The White Page Poems

Date: 2008
Author: Betty Aberlin
Publisher: Zossima Press
ISBN: 0972322140
Purchase: Amazon (Paperback)

Copyright © 2008 Zossima Press

Description

In 1880, George MacDonald, the Scottish poet, novelist and preacher, in the wake of the deaths of two of his children, published A Book of Strife in the Form of the Diary of an Old Soul. This book, which unites grief and hope in hard-won faith, contains a poem for every day of the year. In the first edition of this classic collection there was a blank page opposite each page of poems. Readers were invited to write their own reflections on the "white page." MacDonald wrote: "Let your white page be ground, my print be seed, growing to golden ears, that faith and hope may feed." Betty Aberlin...responded to MacDonald's invitation with daily poems of her own. Following the strict poetic form of The Diary of an Old Soul was an illuminating experience. In her own 7-line, 3-rhyme, 10-syllable pattern, Aberlin created a unique mixture of recurring themes and images drawing from Judaism, Christianity and her experiences as an actress and artist. Her vision is fresh and honest, revealing a keen observation of nature and human nature, from the exhilarations of faith, hope and love to the despairs of war, rejection and failure. Aberlin opens a path into spiritual reflection for the thoughtful reader to follow. (Don King, author of C.S. Lewis, Poet)