woostify domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/latestwordpress/lonestar.a1professionals.net_public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131Indie review of Did You Sing Your Song?<\/em>, a new poetry collection<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n During the long days of social distancing, I\u2019ve appreciated Mary C. Earle<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s Did You Sing Your Song?<\/em><\/strong><\/a> Every time I need a lift or a connection, I read a few of her poems. Even the cover, in royal purple with red letters and white flowers, calms and refocuses me.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n An Episcopal priest and author of ten books, Mary Earle composed these poems over a twenty-year span. Although many have appeared elsewhere, Did You Sing Your Song? <\/em>is her first poetry book. She uses repetition, rhythm, and anaphora in her work, which reflects her love of canticles and The Book of Common Prayer<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rev. Earle divides her book into four sections: Land, Voices from Scripture, Pilgrimages, and People.<\/em> In the first section, she melds English and Spanish in the poem \u201cMi Tierra:\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I am not Mexican by blood<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Yet this is mi tierra.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Esta tierra es mia,<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Y yo soy de esta tierra.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve grown roots here,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Roots so long and deep<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n That no amount of cedar-chopping<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Will dislodge me from this soil.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Attuned to \u201ca deeper song, a melody that could be perceived in wind and rain, in trees and flowers,\u201d the author grew up in San Antonio, often visiting her grandparents in the Texas hill country outside of Boerne. There she sensed a hum, beyond the range of human hearing, that could be felt, \u201clike the beat of a drum in the floor of a dancehall.\u201d Earle\u2019s poem \u201cObituary,\u201d reveals her desire to return to \u201cfolds of hill country earth.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I want the breeze that whistles down the creek bank<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n To gather up my ashes in its eternal song,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n To gather and cast in one sweet movement,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Scattering those atoms that were briefly mine,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Into the soil as old as the hills.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In this song, with its lulling repetition of soft \u201cs\u201d sounds, the reader feels Earle\u2019s oneness with the earth and the peace this brings to her.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Voices from Scripture, the second section, contains persona poems from the voices of biblical women like Mary, Hannah, Anna, Sarah, Dinah, and the Anointing Woman. Earle brings an undercurrent of contemporary life to these ancient stories. In \u201cLuke 7:37-38, in Meditation 2,\u201d the Anointing Woman, once a sinner, washes the feet of Jesus with her tears and dries them with her hair. Acknowledging the woman\u2019s faith and kindness, Jesus says, \u201cDo no harm to yourself.\u201d When she realizes Jesus values her, she begins to respect herself. She says,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cBy God,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n There\u2019s something,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Someone,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Here worth caring for,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Worth protecting,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Worth handling with respect.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In \u201cAnnunciation,\u201d a sassy Mary, not thrilled by the prospect of the physical discomfort of pregnancy, says she\u2019ll bear a son for God, if the angel and God understand, \u201cmy carrying the baby meant they had to be pregnant too.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pilgrimages,<\/em> the third part, reveals songs Rev. Earle considers as she travels. She asks,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Where are my mothers?<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Where are all those women <\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Whose prayers have woven the delicate tatting,<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The intricate lacework<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n That holds everything together?<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/span>After \u201can eternity of searching,\u201d she finds them in the fading footnotes of mildewing manuscripts in convent vaults. \u201cThey clamor to be heard.\u201d She visits Ireland and Wales, where elements like rocks, water, earth, and sky speak to Earle. \u201cListen,\u201d she says. \u201cThe stones speak.\u201d In them she witnesses the One who made everything. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n When Rev. Earle writes about St. Mary\u2019s Well in Wales, she uses anaphora, the repetition of the phrase \u201cThis water\u201d at the beginning of each sentence which gives the words a rhythm, much like prayers or hymns.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the last section of the book, Earle focuses on People. Her grandmother, Golda; a young friend with scarred wrists; a drunk kneeling in church; a dying woman with a rounded belly, \u201csuggesting imminent delivery\u201d; a Puerto Rican prophet; and even Emily Dickinson make appearances. The title poem comes in this section as the author remembers her son on the tenth anniversary of his death. Again, she uses anaphora to ask the reader. \u201cDid you sing your song?\u201d She releases her son, as another Mary once endured the loss of hers.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rev. Earle reminds us to listen; songs are everywhere. In them and this gem of a book, we can find peace. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Indie review of Did You Sing Your Song?, a new poetry collection<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[870,813,830,886,1064,812],"class_list":["post-2029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lonestarindiereview","tag-lone-star-literary-life","tag-lonestarliterarycom","tag-poetry","tag-sponsored","tag-texas-author"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2029\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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