i>Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast</i>. She had picked
up my first book from our local bookstore, Longfellow Books –<i> Sing to Me and
I Will Hear You – The Poems</i>. I immediately said yes because I was just
completing <i>Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – The Love Story </i>(which is now
at my publisher’s) and such an interview would serve to promote both books, I
told her, and the CD of my reading the poems. The radio interview took place in
August, but was aired yesterday. Here is the link for this 34 minute radio
interview called “Love, Spirituality & Self”: <a href="http://chirb.it/NHJpIC">http://chirb.it/NHJpIC</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Shortly
after <i>this</i> interview, I was asked by Sophie Nelson, Assistant Editor of <i>Maine</i>
magazine, if I would be willing to be interviewed for that magazine’s
“Wellness” column. That’s when I realized that Dr. Lisa’s partner, Kevin
Thomas, is publisher of <i>Maine</i> magazine. So I agreed again, for the same
reason. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
online copy here -- <span style="color: #0070c0;"><a href="http://themainemag.com/play/wellness/2354-elaine-g-mcgillicuddy.html"><span style="color: #0070c0; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://themainemag.com/play/wellness/2354-elaine-g-mcgillicuddy.html</span></a>
-- </span>has more photos in it than the actual magazine has (November 2013
issue). The photos were taken by the gifted photographer, Patryce Bok. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lee Slater, my goddaughter, Rowan’s
father, said about Sophie’s “Wellness” profile, “. . . the house of our Love”:
“The article captures the essence of you, and your relationship with Francis,
perfectly.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">You can imagine how grateful I am for
these unlooked-for developments. They will, I hope, incline people to read <i>Sing
to Me and I Will Hear You – The Love Story</i> when it comes out early in 2014.
It’s not only a love story whose blessing is too rich for me to keep to myself,
but there is much in the book about Francis’ last 100 days. I had to tell that
story too, to celebrate Francis’ extraordinary patience and inspiring courage
in facing his death. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
was very interested to learn more about Dr. Lisa Belisle. She is doing great work in Maine and beyond. Here are two links that lead to information
about her -- when she became a doctor: <a href="http://www.drlisabelisle.com/1995/10/road-to-md.html">http://www.drlisabelisle.com/1995/10/road-to-md.html</a>
. . . . and when she started her radio hour podcast: <a href="http://collegenews.org/faculty-focus/2011/lisa-belisle-%E2%80%9992-hosts-new-%E2%80%98dr-lisa-radio-hour-podcast%E2%80%99.html">http://collegenews.org/faculty-focus/2011/lisa-belisle-%E2%80%9992-hosts-new-%E2%80%98dr-lisa-radio-hour-podcast%E2%80%99.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It
was gratifying to learn that the late Hanley Denning of Yarmouth, the founder
of “Safe Passage” in Guatemala <a href="http://www.safepassage.org/history">http://www.safepassage.org/history</a> was
Dr. Lisa Belisle’s classmate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thank
you all for your kindness towards me, and for supporting me and my call to keep
writing. I’m now working on the second half of <i>Sing to Me and I Will Hear
You – The Unpublished Poems and Journals. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s
only six weeks away, now, from the fourth anniversary of Francis’ death on January
3, 2010. Writing has been a healing channel for my grief, but remembering what
it was like accompanying him as he embarked on that greatest of journeys, I ask
you to pray for Francis’ and my longtime friend, Joe Brannigan, and his wife,
Claire, who is a nurse. Claire told me that the fast onset leukemia that
surprised Joe is “not amenable to treatment.” I brought them a spiral-bound
copy of <i>Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – The Love Story</i> with the numbers
of pages listed where they were mentioned, so they could read what I wrote
about them, especially Joe, in the first and second chapters. I met Joe when,
as a nun, I met Francis, a priest. Francis and I were <i>both</i> newly
assigned to Waterville, Maine that same year, that same month. That’s where the
love story started, and where the book starts. There's clearly more than coincidence or
chance at work here; I call it Providence. Because of it, it’s Thanksgiving for me every
day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">You
can be sure I also give thanks for the inestimable gift of family and friends
whom Francis and I appreciated, and I continue to value - each one of you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Joyous
Thanksgiving to all!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Elaine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-30932476382697325322013-03-29T20:37:00.000-07:002013-03-29T20:37:59.637-07:00A Francis poem, Pope Francis & The Call That Awakens Us <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Dear Family and Friends, </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
I got a Happy Easter phone call from my brother-in-law a
few days ago, so it’s fitting that I do the same, and for additional
reasons. You see, I am currently writing about what Francis said (on this
exact day) – three months and three years ago. It was December 29,
2009. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
The poem I’m attaching feels like the most important poem
yet. But this, one of the 48 additional poems that have come since the
publication of <i>Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – The Poems</i> will be
published after this prose book is completed - <i>Sing to Me and I Will Hear
You – The Love Story.</i></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
The poem came after I transcribed audiofiles of Francis’
and my last four (of five) extraordinary dialogues. I waited three years
to listen to those recordings, made possible because Francis’ wonderful doctor,
Dr. Devlin, had volunteered his recorder. This poem provides a short
overview of part of what I have been writing about (Francis’ last 100 days)
since last autumn. After that, I’ll go back to Chapter 4 which is only
partly written.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Yes, during this celebration of Jesus’ Passover, it’s
altogether fitting that I share with you who love him, what Francis said as he
made his own Passover – and what he said about Jesus. So here’s the poem
written earlier this month:</div>
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<br /></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">The Last Conversations
2009
</span></b><br />
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I</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
She did not dare -</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
could not bear</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
before </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
to hear his voice again.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
To see,</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
even just his writing, </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
his cursive script
– </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
that took a lot,</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
already.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
When holding to her
face
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
his worn grey
sweatshirt
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
she could breathe in</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
the sweet scent of
him,
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
uniquely
his.
