Anora Sutherland McGaha "LossSongs" at the Joyful Jewel 9-8-15.

"LossSongs"

by Anora Sutherland (McGaha)

Poems on love lost

I'm on my third reading of this exceptionally touching book, LossSongs, by Anora McGaha​ (Anora Sutherland), and I know it won't be my last.The subtitle "poems on love lost" tells part of the story though I think I also saw poems of love found . . . or love cherished . . .  poems of love enduring.  Anora acknowledges the complications and great span of what love encompasses as well as the yearning which is never really fulfilled and settles as loss.  In the preface she tells of an age 14 love "so resonant, it was like living in an additional dimension -- harmonically rich, complex, beguiling."  I recognize this love as that which must not ever be trivialized as puppy love.  And when her family moves and she is far away from this dimension, there is nothing that can take it's place.  In "When the Rain Comes Down" she says "Where does my heart go . . . I wake up in sweat feeling we're not through . . ." and yet the rain still falls.

Knowing Anora as I do, not as well as I want to, I see her clearly in these words "Each and very gem I find I want for you. . . .Eyes alert for reflected light, Scouting mica, quartz and geode, Crow stones for your window sill."  What a privilege to see through Anora's attentive and marveling eyes the beauty around us.  I hope she won't break the habit of wanting to share what she finds and sees to cleanly, though of course some things are meant just for her -- and I want her to have her share and more of this.

A conclusion of sorts: "In the swoon of bliss renewing that depth of love and adoration, we are lost, and want to continue that state forever. But it is like getting stuck, trying to hold onto a moment, when we need to grow, come into our own and know a freedom and power as great as that adoration, but sourced in our connection with our deep inner spiritual selves."  Let that spirit bring comfort along with the growth, assurance of love along with the longing, and words to bring us together in understanding.

http://www.joyfuljewel.com/Anora-McGaha.html

Website:  http://www.joyfuljewel.com

 Newsletter subscription:  mariah.joyfuljewel@gmail.com 
 FaceBook:   https://www.facebook.com/TheJoyfulJewel

 Linked In:   www.linkedin.com/pub/mariah-wheeler/12/861/a9b
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheJoyfulJewel

Anora McGaha "The Blessing" at the Joyful Jewel 5-31-15

"The Blessing"
Anora McGaha
Book

I have read this book by Anora Sutherland McGaha and today am remembering someone I lost recently and my dear friend who lost him too. A death is a life-changing event for the one who is left. Anora's story is a fairy tale about healing and grief, written to give real attention and compassion to a feeling that often gets brushed aside, especially when the loss if of a pet and the one who is left is a child.  Of course this can be true for adults as well as children -- there is a wish for the grief to subside before it's time. In the book, a child who has been overcome with grief is listened to and helped with sweetness and power to move back in to her life. The emotion's cause and circumstances are not exactly defined, but the feeling is, and in a way that deepens the experience for the reader. Would be a great book for any age person who has lost a pet, who has moved away from good friends, or in any situation where deep understanding and a kind of magic are necessary for a person to move on.  "The Blessing" by Anora Sutherland [McGaha)], Book, 19 pages

http://www.joyfuljewel.com/Anora-McGaha.html

Website:  http://www.joyfuljewel.com

 Newsletter subscription:  mariah.joyfuljewel@gmail.com 
 FaceBook:   https://www.facebook.com/TheJoyfulJewel

 Linked In:   www.linkedin.com/pub/mariah-wheeler/12/861/a9b
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheJoyfulJewel