Friday, August 17, 2012
Day of Celebration--"Penelope's Loom"
This is a day of celebration. I just mailed the corrected proofs for my newest book of poems to the publisher. It is the "companion" volume to "The Ley Lines of the Soul." Called "Penelope's Loom, Poems of Turning Matter into Spirit," it contains poems that are more "secular" in tone rather than being as overtly "spiritual" as my other poetry books have been. But writing in a secular vein is part of my own creative journey, and so these poems are also important to me for they express an essential part of who I am.
Penelope was the faithful wife of Odysseus (Homer's "Odyssey") who waited at home for 20 years while her husband was away fighting the Trojan War. The suitors constantly pressed her to choose one among them as a new husband, and she promised to do so as soon as her tapestry was finished. Each day she sat at her loom and wove, then each night she unraveled what she had done that day; thus she did not have to choose but continued to wait for her husband's return.
In these poems, Penelope is actually waiting not for her spouse but for the "lost part" of her own self to return and unite with her so that she may become complete. I think we all are seeking to recapture that lost portion of our self so that we too may become complete human beings.
These poems were written during the same period as those of "Ley Lines." The book should be available in a few weeks.
The photo above is the one that will appear on the cover.
