Roll On Great Earth - Softcover

Rosenfield, Clare S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0972633200 ISBN 13: 9780972633208

Publisher: Satya-Light Press, 2002

Synopsis

ROLL ON GREAT EARTH presents twenty-nine poems and seventeen full-color illustrations by artist/poet Clare S.Rosenfield. They reveal the poet's deep longing to jolt human beings from their apathy, despair, or unquestioned acceptance of war into the realization that there is a chance for peace and that it is within each one's reach. Her poems offer a glimpse into another orientation, one which connects everyone from their hearts to their own true humanity and from there, to all human beings, animals, the plant kingdom, the living earth.

The poet's illustrations range from watercolors and acrylics to pen and ink as well as unusual touch drawings.

About this title

From the Publisher

In this series of poems and illustrations, the author shares her "inordinate love for the earth" and her longing to contribute to a newly awakening consciousness, one which wakes up to the preciousness of its own life and of each life. In her first poem, "Roll On Great Earth," from which the book takes its title, her empathy for both our earth and those who dwell upon it is palpable. She writes:

"Roll on great earth
borne down upon
yet bearing bearing still
roll on sweet earth
though dirges ring
from west to east
and nothing stops them still
not hearing
still not hearing

What will it take for
them to shake inside
their skins and cease
the fire

Oh dire these times
must we put off till
they put on
the skins of dying men
croaking underneath the
rubble heaped with lifeless then
will they murmur oh what
we have done
what have we done

From the Author

I go wild at the slightest hint of racism, religious bias, ethnic hatreds, rights violations, specie-ism. Whether such distorted attitudes arise out of ignorance, neglect, or harmful intentions, all seem to lead to some form of exploitation, torture, or killing. It is an assembly line mentality transposed to the "industry" of cruelty, mass murder of both humans and animals, in a horrifyingly streamlined way. There is no regard for the other's independent right to live and grow and blossom. My poetry calls for a halt to this daily horror.

Birthed over a period of twelve years, these poems decry the puzzle of war, past and present, sound forth a note of unabashed hope, and point the reader toward pathways to peace, both inner and outer.

In "For My Beloved Dad," who was in anguish before the Gulf War twelve years ago and who died before it got fully underway, I, like him,

"angst for souls unknown
far off across the planet
hovering round the cradle of civilization
Mesopotamia of the Tigris
Babylon of the Euphrates
my third grade geography lesson leaping
from the pages
my heart too...."

It is incredible to me that this scenario is threatening to repeat itself. I pray that my poems can be heard worldwide and add to the voices of other mothers, fathers, and sensible people everywhere calling for a world without war, in which every life is sacred, in which mutual respect and a willingness to understand replace blind hatred, prejudice, and belligerence. May it be so.

About this edition

• Publisher: Satya-Light Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0972633200
• ISBN 13: 9780972633208
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 56