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
And the taste of
him? </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Oh that - she always
has, </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
in poems she
wrote. <span style="color: #0070c0;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
In
prayer.
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
But his voice? </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
His rich and resonant voice?</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
She’d heard it
once,
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
within her
ears:
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“I love you, dear” -
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
a
visitation
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
she had called it; a
miracle
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
become a daily mantra</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
that sustains her still. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
But now to know his</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
real,</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
live</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
voice awaited her on audiofiles - she knew</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
it was time to hear his voice again</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
kept live through
time </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
these last three years.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
She sat before the
monitor, </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
snapped on
speakers, </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
found the file</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
and paused.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
It took three clicks</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
and there they were:</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
the files centered on their four</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
"last
suppers." </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
II </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
It was the week after Christmas.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Hildegard von Bingen's</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<i>Canticle of
Ecstasy
</i></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
flooded their room.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
A dinner tray sat on Francis’ lap.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
She offered him a bite,</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
then took one of her own. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
He smacked his lips</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
over Tuscan kale. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“Such feasts given us by friends,”</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
he said, then wept with her </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
at the generous
love
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
they spent on them, </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
sending cards and emails
for </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
a last</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“Message for Francis”</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
read aloud at
dessert.
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“The love’s so rich,” she
said,
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
it feels
decadent.”
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
He called their dinners –
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“last suppers.”</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
The talk turned deep,</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
her listening,
intent.
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“When Jesus joined
in
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
our human condition,” he
said, </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
sharing his thoughts of</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
recent days,</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“in a way,</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
we too were raised -</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
to that</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
new</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
level.”</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
She relaxed, breathing in her
gratitude. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
At another last supper</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
he thanked her for trimming</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
his hair and beard</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
that
day.
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“Such a loving experience</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
we had together!”</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
he affirmed.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“You injected new energy</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
and life in me:</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
It’s not time yet.”</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
She massaged his legs and arms</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
as he fell
asleep. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
On the day of New Year's Eve </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
he wouldn't
eat,
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
but then at night he changed his
mind. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“For my sake?” she asked. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“For us,” he answered. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
They were both aware: </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
this night could be the
last </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
of all the last suppers they’d held
dear. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
So they embraced the little
spark </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
of which he spoke.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“With patience,” he suggested,</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
in a weak and scratchy
voice,
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“it might become something bigger.” </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
"He had," he
said,
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
"just a very small window</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
I'm allowed in the world,</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
tonight."</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
But he was not
bereft,
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
she was relieved</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
to hear him say, for he’d wrestled</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
with some terror –</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
fear of the unknown,</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
earlier that week
-
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“not without comfort,” he repeated,</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
his voice frail.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Hovering on the edge of New Year’s day –</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
the year into which</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
he would hardly step</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
before he left –</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
the music stopping time</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
for them that night,</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
was not a canticle of
ecstasy </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
but a virtuoso oud player’s</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
mesmerizing
music.
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
They reminisced.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Seven years before on his 75th birthday,</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
that music had filled Bella
Cuchina,
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
the restaurant they’d rented</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
to celebrate with family and friends.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
The occasion, the music, had swept
them </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
in a transport of joy.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Here now alone, together they relived it.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“That music tears your heart out, doesn’t
it?!” </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
she said. And he?</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
He began to softly sing, </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
his pitch, melody</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
in perfect rhythm</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
with the master’s own. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
His voice grew strong and full,</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
its signature resonance, once more
rich. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
After a pause, before beginning
again </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
into sing-a-long mode, he said –</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“What a melody, huh?!”</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
III</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Now she’d heard him</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
again,</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
heard him singing his joy with her,</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
on the verge of his dying, </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
on the brink of his death.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: #c27ba0;"><span><span style="background-color: #d5a6bd;"></span></span></span>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Francis’ faith in Jesus’ resurrection as something
mysteriously bestowed upon us all is a faith I cherish as most of you do.
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
I’m a member of a small community in our parish which is
open to others, for discussion and monthly “Agape” prayer. Earlier this
week two articles were sent around preparatory to that meeting.
Carol Zaleski wrote both of them. I was deeply moved by this
passage from the one entitled “Immortal Dreams”: </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“There are hints in the Hebrew Bible: ‘If a man
die, shall he live again?’ asks the book of Job. ‘All the days of my service I
would wait, for my release to come. Then you would call, and I should answer
you; you would long for the work of your hand.’ (RSV) <b>It is this call
from our Maker and Redeemer that awakens us from death</b>, not some inherent
excellence and indestructibility in our souls.”</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Here’s the link: <a href="http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2012-11/immortal-dreams">http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2012-11/immortal-dreams</a>
but I’ve copied the whole article below. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Even if this doesn’t fit in with the Passover theme, our
group did discuss this second article I also liked - about prayer. In
fact, this passage quoting Karl Barth moved me to tears: “But what about
foolish prayers, trivial prayers and selfish prayers? Karl Barth is comforting
here. “We do not know what proper prayer is,” he admits, and <b>it is actually
a sign of our faith that we run to God in prayer with “haste and restlessness.”</b>
<b>To do so reveals a trust that we are in communion with God, who intercedes
for us with sighing too deep for words</b>, who hears and answers prayers
“quite apart from our weakness or strength, our ability or inability to pray.”
