Elusive Light: A Collection of Poetry and Short Stories

By Martha Stewart Graham

Elusive Light offers valuable reflections on life and meaning through a collection of poetry and short stories. The poems comprise a generational series which first focuses on those who came of age during the Great Depression and World War II. The subject matter then shifts to reflections on the authors two lost sons and explores the nature of grief
and loss, before concluding with poems which address the internal struggles of coping with grief and progressing to the processes of recovery and healing - ultimately discovering hope for the future. The short stories which comprise the second part of this book are reminiscences of childhood and times past. These stories gently reveal aspects of the
relationship between generations, joyful experiences of early youth, and reflections on the passage of time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Oct 29, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450259101

Martha Stewart Graham

Martha Stewart Graham has been writing poetry and stories for most of her life. She was born in Tidewater Virginia and now lives in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Charlottesville.

Book preview

Contents

Part I: Poetry

The Precursors

Dark Run

Heritage

The River

Sepia

Aging Beauty

Legs of the Past

Forgot to Remember

Lost Boys

To Lost Boys

Longing

I’ll Come Back

Journey

Steven

Identity

Here and There

Brave One

Time Out

The Friends

Amazing

Out Here

Evolving

Dimness

Stuck in New York

Self

Shadow

Look Back in Anguish

Witness

Challenge

Borderland

New Day

Ice

Snowed In

Isolation

Dark

Avoidance

Enough

Trying Hard

Reflection

Tell Me

Tumult

Your City

Once Again into the Park

Waking

Offer

Lightness

Tentative Renewal

Epilogue

Quintessence

Continuity

True Being

Part II: Stories

Margaret in the Morning

Ocean View

Lightning Bugs

Sanimode

Bob Kitt’s Farm

The Throne Chair

First Methodist

Court House Lawn

Part I: Poetry

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The Precursors

Dark Run

Who is this man trudging down the dirt road?

He has been to see his old family home,

A slightly tumbled log house,

Dark with age on a sunny day.

He is a young man

Seen seventy years ago

In an old photograph,

Part of a scene

From the family’s past.

He is a strong man

With fine black hair,

Straight shoulders and long stride,

Making his way

From his past

To his present.

Moving from memories

Of prayer meetings,

Kerosene lamps, wood fires,

To college, the Navy, the War

And life as yet undreamed of.

Heritage

There was always a fiery fierceness within him.

Cherokee-descended, he frequented the hills

Where he found his secret place on the mountaintop,

Where he raised his arms wide, opening them to the sky,

Praying to the universe, offering himself.

There was always a fiery fierceness within him.

Scots-descended, he battled hard with the whiskey

Which bedeviled his mind, his body, and his life,

Wreaking havoc with his true gentlemanliness,

Tormenting his dignity and threatening his love.

There was always a fiery fierceness within him.

Mountain faith-descended, he fought hard to maintain

His inner self, gifts hidden under the bushel,

Which he strove to nurture, reveal, and see flourish

As he lived to be his best and offer his most.

The River

The river bisected the farmland,

Dividing what his father had owned

From that which he had paid for himself

Giving his father his first earnings.

His father resented his leaving,

Not wanting to stay and work the farm

Wanting to study, to learn

In the town beyond and away.

Means of obstruction were devised

To daunt the young man’s plans and hopes.

Yet he persevered, made his choice,

In the face of sternness, tough love.

The river is a forgiving place.

It’s where the rain-coated faithful

Get dipped to have their many sins

Fully, fervently washed away.

Sepia

The three stand together,

The grande dame and her daughters,

The younger and the older,

Ladies fair in sepia tone,

Gazing eyes, folded hands,

Grace personified.

Three ladies with three loves

Who wait somewhere behind

Not shown but powerful

Determining presences

Who make all the rules,

Strength personified.

How it all played out

Becomes the substance

Of three more stories

Going beyond the first

Of fresh simple youth

With clear ardent hopes.

How it all played out

Became joy and grief,

Became highs and lows

In the raw confusion

That makes up a life

Earnestly lived.

Aging Beauty

She once was so fine, so fair,

Much pursued by the young men

From her city and beyond.

She once married one of them,

Followed him far, far away

From where her life had begun.

Nestled in the deep mountains

Which she next would come to love,

She first longed for ocean’s breadth

Reaching out from well-known shore.

Time brought change, growing, learning,

New thought, new want, new fear.

Surprising strength, acceptance,

Faith and mellowing within

Brought a new beauty to her

As she made her way onward.

Legs of the Past

They called her Marlene,

Jokingly but enviously,

If you honor her story.

It was her long fine legs

That earned her the