Komorebi: Light Shining Through

By Gail Box Ingram

In the ups and downs of life, for me the writing of a poem allows breakthrough, deeper understanding, and celebration or acceptance of a situation. I love sensing a poem taking shape in my head. This causes me to stop, listen, and write down what is there. I live more fully when I can express a situation, a scene, an emotion by writing a poem. Japan is the only place abroad I have visited, and it has provided several poems as well as the title of this book. Komorebi is my favorite Japanese word. Find out why as you navigate the poetry of my life.

Her poems are vivid images evoking Gods intersection with our lives. They bring us needed respite in a world of wounds.

Jane Kirkpatrick, New York Times bestselling author of All Together in One Place.

Gail Box Ingram is a poet after my own heart. The world is more beautiful with poetry, and especially Gails. Her imagery is rare, and combined with her appreciation for the human struggle and humanity period, I am proud to call her a fellow-poet.

Laura Harris Smith, #1 bestselling author of Seeing the Voice of God: What God is Telling You Through Dreams and Visions (2014)

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 16, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490869766

Gail Box Ingram

The author is a compassionate person who has endeavored in life to raise compassionate children and grandchildren.

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Copyright © 2015 Gail Box Ingram.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-6977-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-6978-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-6976-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015902315

WestBow Press rev. date: 3/13/2015

Contents

Permissions and Copyrights

Foreword

Preface: How and Why

Acknowledgements and Thank You

Introduction

LOVE

Early Poems

Family and Friends

Marriage

Children

Japan

Nature

LIFE

On Earth

Career

Writing

Holidays

Pro-Life

THE HORIZON

The Challenged

Pets

Losses and Death

Afterword

Worship Songs About Light

Scriptures About Light

PERMISSIONS AND COPYRIGHTS

1. Asphodel, That Greeny Flower (5 lines) by William Carlos Williams, from THE COLLECTED POEMS: VOLUME II, 1939-1962, copyright ©1944 by William Carlos Williams. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.

2. All quotes from Jane Kirkpatrick’s writings used by permission of the author.

3. Tom Thompson, excerpt from After Lighght. Copyright ©2014 by Tom Thompson. This poem appeared in Poem-a-Day on June 25, 2014, and is reprinted with the permission of The permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of the author.

4. Quotes by Christian Wiman used by permission.

5. Quote by Lafcadio Hearn, introduction to Japan, used by permission of Tuttle Publishing.

6. Translation of Kobayashi Issa’s haiku used by permission of the translator, David G. Lanoue, Ph.D.

7. Excerpt from Celtic Benediction by J. Phillip Newell. Copyright ©2000 by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

8. Quote by Edward Hirsch used by permission of Academy of American Poets.

9. Quote by Robert Penn Warren from the Introduction to FiftyYears of American Poetry, copyright©1985 by Robert Penn Warren, used by permission of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, LLC.

10. Quotes from John Lee Clark’s Suddenly Slow book of poetry used by permission of the author.

11. Quote from Robert Frost’s The Poetry of Amy Lowell, The Christian Science Monitor, May 16, 1925, used courtesy of The Christian Science Monitor (www.CSMonitor.com).

12. The following authors’ quotes/poems are in the public domain: William Penn, Edith Wharton, Walt Whitman, Emma Lazarus, Rainier Maria Rilke.

13. Quote by David G. Lanoue, Ph.D, from his book Issa: Cup-of-Tea Poems used by permission of the author.

14. Poems by family members and friends used by permission.

What readers are saying about Gail Box Ingram’s Poetry

Gail Ingram, thank you so much for giving voice to the words of my spirit! What a gift you are to me!