In prayer, said Barth, we stand beside God as friends.” </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<a href="http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2012-11/desperate-prayers">http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2012-11/desperate-prayers</a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
It’s heartwarming that our new pope called himself Pope
Francis. But even more moving to me is his actions, like yesterday’s,
which our local paper reported this morning. The headline reads: <i>Pope
Washes Women’s Feet in Break With Church Law</i>: <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/pope-washes-womens-feet-break-church-law-002454620.html">http://news.yahoo.com/pope-washes-womens-feet-break-church-law-002454620.html</a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
I like the last few lines of this article which is more
complete online: <b>“Francis responded that it was to ‘help me to be
humble, as a bishop should be.’ The gesture, he said, came ‘from my heart.
Things from the heart don't have an explanation.’”</b></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
What is especially telling is his referring to himself
often as “the bishop of Rome.” In the early church the Pope was seen as
the first of all the bishops, exercising “the Petrine ministry,” but he was
still mainly “the bishop of Rome.” It all fits the humility of St.
Francis of Assisi, Francis’ patron saint. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Just one more thing about Pope Francis. Some of you
may be aware that some people are questioning his role during “The Dirty Wars”
in Argentina, specifically, some say he didn’t do enough. (Others, on the
other hand demonstrate he did what he could, even at his own risk.) In
any case, I was especially moved by the concluding paragraph of this article –
“ Pope Francis: A Modern Passion Play” By Steve Weissman, Reader
Supported News 28 March 13</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<a href="http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/295-164/16686-pope-francis-a-modern-passion-play">http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/295-164/16686-pope-francis-a-modern-passion-play</a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
“Readers will decide for themselves what to make of this,
but let me share my personal reaction. <b>As an atheist and Jew</b> - and yes,
one can be both - I find scriptural arguments for and against liberation
theology completely foreign. But I have long valued the political work its
adherents do in poor communities. <b>I must also confess a surprising sympathy
for the new pope. I can only assume he believes in a just God who knows what he
did during the Dirty War. This is the cross Pope Francis bears, and it must be
terrifying, an unending crucifixion in his personal passion play. If I could
only write that play as a work of fiction.”</b></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<b>(Info about this writer): </b>A veteran of the
Berkeley Free Speech Movement and the New Left monthly Ramparts, Steve Weissman
lived for many years in London, working as a magazine writer and television
producer. He now lives and works in France, where he writes on international
affairs.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Joyous Easter everyone!</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Love,</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Elaine</div>
Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-90949351419257758912012-12-25T22:05:00.004-08:002012-12-25T22:08:32.564-08:00 More of the Sweet in my Bitter-Sweet Christmas – even Zenith<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">More of the
Sweet in my Bitter-Sweet Christmas – even Zenith</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dear Family and
Friends,
December 23, 2012</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Christmas, like my birthday, is
likely to be, for the rest of my life, bitter-sweet. The news of Francis’
cancer came the day before the first, and during the second, he was
dying. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
With the dignity of a saint,
three years ago, Francis started walking to meet his death. That didn’t
preclude his also grappling with some dread, fear of the unknown which he
overcame in the very admission of it. I was privileged to witness how,
with courage and surrender he did, as he told me was his task - “Let go,
let God.” Who would not want to die like that? </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
So you can see how sweet this is for me to remember -
even if also, bitter. In fact, by now, it’s more sweet than bitter. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
In rereading, day by day, what I
wrote then about what happened in this room, one of the 50 poems that have come
since publication of <i>Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – The Poems </i>“came”
today. I experience joy, needless to say, whenever this happens.
New poems come, sometimes, from the story I’m telling in prose for the
next book, <i>Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – The Memoir: A Love Story</i>.
For example, this one was written this summer: </div>
<i>Your Pleasure </i>If you read / what
I wrote / about you,<i> / </i>today -<i> / </i>you would be pleased.<i> / </i>But
the feeling’s / so strong, that you / are . . . / pleased, / how can I say
that /<i> </i> “you would . . .”?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The writing, moreover, is more
than a vehicle to share Francis’ and my love story. It helps me grow
through my grief. It took me close to a month, this fall, to work through
the poem <i>A Widow’s Way</i>. I was shocked to discover that I, who
thought I was indeed going through rather than around my grief, had numbed
myself unconsciously. What a relief to see and feel I could now face a
deeper truth. It’s still bitter, but it’s also heartening to realize it’s
only when we’re ready for more that more comes.<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
My journey also helps me
understand, in a way I never could before, others’ grief, any and all, but
especially grief at premature and unnecessary loss of life. It’s not only
the loss in Sandy Nook that should compel our sympathies, but also the loss of
life in Israel-Palestine and in all war torn countries. I pray this
latest tragedy will help those who depend on guns as well as armaments to
realize that war is hell and that we should do what we can to bring into our
world the peace and justice which Jesus came to bring. As the bumper
sticker reads: “Who would Jesus bomb?”</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
In addition to my “imperative,”
writing, my life has a rhythm which I appreciate. Weekly babysitting my
goddaughter Rowan is at the head of the list. Resuming teaching English
to Africans after Sunday mass, a practice I had dropped after Francis died, is
also life-giving. Francis used to sit in on those informal, small
classes. Participating in Taize chanting in Portland is also an important
weekly practice. I am planning to return to Taize, France for a week of
chanting (3 x a day) with my friend, Sue Ewing, in May. <a href="http://www.taize.fr/en">http://www.taize.fr/en</a> I’m not planning
to go every year as she likes to do, but I feel drawn to return with her, this,
my second time. I gain more working in the Food Pantry once a month than
I give, as a volunteer. Last winter I joined the Maine Poets Society and
enjoyed going to two of their three annual meetings. It’s encouraging to
see how long poetry has been promoted in Maine. For example, this society
was founded in 1936.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Sue, whose late husband Bob used
to accompany her to the same CTA/USA annual national conferences Francis and I
attended, makes a good travel partner. Believe it or not, though seven
years my senior, she can outwalk me! We attended two conferences together
this past year, and I went by myself to the CORPUS Conference (married priests
and wives) in Texas this past June, after which I met my editor in person for
the first time in his home state of Washington in the Pacific Northwest.
