Book: Diamonds in a Stony Field, by Alla Renée BozarthPosted May 12, 2023 |
Diamonds in a Stony Field by Alla Renée Bozarth contains poems from 1982 to 2022. The poems address historical events, literature, world-travels, and deeply personal experiences and perspectives with the underlying themes of loss and redemptive grace. In addition to her 40 years as a Gestalt therapist, she is one of the 15 Episcopal priests who cracked the stained glass ceiling in 1974 and 1975 by becoming the first ordained women deacons to be ordained to the priesthood, with the help of brave and conscientious male bishops. The poet understands prejudice from personal experience. But this book isn’t directly about that. Its scope is broader. From her own stories and those of people in all walks of life, Alla Renée Bozarth can speak of the process of making one’s way, with help from others, through seemingly impossible situations, including war, poverty, family rejection, natural disasters, long illness and chronic prejudice, even with recurring instances of violence. Her poems testify that grace, grit and endurance can lead to breakthrough. When people work together, institutions can also become transformed. Where hatred prevailed, justice and kindness can take over and grow. Exploring sharp, stony fields, we may discover diamonds. Sometimes boulders in the way can serve as leaning stones while we catch our breath or lie low for a time, and notice how smaller stones break open to reveal diamonds inside that can capture sunlight.
Over the years readers have responded to Alla about individual poems in this collection: “You draw on waters of a well you have dug and filled, with a lifetime of spiritual reflections and observations about the cosmos and the human condition within the cosmos— emerging as truth, dressed up in the magnificent language of poetry. This is soul-talk. Thank you for finding distinctive images that touch us in so many remarkable ways.” Rolf Gompertz, author of My Jewish Brother Jesus.
“Your poems come from such a deep and holy place, and my similar place responds like a child waking up.” Elizabeth Oakes
“You truly live the gospel and cry it out with your life and your craft. Your writings, all that I’ve read, are like a stream of living water that flows deep from within your soul. Thank you so much!” Brother Michael St. Jacques
“Alla Renée Bozarth, thank you for these poems and writings. Thank you for watching the world for us.” Ruthanne Bullock, teacher, Welches, Oregon
“You are a precious link, the tuning fork! One of the Tuners, vibrating brilliantly here in a human form, expressing Love as well so others may trust your revelations in poetry, which frees the deep and heavy thoughts so they may flow. Enlightened— the perfect word! Thank you, Alla Renée Bozarth, your heart on fire always.” Carol Grigg, artist, poet and singer.
Addressing other readers: “I remember thinking while reading Alla’s poems about Hurricane Katrina, and again the poems about the women she clearly considers mentors and saints, that I was reading ‘poetry of record,’ just as The New York Times is the nation’s newspaper of record. She fleshes out the details most newscasters and historians leave out. Some poems were painful and despairing to read, some were uplifting and hopeful, but all are calls to examine one’s self and to re-evaluate one’s understanding of self, historical events, women, humanity. The title she chose for the collection is perfect. Some of the painful stones in the field are sharp-edged diamonds that are invaluable sources of hope and faith and love if we will only stop long enough to risk picking them up and then carry their lessons with us. I dare you to walk across the stony field and read them all. You’ll be a more loving and compassionate resident of the planet by the time you’re done.” Peter Converse, transcendental meditation practitioner and end of life counselor.
AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Alla Reneé Bozarth, poet and prose writer, therapist and Episcopal priest, was among the first eleven women ordained as Episcopal priests in 1974 in Philadelphia. She was born in Portland, Oregon, and all her life has been spiritually nourished by the natural beauty of Mt. Hood, the Columbia Gorge waterfalls, and the northern Oregon coast. She is author of numerous books, including Life is Goodbye/Life is Hello: Grieving Well through All Kinds of Loss and A Journey through Grief {Hazelden Publishers); The Book of Bliss, Accidental Wisdom, Moving to the Edge of the World (iUniverse.com), and her scholarly book. She has a doctor of philosophy degree in performing arts and the interpretation of literature from Northwestern University and a certificate in Gestalt psychotherapy from the Gestalt Training Center of San Diego. She has over forty years of professional experience as a caregiver of souls. She has served as psychotherapist, pastoral counselor, consultant and mentor for individuals and groups. Now retired from public life for reasons of health, Dr. Bozarth’s home and sanctuary incorporate Wisdom House, Inc., in Sandy, Oregon. There her work continues, as she devotes herself to writing as a way of harvesting the fruit of a life richly fertile from experience and formal learning. Her writings plumb the depths of the human condition, and explore the breadth of Creation from Earth’s smallest creatures to the vast regions of the stars. Her poems have been put to music, painted, danced and performed by other artists and are loved and used throughout the world.
