Memories and More: Narrative Poetry

By Ellis Janzon

The basic idea of this book is to share life experiences, and thereby give comfort and encourage smiles, by showing my own and others’ reflections on different life-situations. I am sure that many of them are comparable to those that occur in your life, or to others around you. By sharing experiences, we all learn something. Women are probably sharing thoughts more often than men. Many of the events in this book have also been discussed in female groups. They have not all been personally experienced by me but are the consensus from these fruitful discussions. Now I am pleased to share them with you. Among the experiences discussed in this book: heartbreak, the #MeToo movement and my own experiences, divorce as its complication as a parent, and my own thoughts about the pandemic. I also share with you my thoughts about the aging process that we all must endure, if we are lucky enough to live that long, since life is still a gift given to us all. We ought to remember that and enjoy the journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jun 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9781035806300

Ellis Janzon

The author is a former academic teacher (assoc. professor) who returned after retirement to her country of birth, Denmark, after living and working in Sweden for 45 years. Today, she lives near the sea and the woods, and it is from this environment that she draws her inspiration. Although she mainly used English in her academic and scientific work, she now uses it in a more enjoyable and creative way. The book is written in a narrative poetry form.

Book preview

About the Author

The author is a former academic teacher (assoc. professor) who returned after retirement to her country of birth, Denmark, after living and working in Sweden for 45 years.

Today, she lives near the sea and the woods, and it is from this environment that she draws her inspiration. Although she mainly used English in her academic and scientific work, she now uses it in a more enjoyable and creative way. The book is written in a narrative poetry form.

Dedication

To my family –

and, not least,

all women

in the world

Copyright Information ©

Ellis Janzon 2023

The right of Ellis Janzon to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781035806287 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781035806300 (ePub e-book)

ISBN 9781035806294 (Audiobook)

www.ausstinmacauley.com

First Published 2023

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Acknowledgement

The cover photo, and the photo accompanying the Soulmate poem, as well as the photo of the The Polar light, were taken by my daughter-in law Elnaz Hviid. The sunset photos she took in Nice, France and The Polar light photo was taken as while she was working up at the North of Sweden. Thank you!

At last, a special thanks

To David Hill, my friend and brother-in law; and to Claire Hill, David’s daughter, who together, again in this book, undertook the language revision. Davis is a retired naval pilot, and Claire is working in university administration. The English language is their mother tongue.

Without you, this book would never have been conducted. I so enjoyed co-working with you!

Thank you both!

Prologue

Dear reader,

Life is full of events, lessons, hurts, sorrows, experiences, and love. Many times, we feel that this or that only happens to oneself. We ponder about why it happened, what could or should I have done differently to avoid this or that situation. Or what we could have done to make something better for ourselves or others. Sometimes, life is heavy and dark and we might feel alone. Sometimes, we have lost someone near or very dear and believe that the sorrow will never leave us.

Other times, we bubble with joy and excitement and wish to share our thoughts and experiences with others. Sometimes in life, there may be events that we are too embarrassed to speak about since we believe that no one else has been exposed to the same.

My belief is that all these situations or something similar come to us all, perhaps at different times in our lives, but by sharing them we can see how alike we all are and can take comfort in that thought.

When reading poems, you might not want to read them as a novel. Instead, I suggest you to look at the table of contents and find a poem that one, that would fit to your own thoughts, needs, and experiences or one, that you are the most drawn to.

This book is written in the narrative poetry form. The following are the basic ideas of this book: to share life experiences, to give comfort, encourage smiles, and show my own and others’ reflections of different life-situations. I am sure that many of them, are comparable to those that occur in your life, or to others around you. By sharing, we all learn something. Women are probably sharing thoughts more often than men. Many of the events in this book have been discussed in female groups. They have not all been personally experienced by me, but are the consensus from these fruitful discussions. Now, I am pleased to share it all with you.

When reading the book, you will hopefully:

sometimes nod knowingly,

find some thoughts useful to share, when you are listening to a troubled friend,

feel a friendly hug,

and feel supported, if times are rough,

sometimes smile,

enjoy the diversity of life, as I still do.

Early Life Memories

The ‘War Baby’

The young man was walking up and down,

With a screaming small baby on his arm,

As did his wife, at times

That situation was repeated night after night

The young couple believed it was colic,

The baby was suffering from

That was not so,

Still, how should they know

The baby was seeing a