Then in August I drove by myself to the McGillicuddy family reunion in
Woodstock, Canada. I already wrote about the Shrine we visited on Sunday in my
September 7 letter to family and friends, posted on <a href="http://www.elaineandfrancis.blogspot.com/">www.elaineandfrancis.blogspot.com</a>
But I copy here the link I provided there about this Shrine which was built and
dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi (Francis’ patron saint) after Francis’ great
grandfather donated land to the church close to 90 years ago.<span style="color: #660000;"> <a href="http://www.ofsnational.ca/EasternCanada/skifflake.html">http://www.ofsnational.ca/EasternCanada/skifflake.html</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Praying for good health and
peace of heart to all of you this Christmas and for 2013 as you follow your own
Christmas star.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">With
loving gratitude for everyone’s support - support of all kinds,</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b> </b>Elaine<b> </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Long
PS - December 24, 2012</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
After completing this holiday letter last night, I remembered, this morning, a
poem I struggled to write in September, when the news of Francis’ cancer
shocked us. I called the poem <i>The Blow of the 24th, </i>because that day –
September 24, 2009 - was a bitter day indeed. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> But remembering the other 24<sup>th</sup> when Francis and I had
what I called “Our Precious Dialogue” on Christmas Eve, - a Part II for the poem “came.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So I renamed it <i>Nadir and Zenith</i>. I want to include it with this
letter (below) since it adds what would be missing without it. Though September was my "Nadir," </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">today is "very sweet" since it's the anniversary of my "Zenith." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> If you make the
time to read that special dialogue between Francis and me that inspired Part II, <i>The Kiss</i>,
eight days before he died, I think you will be as re-inspired as I am too,
every time I read it. Here’s the link for it right here on this
blog: </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.elaineandfrancis.blogspot.com/2009/12/sharing-our-precious-dialogue.html">http://www.elaineandfrancis.blogspot.com/2009/12/sharing-our-precious-dialogue.html</a></span></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span>
<br />
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
Nadir and Zenith <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <i>The
24<sup>th</sup><span class="yiv2102968672apple-converted-space"> </span>is a
sacred date,</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">both
nadir and zenith for me</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
I</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
<b>The Blow </b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Our
birthdays were joyous affairs
<span class="yiv2102968672apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">that
came in September:<span class="yiv2102968672apple-converted-space"> </span>
<span class="yiv2102968672apple-converted-space"> </span><b> </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">yours
on the 6<sup>th</sup><span class="yiv2102968672apple-converted-space"> </span>–
mine, the 25<sup>th. </sup></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But
my body remembers <i>now</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">the
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">the
day we learned</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">you
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">After
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">they
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</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now,
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">three
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ve
been forewarned:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span class="yiv2102968672apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">future birthdays</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span class="yiv2102968672apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">may be dyed
purple.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
II </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
<b>The Kiss </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s Christmas
Eve, the 24<sup>th</sup>,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">ten
days before your death. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A
festive tray sits on your lap</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">on
your hospice bed at home.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Like
a monk, you share your thoughts -</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">how
to face your death.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
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your mien, in altered state,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">includes
the humor of a</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">brought<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>by<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>separate<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>friends,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span class="yiv2102968672apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">like
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span class="yiv2102968672apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">yet
a third friend’s gift.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Shifting your mood again,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Looking into my eyes,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">you say:</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Your presence,
always, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> The 24<sup>th</sup><span class="yiv2102968672apple-converted-space"> </span>delivered me</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">an unforgettable shock – a blow.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
second one crowned our<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>married
life</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">with
a kiss – of the gods’.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-22616863071443608002012-09-07T14:46:00.000-07:002012-09-30T12:20:23.163-07:00TV Interview with me + Family Reunion + Book # 3<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">Dear
Family and Friends,</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">Seven
years ago Francis and I were interviewed for a TV program on Portland Community
Television called “The Second Act.” It’s a program sponsored by the Maine
Senior Guide, to celebrate “the gifts and vitality of people in the second half
of their lives.” </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">I
agreed again to be interviewed for this “Second Act” program, by myself this
time, on the subject of my first book: <i>Sing to Me and I Will Hear You
– The Poems.</i> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">It’s
8 minutes long. I’m the last of three people being interviewed during
this half hour program. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">People
from out of town
can view it here: <a href="http://ctn5.org/shows/second-act/second-act-5358">http://ctn5.org/shows/second-act/second-act-5358</a>
</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">Local
people
can view it on their TV’s next week, as well - Thursdays at 11 AM on Channel
5. It will also air randomly on Channel 2. The
upcoming CH 2 airings are: 9/9
11A; 9/10 8A and 11A; 9/11 8A and 8P; 9/13 2P; 9/14 7P; 9/15
11A</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">The interviewer is Bill Gregory whom I described in the <i>Acknowledgements</i>
of my book as “a retired United Church of Christ minister whom Francis chose to
help him ‘with the transition’ and who has given me trusted guidance and
support since Francis’ death.” (By the way, Bill wonders if it’s the
camera that made me look more frail than he said I am and look in person.