Dr. Alla Reneé Bozarth, poet and prose writer, therapist and Episcopal priest, was among the first eleven women ordained as Episcopal priests in 1974 in Philadelphia. Dr. Bozarth is author of numerous books, including Life is Goodbye/Life is Hello: Grieving Well through All Kinds of Loss, A Journey through Grief {Hazelden); The Book of Bliss, Accidental Wisdom, This is My Body~ Praying for Earth, Prayers from the Heart, Moving to the Edge of the World, This Mortal Marriage~ Poems of Love, Lament and Praise {iUniverse); Soulfire~Love Poems in Black and Gold (distributed by the author at bearblessings.com); Womanpriest: A Personal Odyssey (Paulist Press 1978, revised edition Luramedia 1988, distributed by bearblessings.com); Stars in Your Bones: Emerging Signposts on Our Spiritual Journeys: poems by Alla Bozarth, color paintings by Julia Barkley and commentary by Terri Hawthorne [currently out of print]; and her scholarly book, The Word’s Body (University of Alabama Press 1979, University Press of America, Rowman and Littlefield 1997). She has a doctor of philosophy degree in performing arts from Northwestern University and a certificate in Gestalt psychotherapy from the Gestalt Training Center of San Diego. She has over forty years of professional experience as a soul caregiver– soul-mending as a psychotherapist and soul-tending as a spiritual director. She has served as pastoral counselor, consultant and mentor for individuals and groups.
Now retired from public ministry and travel for reasons of health, Dr. Bozarth’s home and sanctuary incorporate Wisdom House in Sandy, Oregon, where she devotes herself to writing as a way of harvesting the fruit of a life richly fertile from experience and formal learning, plumbing the depths of the human condition, exploring the breadth of Creation from Earth’s smallest creatures to the vast regions of the stars. Her poems have been put to music, painted, danced and performed by other artists and are loved and used throughout the world.
To use the links below, highlight the link, right click and choose “Open link.”
Please visit her Web blogs to see hundreds of soul-healing poems, prayers and beautiful images from Nature. Her main blog~ Welcoming Light in the Wilderness (see her related book, At the Foot of the Mountain~ Nature and the Art of Soul Healing):
http://allabozarthwordsandimages.blogspot.com/
A tribute to Alla’s beloved husband Phil Bozarth-Campbell~ All Souls’ Day~ This is My Beloved (see her related book, Womanpriest: A Personal Odyssey):
http://allabozarthwordsandimages.blogspot.com/p/all-souls-daythis-is-my-beloved.html
Please also visit Alla’s Web blog, Grief and Grieving Well Resources with poems, prayers, pictures and stories that offer comfort, courage and hope, featuring the “Love Mantra for Letting Go” and her new poem “Zigzagging the Grief Terrains” (see her books, Life is Goodbye/Life is Hello: Grieving Well through All Kinds of Loss, A Journey through Grief and This Mortal Marriage: Poems of Love, Lament and Praise):
http://griefandgrievingwellresources.blogspot.com/
Note her Vietnam docupoem with its own blog, with the powerful and compassionate poem, “The Veteran,” and a section on peace activists, especially women against war:
http://vietnamdocupoembyallabozarth.blogspot.com/
Tributes to the fifteen women Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in the organization’s 111 year legacy, with a special poem honoring the environmental activist and champion of women’s rights, 2004 Peace Laureate Dr. Wangari Maathai, tributes to Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Aung San Suu Kyi and other women of valor, the lyrical cantata poem, “Circle of Fire,” and the powerful call-to-heal-the-Earth poem, “The Black Madonna” (see her related books, This is My Body: Praying for Earth, Prayers from the Heart by Alla Reneé Bozarth and Stars in Your Bones: Emerging Signposts on Our Spiritual Journeys by Alla Bozarth, Julia Barkley and Terri Hawthorne):
http://womenpeacelaureateswangarimaathaipoem.blogspot.com/
Her complete bibliography with reviews, excerpts, poems and stories:
http://allabozarthbooks.blogspot.com/
A revised and updated Interview on Writing and Poetry that includes poems about her piano as healer, Susan B. Anthony and suffrage, war and peace and the plight of “The Veteran,” and the story of her collaboration with painter Julia Barkley and commentator Terri Hawthorne in creating their book, Stars in Your Bones~ Emerging Signposts on Our Spiritual Journeys (North Star Press of St. Cloud):
http://allabozarthinterview.blogspot.com/
A personal account of the historical Philadelphia Ordinations with stories, poems, photographs and tributes to Li Tim-Oi, the first woman ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Communion in 1944, followed by Joyce Bennett and Jane Hwang in 1971 in Hong Kong and Macao, and Jeannette Piccard who is on record as the first woman in space for piloting the hot air balloon she co-invented with her husband Jean into the stratosphere in 1934, and who forty years later was among the Philadelphia Eleven, the first women to become priests of the Episcopal Church. This account includes stories about personal heroes and poems for the first woman bishop in 1989, Barbara Harris, and Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori in 2006 (read about prior history in her book, Womanpriest~A Personal Odyssey, revised edition 1988):
http://philadelphiaordinations.blogspot.com/
AMAZON REVIEWS AND RATINGS DIRECT LINK
Social Menu