Soulfaring –

A lot has happened in just the past month.  Life has been abundant and Providence has been awe-inspiringly bountiful. I hoped to write about what follows as things were happening, but have been busy living in response to the bounty, so will have to recap and document all that has been unfolding in this one post.

In mid May, I went to Archbold, Ohio to attend, for my first time, The Harp Gathering.

http://www.harpgathering.com/home-ohio.html

I spent the weekend going to workshops on improvisation led by Maeve Gilchrist and Lisa Lynn, both incredibly talented and skilled musicians.  As someone who will always be a lifelong beginner when it comes to music, at times  I struggled to keep up in the workshops, but understood the presenters were packing into each hour and half a wealth of material which was meant to be taken home and worked on gradually. I have been doing this since returning from The Harp Gathering, and already have found my improvisations on the harp have gone through a quantum leap to a new level.

This growth in my playing alone was what I went to The Harp Gathering for.  However, I came home with more than that.  On Saturday evening, during the concert performances, there was a grand prize drawing for a new harp built by Jeff Lewis of  Lewis Creek Harps and Instruments. While I love my affordable and easily transportable Harpsicle harp, which has served me well as I learned to play harp in hospital and hospice settings, I have been longing for a slightly larger, therapy-sized harp, with more resonance and a few more strings to provide deep, low, soothing notes.  But, having a big travel adventure on the horizon with my daughter (more on that to follow) and college costs for her looming in less than two years, I knew that I was not going to the Harp Gathering this year with any possibility of purchasing a new harp for myself.  And so, I placed my ticket in the basket for the grand prize drawing with that longing as a kind of prayer.  As the drawing happened, I thought to myself, “Well, if I am meant to continue the therapy harp path, maybe…” and then I heard my name being read from the winning ticket. The rest of Saturday evening and Sunday morning went by in a state of elated disbelief: I just won  harp! Did I just win a harp?! And not just any harp, but one that is exactly the kind of harp I needed to enhance my therapy harp work.

http://lewiscreek.net/lc_home.htm

In the journeys of heroes and heroines, the gods provide some kind of magic gift – a sword, a shield, a seed, a chalice – that will assist the hero to fulfill her calling on the quest the gods have required.  At the end of the journey, there is often a reward of some kind – a crown, an inheritance, a recognition bestowed to proclaim the hero’s true identity.  I feel that the prize-winning harp is both of these gifts for me. It is  the reward after a long journey to build the life I have and the work that fills it. And it is also a surprising gift at the beginning of a new adventure into the next stage of life,  as a woman who has, this recent year, passed through the threshold of turning 50, her mother’s death, and entering menopause, and as a poet and harper as I am finally finding opportunities to share my creative work in the world.  The magical gift of the harp feels sent by the muses themselves!

In the week following The Harp Gathering, my book launch for The Mother Poems happened at Indy Reads bookstore.  It was a great afternoon. Despite thunder, lightening, hail, and flooded streets, at least 30 people came to help me launch the book.  Friends from all stages of my life arrived as well as people I was meeting for the first time who heard a promotional interview on Art of the Matter.

http://www.wfyi.org/programs/the-art-of-the-matter/radio/fantasy-carnival-and-mom-may-15-2014. 

It was scary to share this poetic memoir, which revealed the darker struggles in my relationship with my mother, as well as the strength and wisdom she gave me in life. But the audience was generous and supportive and I felt them giving to me as I gave to them. It was a wonderful experience, with so many people to talk to and thank for being there.  Another experience of bounty.

And then, my daughter and I took of for Costa Rica!  I had promised her a trip outside of the country, using  a bit of inheritance from Mom to give ourselves an adventure beyond any trip I have been able to provide her before.  During the past winter-of-all-winters, while we were deciding where to go, we began to long for the tropics. We considered Hawaii, but Maggie wanted a trip requiring a passport, and so we chose Costa Rica.

Maggie and me on Tamarindo beach, Costa Rica, 6-6-14.

It was a wonderful week with my daughter at a perfect time. We have come through a difficult stage of adolescence in which she went from easily connecting with me to adamantly pushing away in order to assert her independence – and in which I had to learn how to let go.  I felt glad we have come through this transition and want to travel together!  And Costa Rica was a very hospitable, welcoming, beautiful place to go for this celebration.  We went on boat rides through the rain forest, and hiked on hanging bridges in the tree canopy, swam in hot springs from a volcano, went zip-lining and walked on Caribbean and Pacific beaches. Our favorite place was Tortuguero and my favorite moment was when we saw a spider monkey mother make herself into a bridge for her youngster to scurry over in order to span the gap between trees.  When we returned home, I found myself thinking about how my daughter has acquired a driver’s license, a used car, a job, and a passport all in the past six months and so she is increasingly on her way, needing me to be her bridge less and less.  No wonder the spider monkey sighting brought tears to my eyes.

Since returning from our travels, Maggie has been off with friends and at her job, busy, busy. And so have I! Last weekend, I returned to Indy Reads for another poetry reading, this time shared with two other poets published by Chatterhouse Press – Tony Brewer and Todd Outcalt.

http://www.chatterhousepress.com/

I brought the new harp and finally braved playing the harp while saying a few poems, in the style of the old Irish Bards, a goal I have been working toward this year.  These efforts were well received and I’ve already been asked to be part of a spoken word stage, with the harp, at an event this Labor Day Weekend!

Following the Indy Reads program, I went to The Unbroken Bones Society where singer songwriter Sarah Grain was performing. Unbroken Bones Society is one of the best kept secrets in Indianapolis, where every two months poets, storytellers, humorists, and singer songwriters perform to raise money for a soup kitchen.

http://www.robertsparkumc.org/news/unbroken-bones-society

http://sarahgrain.bandcamp.com/releases
http://www.musicalfamilytree.com/band/sarah_grain

Sarah and I met last year at Unbroken Bones and fell in love with each others work.  So we decided we need to collaborate.  Sarah has taken one of my poems (from Under My Skin, “While Replacing an Old Window…) and set it to music, and she performed it for the first time last weekend.  I felt so touched, so honored hearing her rich voice putting such life into the poem. I am really excited about where collaborating with Sarah will take us both.

All this, in just the past month.  Life is good! And I am grateful for such beauty!

This entry was posted on June 22, 2014 at 9:29 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.