;o) </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">Interestingly, the <i>radio</i><i> </i>interview, aired in
February, 2011, was also 8 minutes long: <a href="http://soundcloud.com/carolynbarnwell/sing-and-i-will-hear-you">http://soundcloud.com/carolynbarnwell/sing-and-i-will-hear-you</a>
</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">Last
month I went to Woodstock, NB Canada for our annual McGillicuddy family
gathering on “Shrine Sunday” at Skiff Lake, NB. It’s Francis’ great great
grandfather Daniel, emigrated from Ireland, who donated part of the family’s
property to the church for this Shrine to St. Francis of Assisi (Francis’
patron saint) to be built 89 years ago. This annual pilgrimage to the
Shrine has taken place ever since. You can see a photo of it here: <a href="http://www.ofsnational.ca/EasternCanada/skifflake.html">http://www.ofsnational.ca/EasternCanada/skifflake.html</a>
</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">Since
the following poem which came from that weekend experience doesn’t include
everything, I want to mention my joy in being reunited with Francis’ family,
nieces and nephews and in-laws, and especially Jo, my sister-in-law, newly
widowed. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">I
was also delighted by the rare appearance there of Paul McGillicuddy, the 98
(or is it 99?) year old relative who gave Francis his first job in the US
before he went to college. I told Paul, sitting next to me the whole time
on the grassy incline during the liturgy – that he had made my day.
Thanks to cousins Barbara and Frank Bolton who brought him.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">But
here’s the poem (probably revised sufficiently for now) that came from that
weekend experience:</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><b>Family
Reunion </b>
August
11, 2012</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">As I round the bend at </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span class="apple-style-span">at the Woodstock Exit,</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">arriving<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>alone</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">for our family reunion </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">(it’s the town where my in-laws</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">went to school)</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">I’m flooded with my
late ! </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">husband’s feelings -</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">never before like this –</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">his own feelings in me.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">Summer after summer</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">we came to this together.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">But for many springs too,</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">he came alone.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">He did it, he said,</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">“to commune</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">with the ancestors.”</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">He’s one of them now.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">They were six siblings </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">when I met him.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">Only three
remain,
<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">none of them him . . . and</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">their spouses are gone – </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">all but one</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">other,</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">and I.
</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span class="apple-style-span">The five of us
gather </span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span class="apple-style-span">(it's my hotel room)</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">plus a nephew and a niece. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">When the eldest</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">tells stories,</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">his face animates the past.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">I see him nudge his sister:</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">“You and I, Josephine,” he says,</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">“are the only ones left</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">who remember these things.”</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">My
in-laws,</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">being
kin of Francis, </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">grace
me with</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">their
smiles and manners -</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">a
touch of him. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">By
now <i>Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – The Memoir: A Love Story</i> is
coming along so well I told my editor (another Irishman - Mike O’Connor) that
words and ideas are falling like rain, not only in the chapter 4 I’m
working on now, but for future chapters. And yesterday, even a possible
closing sentence for the whole of this book # 2 presented itself.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">The
writing is giving me such joy I can feel Francis’ pleasure. In
fact, after writing about him at Camp Pesquasawasis, this poem came: </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><b>Your
Pleasure </b>
August 18, 2012</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">If you read</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">what
I wrote</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">about
you,</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">today
-</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">you
would<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>be pleased.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">But
the feeling’s</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">so
strong, that you</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><i>are</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>. . .</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">pleased,</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">how can I say that</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">“you<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>would</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>. . .”?</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">Book
# 3 is therefore already on its way since the thirty poems that have come and
will come, God willing/<i>inshallah</i>, after the publication of the first
one, will comprise half of it. The name of that third book, I like to
repeat, is: <i>Sing to Me and I Will Hear You – The Uncollected Poems and
Journals.</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">Loving
Gratitude, </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">and
Prayer for justice and peace for all people </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">and
for our planet,</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">Elaine</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">PS:
I love to hear from outside the glass door near which I’m sitting, my six
chickens’ contented clucks.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: #c27ba0;"></span>Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-27431733902862281872012-01-03T20:42:00.001-08:002012-01-03T20:45:51.470-08:00On the Second Anniversary of Francis' Death<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark/> <w:dontvertaligncellwithsp/> 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mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >Dear Family and Friends,</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >Today is the second anniversary of Francis’ death. I had initially decided<i> not</i> to write you about this second celebration of Francis’ departure from this life, and entry into whatever that other mysterious life is -since you had heard last year, about the ritual Lynn, Lee, Rowan and I had enacted. (We plan to make it an annual “family” tradition,). </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >But, a friend’s email gave me a nudge to write anyway. Moreover I <i>do</i> have something new to offer - a new poem that “came” in recent days which I recited in the chill winter air, after supper last night, once we had gathered around the “Pepere/Francis tree. </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >Once out of the side door, Rowan, holding her own lit candle which she had enjoyed selecting earlier (for each of us) - walked so quickly toward the Japanese Stewartia tree, I called out to her to come back and walk with us more slowly. “We’re walking in procession,” I said. Lee quickly explained – “Yes, Rowan – it’s like a parade.” I then added “That’s right – a holy parade.” </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >Rowan was so eager to sing our special chant we had rehearsed ahead of time – “Set me as a seal upon your heart. . . for love is (more strong) than death,” she started singing it en route. I was glad the three of them could keep it going for I could only sing snatches of it at first. </span><span style=" Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:14.0pt;" ></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >This year, after repeating key points I made last year - <a href="http://www.elaineandfrancis.