40 Degrees from Elsewhere

By ELEANOR G. NASH

The author weaves observations about modern society with geographical phenomena, glimpses of herself in various stages of growth, spiritual and musical impressions, and retrospective realizations of family dynamics. The book offers keen insights of human behavior and emotions, poses questions for the reader to grapple with. Each poem bears date of creation for chronological interest.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 16, 2011
• ISBN: 9781467081665

ELEANOR G. NASH

Eleanor G. Nash, “Ele” to her friends, was born and grew up in Butler, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh (40 degrees latitude). She began writing as a teen-ager, studied writing at the University of Pittsburgh, and earned a degree in English summa cum laude at Notre Dame da Namur University in Belmont, California. She completed the Certificate Program in Poetry at the University of Washington in 2003. She is known for writing impromptu doggerel, special occasion poetry, music, hymns, and original songs. She has produced two CDs of her music and poetry, and some of her works have been published in literary journals and magazines. Throughout her adult life she balanced careers as a health care administrator and church musician. She is a classically trained pianist and organist who served liturgical and non-liturgical churches for over 40 years as organist/choir director as well as playing piano for musical shows. She is an avid swimmer and walker, lives in Kenmore, WA, with husband Jim and near two grown children and two grandsons.

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© 2011 by Eleanor G. Nash. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 06/12/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4670-8165-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4670-8166-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011919472

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

EATING

Eating Around The Edges

The Middle Bite

Ode To The Supermarket

Turning Over In Their Graves

HEART MATTERS

A Deceleration Declaration

Equal Time

Kissin’ Cousins

Mother Tongue

My Apple Mother

My Star By Day

Practicing Eternity

The Heart Swells Up

HISTORY

Best Of Britain

Dressed For The Occasion

40 Degrees From Elsewhere

Hallowe’en Past

IMAGININGS

What If Roses Were Horses

What Matters?

MODERN LIFE

Chemical Sensitivity Insensitivity

God, We’ve Taken Your Creation

Hugs

O The Light Lines

Paper Trumps

River Of Sadness

Sanctuary

The Funeral Parlor

Without A Gardener

MUSIC

A Musician’s Grace

As With Music

I Am A Piano

Military Music

Musical Language

Playing A Chopin Nocturne

The Organ Of Hearing

These, My Andante Days

POETRY

Chinese Poems

Ghazal On Iraqi Hospitals

I Imagine Myself As A Poet

Light Farther On - May 1942

On Looking Through Old Photo Albums

SEASONS

A P R I L

Autumn Picture Leaves

Christmas Is… .

Juanita Winter Waltz

Lavender The Trellis

Meditation On Advent Lessons And Carols

Milady’s Neck In Winter

Mt. Everest        Mt. Everest Ii

O Sister Winter

Out For A Walk On A March Morning

Saturday To The Outing

Third – Day Soup

Winter In Eugene

Winter Wanderings

SELF

A Cruel Fortune

I Am A Flapper’s* Daughter

Loose Ends

Mountains Laugh

Red – Haired Girl

The Careful Heart

To Live : Verb

Twin Mirrors Of Memory

SLEEPING

Insomnia

Gold Sleeps At Night

Sleeping

WATER

A Birthday Poem - Autumnal Equinox On Lake Washington

Bolero Swimming

High And Dry On A Laughing River

Like Swimming

Pink Balloon Sunday

Water Is Holy

Windowsill

EATING

EATING AROUND THE EDGES

A Performance Poem

November 2001

It’s eating around the edges that I like:

Potato chips

Handful of trail mix

Chocolate chip cookies

Piece of Hallowe’en candy

Corn curls

(in-between-meals snacks to keep me going)

Mustard pretzels and grapes

Licorice stick

Truffles

Orange prunes

until I realized

Latte and cinnamon roll

Granola bar

Popcorn

Chocolate-covered soy nuts

that eating around the edges

Half a Costco poppy seed muffin

M & M’s

Cheese crackers

Peanut butter on apple slices

is what puts on me the

edges

ridges

bulges

paunch.

THE MIDDLE BITE

January 1998

I had earned this bite,

had chewed through gristle not yet tasting of success,

had eaten through empty bread ends of lost tickets and frayed nerves,

of broken zippers, headaches, hasty words, traffic snarls,

misplaced mail, forgotten appointments, of bad news and illness,

through dry crusts of routine, rejection, rain.

And now, it was a MIDDLE-BITE-OF-THE-SANDWICH DAY,

a heaped up, open-mouth, multi-layered, two-hands-on,

Dagwood-inspiring, best-of-the-deli sandwich special,

well-dressed and feeling-fresh, feeling-fit kind of day

holding all