Marvel

Jeannie E. Roberts

To experience marvel is an integral part of my life. Like wonder, it is an offering of inner transportation, an awakening from the humdrum. The ability to linger in a state of marvel has secrets to tell you. For me, to witness the breeze at dawn speaks in a voice of gentle astonishment; it amplifies my being and tells me, don’t go back to sleep. Here, I receive the ability to move through my day with a clear lens and an open heart, to be marveled in ways that provide internal support. Walks have always captured moments of wonderment, surprises along the trail that are worth examination, like the complexity of a spider web or the buoyancy of a butterfly as it crosses my path. These may be small things, but they whisper in ample tones as the little miracles that bring amazement to daily living.

Marvel takes many forms, not only in nature but through the practice of creativity. Human beings are remarkable in their capacity to create astounding works of art, dance, music, cinema, and literature. In particular, I am in awe of impressionistic painter Claude Monet; his series of landscapes and water lilies exist within a category of transcendence; his understanding of the effects of light, its movement, and use of color are marvelous gifts to humanity. Additionally, I would be remiss if I did not include the extraordinary advances in science and technology, including the swift development and rollout of the Covid vaccine, the photographic clarity of interstellar space, and the power to produce world communication via the Internet, marvels each and every one. I was born in the era of film photography, rotary phones, and black and white TVs, so these advancements hold special significance.

Lastly, I would like to include a poem I wrote in 2018. It was first published in South Florida Poetry Journal. It is titled “Awaken,” but I believe a better title would be “Awaken to the Marvel.”

Awaken

—After Gretchen Marquette’s poem “What We Will Love with the Time We Have Left”

“The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep.” —Rumi

When we awaken, we may celebrate steam rising, the first sips of sunrise
where lake ice yawns neutrals, breaks white. The clarity of cold, its frozen
stillness. Constellations. The burning trail of stars. Hats. Scarves. Handmade
mittens. Bundles of children laughing, shaping angels in snow.

Maples, lindens, and oaks. Landscapes of lemon and scarlet, vermillion.
The tangle of understory, where mice skitter and stumps rot. The fragrance
of decay. Well-worn work gloves. Bamboo rakes. The muscular ache
of outdoor chores. Bonfires fueled with autumn’s leavings. Marshmallows,

their molten centers. The drip and stickiness of caramel apples. The small
softness of your child’s hand. Each step taken as you walk through alfalfa
fields. Clouds. The meadow where you lay dreaming, imagining dogs,
dragons, and dinosaurs. Plants, their power to grow, flourish between

concrete cracks. The green alignment of crops and pines, rural symmetry.
The squirrel drinking from backyard birdbaths, the tall dog following suit.
Crystals forming after hot coffee is poured over ice cream, the dissolving
texture that sweetens our lips. The sparkle of July in children’s eyes.

The scent of fresh starts. Lilacs blossoming. Buds burgeoning. The beating
of grouse. Swallowtails sailing midst maidenhair ferns. Rivers. Flood-beaten
banks. Haphazard heaps of driftwood. The surface glide of water striders.
The backward dance of crayfish. The call and commotion of American cliff

swallows. Precisely-made-mud nests. Bogs, peepers, and pollywogs. Youth,
and its bringing on. Age, and its letting go. The beauty of imperfection.
The gifts of brokenness. Poems, knowing that the breeze at dawn has secrets
to tell you.

Jeannie E. Roberts has authored eight books, six poetry collections and two illustrated children's books. Her most recent collection is titled The Ethereal Effect - A Collection of Villanelles (Kelsay Books, 2022). An award-winning artist and poet, she serves as a poetry editor for the online literary magazine Halfway Down the Stairs and is an Eric Hoffer and a two-time Best of the Net award nominee.