Facebook post by Cheryl Bailey, Classmate from Class of ’65, when she read the poem God is Light

I really enjoyed reading those poems. Some I laughed. Some I cried. Shirley Lundy, a cousin

I have enjoyed the book you put together. I read it all before I put it down. Doris Smyley, a cousin

Comments written after receiving Gail’s The Horizon chapbook, which she shares with people who have lost a friend or loved one:

"You truly have a gift of expressing your SOUL and it is very healing and life giving to those of us who are the recipients. It is quite a privilege to have a glimpse into another’s Soul and it brings great joy for that ‘glimpse’ to be into a childhood/adolescent soul from the past. Really, it helps me realize that ‘the past is the present, the present is the future. We are all connected and we are one and we are all deeply loved by those here and those who have crossed the veil, but most of all by a loving God who is the ground of our being and all that is. And that that divine indwelling lives in all of humankind because of Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.´" Minta Robson McDavid, Spiritual Director (commissioned by Contemplative Outreach), Classmate in the Class of 1965, A.G. Parrish High School and Student Council Chaplain. Note: words at the end in single quotes are a paraphrase of writings by Fr. Thomas Keating.

…rereading your poems with them and the grave uncertainty they face…helped me trust God for their future. The poems deal with an essential subject of the human experience…they offer solace to the grieving soul while offering insight into the everyday moments that we are left with, moments that continue to remind us of the continuing relationships we have with those who have left this earth. Jane Kirkpatrick, Author

I appreciate the book of poetry that you wrote—I will cherish the love in action in sending it and in my reading it during this difficult time. Dale Slagel, a church friend who had lost her Mother

Gail, you have made me feel loved. I read the introduction to the treasure you gave me with tears in my eyes. Knowing your dad (and your mother) made it more special. I will enjoy reading and pondering every word, but most of all I will treasure the spirit in which it was given. Thanks so much for your kindness and friendship. Jerry Hatfield, a high school classmate and friend who lived in our neighborhood growing up

"…I shall enjoy them as I meditate on the things of God." a recently widowed church member from another city

"Thank you so much for your kindness during this hard time for our family. You have a beautiful talent, may God bless you!" Starla Harris Hill, a cousin who lost her grandmother

From a friend at church who read the poem I wrote about her:

… I am so filled with awe that Holy Spirit would reveal something so beautiful about my life in HIM. That this life I live could be expressed in the richness of your words is extremely humbling! I am so emotional! What an extraordinary gift you have and to think I could be given a place in it blows the mind! As you do so do I give all the Glory To The LORD of Glory !!! Be blessed in the gift He has given you and as you allow it to be used to bless all those who will read the work ‘of the pen of a ready writer’.

A Prophetic Word given to Gail on 9-26-2014 at her church:

This is for Gail. I see gushers and gushers of poems coming forth from the Holy Spirit through you. God is pleased with your writing because it honors Him and His Word.

Archbishop Charles William Jones, Cathedral of Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church, Selma, Alabama

…multiple roles in a busy life have given her a wealth of experience and emotions from which she has skillfully constructed her work.

Henry Langhorne, Poet Laureate of Northwest Florida, 1999-2009

"Her poems are vivid images evoking God’s intersection with our lives. They bring us needed respite in a world of wounds. …lively images that speak to the reader and help us imagine our world through yours while still seeing the singularity of your experience. Poet Mary Oliver writes in her poem Praying ‘…this isn’t a contest but the doorway into thanks, and a silence in which another voice may speak.’ That’s how I see these precious poems by Gail Ingram. They are words that open doors to thanks, words that give us a silence that allows another voice to speak to us in times of trial, in times of joy, in times of insight. Gail captures the essence of the everyday and infuses it with wonder. As a frustrated poet (I think all novelists are really frustrated poets!) I am humbled by her ability to put into images and singular words the wisdom I didn’t know I was seeking. Enjoy these poems and let them speak to you." Jane Kirkpatrick, New York Times Bestselling author of All Together in One Place.

Gail Box Ingram is a poet after my own heart. The world is more beautiful with poetry and especially Gail’s. Her imagery is rare, and combined with her appreciation for the human struggle and humanity period, I am proud to call her a fellow-poet. Laura Harris Smith, #1 Best-selling author of Seeing the Voice of God: What God is Telling You Through Dreams and Visions (Chosen Books, 2014) Forthcoming from Laura Harris Smith and BroadStreet Publishing in 2015 will be Growing in Grace, a poetry devotional journal.

Dedication

-to my dear husband, Bracken, for helping me

through so much of my life in such all-encompassing

ways

-to anyone seeking the true Light

Komorebi

is

the way to be:

light shining through,

bringing beauty

and

a way to see.

You are invited to come and see.

