On the Shortest Days by Joyce Sutphen

Photo by Aileen Devlin.

On the Shortest Days

by Joyce Sutphen 

 

At almost four in the afternoon, the
wind picks up and sifts through the golden woods.

The tree trunks bronze and redden, branches
on fire in the heavy sky that flickers

with the disappearing sun. I wonder
what I owe the fading day, why I keep

my place at this dark desk by the window
measuring the force of the wind, gauging

how long a certain cloud will hold that pink
edge that even now has slipped into gray?

Quickly the lights are appearing, a lamp
in every window and nests of stars

on the rooftops. Ladders lean against the hills
and people climb, rung by rung, into the night.

“On the Shortest Days” by Joyce Sutphen from Modern Love & Other Myths. © Red Dragonfly Press, 2015.

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Night in Day

Samhain is drawing near, the time of year when Pagans honor their ancestors and pay homage to the dark time of the year.

Samhain (pronounced Sa-ween) is the basis of Halloween, which is (from records shown) the second biggest holiday in American culture.  We love it. 

I especially love this time of year more for the meaning of Samhain and celebration.  Honoring my ancestors has become a bigger part of my life for me; as I've gotten older I see and have learned how much of their lives is part of my own.  For example my grandmother in Panama, she used to love tarot cards and reading the signs but then she became a reformed Catholic.  I myself enjoy tarot cards.  My paternal grandmother made up the silliest rhymes, I do that now whenever I greet my cats or my boyfriend!

Anywho, to commemorate this special time of year, I'm working on a greeting card in my letterpress class that welcomes an audience to Samhain with an owl flying with a moon in the background, a short snippet of a prayer will also be on the cover.  I'm really looking forward to the finished product.

Here is a beautiful poem a friend shared with me several years ago that has a wonderful way of describing Autumn and the impending winter:

The Night never wants to end,

   to give itself over to light

Even on summer solstice,

  the day of lights great triumph,

Where fields of sunflower

  guzzle in the sun -

We break open the watermelon

  and spit out black seeds,

Bits of night glistening on the grass.

-By Joseph Stroud

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Don't forget...I'm having a SALE!

It's the middle of the month and also only two weeks away until my Autumn SALE ends! oh no, but there is still time to receive the 12 % off all my jewelry in my Etsy shop.  

I'm making room for new inventory I will be releasing in October, which I'm very excited about.  My Hunted line of jewelry has been quite successful but it's time to move on to new work - it's just as morbid but just as fascinating!

The Hunted bronze owl talon earrings, normally $125 but with 12% off it's $110!

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