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html">http://www.elaineandfrancis.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html</a> - building on the parable of the water bugs and the dragon flies,* - Rowan spontaneously added comments of her own. Perhaps she was reacting to my saying (addressing Francis aloud:) “Because we are like the waterbugs that still live under water, we don’t know where you, like a dragonfly, went. But we will find out when we <i>join you</i> someday</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="Comic Sans MS"; font-family:";" >“ because that’s what she expanded – the idea of our being-“joined”-together. She used her own words, demonstrating them with a touching, powerful gesture: She brought the flame of her own candle to merge with the flame of our candles! </span></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" > </span></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" >Here’s the poem I then recited: </span></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" > </span></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >On the Second Anniversary of Your Death </span></b></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >By your first anniversary -</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >poems </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >came like kernels:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >Gathered, they burst into life,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >sprouting </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >your presence,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >all year long.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >In the second one after you left -</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >I grasped anew:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >You’re not present in the past.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >You’re near, you’re here.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >You rise with me in each day’s light.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >You stoke my fire through our daily trysts. </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >(Silence is my Spouse and yours.) </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >You root my joy in the earth –</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >for you walk all the paths of my life. </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >Loving Gratitude to all,</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >Elaine</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" >PS The CD’s of my reading the poems have arrived, but<i>The Poems</i> book whose “draft (hard) copy” will be mailed to me soon, will take a little longer. Having finished writing the chapter for the Memoir I couldn’t put down, I’m only now catching up with Christmas correspondence! Until January 6 – Feast of the Epiphany, it’s still the Christmas season!</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" ><br /></span><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >*<i> Water Bugs and Dragonflies, Explaining Death to Young Children</i> by Doris Stickney</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p>Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-36638890684325312642011-12-28T19:36:00.000-08:002011-12-28T19:39:10.030-08:00Elaine's Christmas/Holiday Letter<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> 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class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" >Dear Family and Friends,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" >Greetings of peace and joy this Christmas - including Solstice, (though it’s past now) ;o) Hanukkah, and Kwanza. (We have Africans in our parish.)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" >Without downplaying the nostalgia of this season for all who miss loved ones no longer physically present, (and since it was during this season Francis was dying two years ago, it’s doubly nostalgic for me) – still, I say what my “philosopher” father would say: Since we all must die - and Francis’ death was an extraordinarily “good death” - how could I not trust the wisdom behind the events of my life that guides me?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" >I’m in awe discovering such healing and joy in writing. It even feels like a calling - to tell Francis’ and my story. Just as together we tried to work for peace and justice through our engagement in yoga, the Dances of Universal Peace and permaculture, I have to trust that my new path will be another way. I pray to be faithful. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" >I celebrate Jesus’ birth and coming because the Love He brought and lived offers - to suffering humanity and our planet with all its creatures (of which we are a part) - the greatest promise. I celebrate Jesus also because during Francis’ and my last earthly exchange, firmly holding each others’ hands - I told him I was now handing him over into Jesus’ hands. I saw in his radiant smile – a man transformed, ready for the next stage of the “Mystery.” Because it was a theme of his, I used his words as the dedication of my soon to be published book of poems: “To Francis who knew how to surrender to Mystery.” </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" >Good health to you and yours in 2012! </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" >Love and always – much Gratitude!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" >Elaine</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" >PS I just returned from “Midnight Mass” (which began at 10 PM.) where I was reminded of my papa who sang “Minuit Chretiens” (O Holy Night) as the soloist for many many Christmas Eve’s.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" >I’ll also never forget either - it was on Christmas Eve (two years ago) that Francis said to me, at the end of our extraordinary dialogue: “Your presence was deeply drawn into my soul, and so, I am very happy.” I will never forget that. (It’s on this blogspot under December 26, called “Sharing our precious dialogue” (because I waited to get his permission before sharing it.)<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" >PPS: I have spent four days rewriting the chapter of how Francis and I fell in love since the discovery of more letters has shed even more light on the subject. What a joyous thing - to be working on the Memoir Love Story!</span></p>Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-41182740035925639602011-11-22T20:01:00.000-08:002011-11-22T20:08:31.318-08:00Counting My BlessingsDear Family and Friends,<br /><br />When I awoke this morning (on Francis’ side of the bed) I watched the pale light of a new day gradually brightening outside our bedroom windows. <br /><br />With this photo (below) sent me yesterday by our longtime photographer friend, Jan Born, I’ve been recalling how proud we all felt two years ago when Francis had summoned the energy to go with me to my cousin George’s and Heidi’s home for Thanksgiving dinner - only one month and 12 days before he died.<br /><br />With this year’s Thanksgiving in mind, I began to count my blessings. They are not just the poems that came in the last year, nor the CD of my reading them (both of which are now at the publisher’s) . . .But - my blessings are my friends! <br /><br />I began to think of many of you individually, how each one’s kindness, goodness and uniqueness has gifted me. And - having had dinner with my niece last week, and talked on the phone with Jo, my sister-in-law, last night - this includes family too.<br /><br />Though I lay there alone, I did not at all feel alone. Even as I wrote this, a frisky chickadee got my attention, and so brought me company - by knocking. I thought for a moment someone was at the glass door near this computer. In trying to get at some chickadee-food, s/he was vigorously pecking at a thick grape vine hanging over the trellis outside. <br /><br />So I just want you to tell you this - For your unique and supportive relationship with me - each one - I give heartfelt Thanks - giving!