Photography and Poetry – Parallels

from A Flickering Light

Jane Kirkpatrick, Author

(writing about her grandmother, a photographer in the early 1900s)

Poems are photographs…

"Just looking at the photograph brought back the memory of the day.

That was the power of art, she decided, to take a person back—and inward too, to intersect life with expectation."

Poets are photographers…

She felt so grateful to have discovered this love of capturing a moment in time and sometimes making it even more perfect than it might otherwise be—a fragile moment retained as it really happened.

Minds are film…

The purpose is to allow light onto the film and therefore unveil something that would be otherwise hidden; that’s what an exposure really is….Clarity is always what a photographer strives for. Well, that and a photograph that sings out from within in some indescribable way. Photographs that make one take in a breath while being drawn into the image. It is what I want in my life too, those moments of sharp breathing, perfect clarity, fully drawn in.

Understanding poetry is light…

…the source and understanding of light marks a portrait master. I held that thought close, ever grateful for the lesson, hoping always to reflect that learning in my life.

FOREWORD

Gail Box Ingram is without question a fine poet. Her multiple roles in a busy life have given her a wealth of experience and emotions from which she has skillfully constructed her work. Perhaps you have wondered what it would be like to be a poet, using the imagination to write in rhyme and metaphor. Are poets like everyone else or are they dreamers on their own journey?

If you have pondered such questions, reading this book may provide some answers. Gail has written poetry on a variety of subjects, even explaining why some of her poems were written. She had some of these questions in her mind and began studying poetry and poets in high school in an effort to find what made them tick. Reading Komorebi will help you understand what makes her tick.

She began writing poetry at age 14 and developed this talent so that she was recognized as Class Poet of her high school graduating class. She continued to write poems in college and as she pursued a career in the medical field, married, and became a mother and grandmother.

In this, her first book, you have the opportunity to know Gail and demystify the image of a poet you may have had. She has led a full life and has certainly not been a dreamer in her own private world. Gail wishes to share with you how poetry has amplified and enriched her journey. See how her poetry does, indeed, reflect light and life.

Henry Langhorne, Poet and Physician

Poet Laureate of Northwest Florida, 1999-2009

Dr. Langhorne is the author of 8 books of poetry. Born in Uniontown, AL, he now practices cardiology and lives in Pensacola, FL.

PREFACE: HOW AND WHY

Komorebi is my favorite Japanese word. It is pronounced "comb oh ray be" and is descriptive of sunlight shining down through leaves, trees, or blossoms. It is beautiful to see. Sometimes this is captured very well in photography, whether by accident or expert plan. Seeing it always makes me smile. On the cover of this book, the sunlight highlights the leaves and the fluffy pink blossoms. What treasures from the Creator God: light and flowers and leaves!

Writing is not something I do every day, but at times of highs or lows when feelings are near the surface. It seems that when I can express life in poetry or other writing is when I live my life to the fullest. This reflects John 10:10 where Jesus said that he came to bring life and that to the full or, as another version says, life more abundantly.

Originally, I wanted to name this collection a catch phrase from the John 10:10 passage and my daughter suggested Life More. I liked that, but as time went on and I worked on the gathering of the collection for you, I decided to use Komorebi. This reflects both my view of light shining in the darkness as a parallel to my Christian beliefs, truth breaking through, as well as my strong ties to Japan.

In elementary school in the 50s, we had an assignment to do a booklet on a country we would like to visit. I chose Japan. Forgotten, Japan surfaced again when our daughter, Carrie, moved there to teach English. I was able to visit her in Japan, fulfilling a dream in November, 2005. Shortly after moving there, she met Satoshi Suenaga who was to become her husband. I loved the beauty of Japan and was quite taken by the lovely people who seemed to like Americans.

Since my first visit, there have been joyous reasons for more, including our daughter’s wedding in 2008, when my husband and son accompanied me, and the birth of our first grandchild in 2010. Because our granddaughter was growing and changing, I visited twice during 2012 after retiring from 44 years in the medical laboratory field. I love the country and the people and hope I can visit many more times.

The picture of the cherry blossom tree on the front cover was taken by Carrie on the island of Okunoshima in the Inland Sea near Hiroshima. My family had taken me there as a surprise, telling me I