<br /><br />ElaineElainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-17209553096338897872011-09-25T20:19:00.000-07:002011-12-12T13:50:10.486-08:00News Triggered By Friends<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> 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</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" >Dear Family and Friends,</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" >When I started receiving “Happy Birthday” wishes from friends this morning – even, to my delight, from Francis’ and my friend from the past, Alfred DePew – I wrote a response to post on my “Wall” in Facebook which I rarely use. But it must have been too long, since it wouldn’t “take.” So here it is, now expanded, for all of you. Posted as a link to <a href="http://www.elaineandfrancis.blogspot.com/">www.elaineandfrancis.blogspot.com</a> Facebook ought to work for me this time. It became the trigger to share, sooner than I expected, </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" >this news: </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" >But first of all – (</span><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >I like to use Francis’ expression) - “Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!” for the birthday greetings! After celebrating Lee’s birthday yesterday with Lynn and (godchild) Rowan by going on a whale watch with several of their friends (increasingly becoming my friends) and then later having dinner, cooked by Lee, at their home, I was feted too by my home-made family.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" >My </span><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" >birthday joy today (76 now) consists in the following: Four days ago, right here in this yoga living room where Francis’ hospice bed sat - with the help of recording engineer, Chris Mega - I read all 60 of the poems which came to me within the past year, (thank you Francis!) This means I will soon deliver to my publisher, David Gawlik, not only the “master” to create the CD of the poetry reading, but the final poetry manuscript for book # 1 – </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" >Sing To Me And I Will Hear You </span></u></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" >The Poems</span></u></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" >Another bit of news: Because our six sweet chickens began eating their own eggs, I gave them to a permaculture friend who loves chickens. Integrated with her own flock and able to “free range” there on the farm, they’re less likely to eat their own eggs. I miss them, but I’m grateful I won’t have to shovel my path to the coop when snow arrives. This chicken-less hiatus until next April when I’ll get new chicks for Rowan in time for her 8<sup>th</sup> birthday, will also give me seven months of extra writing time. I’ve already started working on book #2 –</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" >Sing To Me And I Will Hear You</span></u><span style="Comic Sans MS"; font-family:";" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" >The Memoir.</span></u></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-family:";" >Full of gratitude and joy.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";" ><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);">PS Who left a “singing telegram” on my answering machine? I can’t quite detect the voice behind that lovely birthday greeting.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"></span></p>Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-88599326885624034042011-08-29T10:15:00.001-07:002011-08-31T09:09:50.646-07:00Two Bits of Good News<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> 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Friends,</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#660000"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:180%;">Some of you know that in recent weeks I’ve had bouts with fatigue and other physical symptoms of enough concern for my doctor to have ordered hip Xrays, an EKG and several blood tests, one of which was a Lyme’s Disease test. As a result I had to absent myself from the annual McGillicuddy family reunion in NB Canada.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#660000"><span style="Comic Sans MS"; font-size:180%;">A</span><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:180%;">ware my symptoms might have been caused by my irregular circadian rhythm, esp. since Francis’ death, as well as the intensity of receiving and working with 60 poems in 41 weeks on the emotional subject dealing with loss of a spouse, I changed my schedule and pace, all of which are restoring my energy. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#660000"><span style="Comic Sans MS"; font-size:180%;">So when</span><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:180%;"> Dr. Katz called me this morning to report on the last two of seven tests, (He was Francis’ doctor first) I wasn’t surprised to hear they confirm I’m in very good health. And I feel it today, energized also by how easily my detailed outline for the Memoir is coming along.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span style="Comic Sans MS""><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#660000">Good news # 2:</span></span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#660000"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#660000"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:180%;">Not only are there 55 poems ready for publication (set aside awaiting the completion of the Memoir, the first part) - the one book will also include a CD of my reading the poems. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#660000"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:180%;">David, (publisher & friend) loves the idea of the CD, to be sold with or without the book. I told him this idea came from our gifted parish choir director Sue Proulx who took me aside a few months ago urging me to do it. It occurred to her, she said, when her newly widowed friend found consolation listening to this eight minute radio of Carolyn Barnwell interviewing me on my grieving process:</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#660000"><a href="http://soundcloud.com/carolynbarnwell/sing-and-i-will-hear-you">http://soundcloud.com/carolynbarnwell/sing-and-i-will-hear-you</a></span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#660000"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#660000"><span style="Comic Sans MS"; font-size:180%;">Thank you for your concern about my health. I assured Dr. Katz that </span><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:180%;">writing the Memoir should be less challenging emotionally. My Reader/Copy-editor Mike had called the task of assembling a poet’s final manuscript – “harrowing.” So, even aside from the subject matter, there’s basis among real poets for what this newbie has gone through.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#660000"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:180%;">Trusting in your continued prayer for me,</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:180%;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#660000">Elaine</span></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);font-family:courier new;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:130%;" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);font-family:courier new;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"; font-size:130%;" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);font-family:courier new;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:130%;" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);font-family:courier new;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:130%;" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);font-family:courier new;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:130%;" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);font-family:courier new;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:130%;" > </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-family:courier new;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:130%;" > </span></p> Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7275610887752888214.post-77188302198591072392011-07-02T13:50:00.000-07:002011-08-31T09:04:41.819-07:00Francis' words for the title<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> 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mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <h2 style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latinfont-family:";" >Saturday, July 2, 2011</span></h2><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> </span><h3 style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><a name="7718830219859107239"></a><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";" ></span></h3><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span style="Comic Sans MS"; font-size:100%;" >Dear<span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:100%;" > Family and Friends,</span></span></p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span style="Comic Sans MS"; mso-themefont-size:100%;" >Tomorrow<span style="Comic Sans MS";font-size:100%;" > - July 3, is the 1 ½ year anniversary of Francis’ death, the date last year, when I wrote “It’s Six Months Ago Today.” I think that’s why, during my daily walk to the cemetery just now, I got the idea of writing again.</span></span></p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:100%;" >You’re likely to think the subject of this email – “Francis’ words for the title” - refers to Francis' story and mine which I told you in my last entry 4 1/2 months ago I was writing.
<br />
<br /></span></p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:100%;" >But my writing partner's mother got seriously ill, and I was more absorbed in the poems that kept coming, and still come, though at a slower pace. So, after six productive meetings during which I did get started on writing our “story,” - to make a long story short, a poetry editor's article in the Mar Apr issue of Poets & Writers led to my getting from April Ossmann, a professional assessment of my poems. Her encouragement and “grading” as “strong,” “medium,” (& the default “weak”) led to the decision to write, not one, but two books – first a poetry collection, and then, our story. </span></p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:100%;" >Second result: By now I’m deeply engaged, with the help of a published poet from Washington state, Mike O’Connor</span> <a href="http://mikeoconnorpoet.com/"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:100%;" >http://mikeoconnorpoet.com/</span></a> (bio & photo there with more to come) who has become my Reader/Copy Editor, in “digging deeper,” as April advised, to revise the “medium” poems. It’s very engrossing, healing, work. </p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:100%;" >No need to look for a publisher. Our friend David Gawlik's “Caritas Communications” will publish the poetry collection first, and when it's ready - our story. David, like Francis was, is also a married priest as well as a photographer (extraordinaire,) and longtime editor of CORPUS Reports. Even though he lives in Wisconsin, and we saw him only twice a year, he became Francis’ and my dear friend since we started attending annual national CORPUS Conferences in 1990, - and Francis began attending them even in the late 80’s!</span></p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:100%;" >My energy has been so wrapped up in this writing - in addition to teaching a yoga class, and babysitting our godchild Rowan weekly, along with other things and gathering with friends – and now the necessary and enjoyable though time-consuming gardening, (not to mention caring for our sweet chickens!) – I have been jealously protecting time to write.</span></p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-size:100%;" >By the way, - Francis’ words for the title are:
<br />
<br /></span></p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-size:100%;" ><u>Sing To Me And I Will Hear You The Poems</u></span> </p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:100%;" >Here below are a few of them:<b><u><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-size:100%;" >
<br />
<br /></span></u></b></span></p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span style="Comic Sans MS";font-size:100%;" >Elaine
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">
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mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes;font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-family:";font-size:100%;" ></span></p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" > </span><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-size:130%;">You Gave Me No Clue </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>January 17, 2011</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" >I’d encounter you</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" >at the annual King celebration *</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >I wasn’t in grief
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" >-</span><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" > How could I be?</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" >You came to accompany me!</span> </p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ></span><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" >You weren’t left out,</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" >I found that out:</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >Surrounded at table by friends
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" >who</span><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" > met yearly for this –</span>
<br /></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText">between speakers, awards
<br /></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText">and<span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" > the dinner itself –</span> </p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ></span><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" >I sensed in my gladness and</span> laughter</p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"> a joy too expansive,
<br /></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText">too deep to have come from me <span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" >alone.</span> </p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ></span><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >No - I knew it was you
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" >enjoying</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" > our friends
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" >by</span> living my life with me. </p><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" ></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" > </span><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" ><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>*Martin Luther King NAACP Dinner</span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" >
<br /></span></p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" > </span><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" > </span></p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" > </span> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-size:130%;">Whoever Heard</span> <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>June 10/15, 2011</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" > a more loving</span> request
<br /></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText">of his wife<span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" > by a dying man</span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" > – to</span> accompany you
<br /></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText">by singing alone
<br /></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText">our love-vow chant
<br /></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText">as you passed?<span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >Oh my love, not “request”
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" >–</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" > but your gift to me.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >Whoever heard
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >an answer like this
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >when the hospice nurse asked you</span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" > "What's holding you back?"
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >"It's the joy," you said.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >Oh Francis,</span> this joy
<br /></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText">in our love beyond death
<br /></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText">holds me here daily in prayer.
<br /></p><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" ></span><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"> </p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ></span> <span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >
<br /></span><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" > </span></p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" > </span> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-size:130%;">Nothing Can Fill</span> <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>June 19, 2011</span></p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" > </span> <p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" ><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>this gargantuan gaping
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >hole of my loss -
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" > except this:
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >my relief at sparing you
<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" >a widower's pain.
<br /></span></p><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ></span><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latinfont-family:";font-size:100%;" >
<br /></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ></span>
<br /><p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" ><span style="text-decoration:none"></span></span></u><span style="Comic Sans MS"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" > </span></p>Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028593655730249065noreply@blogger.com0