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#86 Backstory of the Poem “View from Gethsemane” by Marletta Hemphill
Can you go through the step-by-step process of
writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain
until final form? This poem was one in a series that I
wrote after a trip to the Holy Land in April 2015 (actually written in May of
2015). I wanted to capture the importance of the olive tree in that ancient country as well as something about Gethsemane.
Our group had seen a demonstration of the ancient olive press in Nazareth, where I was impressed anew with the meaning of Gethsemane and its relation to Jesus as He prayed in the garden on the eve of His death. Since
there were 2,000-year-old olive trees in the protected area of that garden's
location in Jerusalem, I began with that, which led to my memory of our tour
guide’s description of the blossoms so important to the livelihood of that
nation.
From that it connected seamlessly to the garden and the deeper
spiritual meaning. The third stanza with future promise came to me as alight bulb
moment, which caught me by surprise.
Where were you when you started to actually
write the poem? And please describe the place in great detail. I
was in my home office, seated on my floral sofa, where I could gaze out a
window to our back yard as I recalled my experiences from the trip to Israel.
How many drafts of this poem did you write
before going to the final? (And can you share a photograph of your rough drafts
with pen markings on it?) I typed my first
handwritten draft to take to my writing group for critique. I have the habit of
discarding rough drafts, though I can see why writers choose to keep them.
There were three deleted words
What do you want readers of this poem to take from
this poem? I was struck with the
significance of the fruitful olive tree in Israel, the meaning of Gethsemane
and the work that Jesus accomplished to make us fruitful, complete in Him. The
Divine connection to the olive press is no accident.
Which part of the poem was the most emotional
of you to write and why? The memory of Jesus
yielding to the press for our benefit like the unthinking olive moved me. The
people of Israel were so dependent on the fruit of the olive tree for
nourishment and livelihood that this intentional metaphor should have
been impossible to miss.
Has this poem been published before? And
if so where? I self-published a
book, Impressions of the Holy Land through illustrated poetry, in
November 2015, as a way to remember that unforgettable trip to Israel. It was a
huge undertaking, as I had never done anything like that before. The poem
appears as the one above, without the final changes I submitted to this
contest.
View from Gethsemane
The olive trees stand
throughout the land.
Abundant white blossoms
Ensure a harvest of plenty.
Plump, ripe, dark fruit
Gladly give of their
bounty—
Drops of nourishing oil;
No thought given to the
stress
Of yielding to the oil
press.
The Savior’s knee bends; life blood He lends.
Abundant life blossoms,
Promising a harvest of
plenty.
Fresh, clean, light fruit light
Gladly give from the
bounty—
Drops of life-giving oil;
Ever mindful His stress
In yielding to the oil
press.
From the mount He ascends, again He will stand.
Eternal life blossoms,
Reaping a harvest of plenty
Pure, whole, perfect fruit
Gladly rejoice in the bounty—
Drops of everlasting oil;
Forever grateful for the stress
Of the long-forgotten oil press.
Marletta Hemphill is a
missionary wife and mother of three living in Thornton, Colorado. She and her
family have lived cross-culturally in Manila, Philippines, and Brasilia,
Brazil. She has assisted her husband in ministry to International students at
CU in Boulder, Colorado for 23 years. She enjoys singing, Sudoku and crossword
puzzles, hiking, traveling, reading, and writing in her spare time.
BACKSTORY OF THE POEM
LINKS
001 December 29, 2017
Margo
Berdeshevksy’s “12-24”
002 January 08, 2018
Alexis
Rhone Fancher’s “82 Miles From the Beach, We Order The Lobster At Clear Lake
Café”
003 January 12, 2018
Barbara
Crooker’s “Orange”
004 January 22, 2018
Sonia
Saikaley’s “Modern Matsushima”
005 January 29, 2018
Ellen
Foos’s “Side Yard”
006 February 03, 2018
Susan
Sundwall’s “The Ringmaster”
007 February 09, 2018
Leslea
Newman’s “That Night”
008 February 17, 2018
Alexis
Rhone Fancher “June Fairchild Isn’t Dead”
009 February 24, 2018
Charles
Clifford Brooks III “The Gift of the Year With Granny”
010 March 03, 2018
Scott
Thomas Outlar’s “The Natural Reflection of Your Palms”
011 March 10, 2018
Anya
Francesca Jenkins’s “After Diane Beatty’s Photograph “History Abandoned”
012 March 17, 2018
Angela
Narciso Torres’s “What I Learned This Week”
013 March 24, 2018
Jan
Steckel’s “Holiday On ICE”
014 March 31, 2018
Ibrahim
Honjo’s “Colors”
015 April 14, 2018
Marilyn
Kallett’s “Ode to Disappointment”
016 April 27, 2018
Beth
Copeland’s “Reliquary”
017 May 12, 2018
Marlon
L Fick’s “The Swallows of Barcelona”
018 May 25, 2018
Juliet
Cook’s “ARTERIAL DISCOMBOBULATION”
019 June 09, 2018
Alexis
Rhone Fancher’s “Stiletto Killer. . . A Surmise”
020 June 16, 2018
Charles
Rammelkamp’s “At Last I Can Start Suffering”
021 July 05, 2018
Marla
Shaw O’Neill’s “Wind Chimes”
022 July 13, 2018
Julia Gordon-Bramer’s
“Studying Ariel”
023 July 20, 2018
Bill Yarrow’s “Jesus
Zombie”
024 July 27, 2018
Telaina Eriksen’s “Brag
2016”
025 August 01, 2018
Seth Berg’s “It is only
Yourself that Bends – so Wake up!”
026 August 07, 2018
David Herrle’s “Devil In
the Details”
027 August 13, 2018
Gloria Mindock’s “Carmen
Polo, Lady Necklaces, 2017”
028 August 21, 2018
Connie Post’s “Two
Deaths”
029 August 30, 2018
Mary Harwell Sayler’s
“Faces in a Crowd”
030 September 16, 2018
Larry Jaffe’s “The
Risking Point”
031 September 24,
2018
Mark Lee Webb’s “After
We Drove”
032 October 04, 2018
Melissa Studdard’s
“Astral”
033 October 13, 2018
Robert Craven’s “I Have
A Bass Guitar Called Vanessa”
034 October 17, 2018
David Sullivan’s “Paper Mache
Peaches of Heaven”
035 October 23, 2018
Timothy Gager’s
“Sobriety”
036 October 30, 2018
Gary Glauber’s “The
Second Breakfast”
037 November 04, 2018
Heather Forbes-McKeon’s
“Melania’s Deaf Tone Jacket”
038 November 11, 2018
Andrena Zawinski’s
“Women of the Fields”
039 November 00, 2018
Gordon Hilger’s “Poe”
040 November 16, 2018
Rita Quillen’s “My
Children Question Me About Poetry” and “Deathbed Dreams”
041 November 20, 2018
Jonathan Kevin Rice’s
“Dog Sitting”
042 November 22, 2018
Haroldo Barbosa Filho’s
“Mountain”
043 November 27, 2018
Megan Merchant’s “Grief Flowers”
044 November 30, 2018
Jonathan P Taylor’s
“This poem is too neat”
045 December 03, 2018
Ian Haight’s “Sungmyo
for our Dead Father-in-Law”
046 December 06, 2018
Nancy Dafoe’s “Poem in
the Throat”
047 December 11, 2018
Jeffrey Pearson’s “Memorial
Day”
048 December 14, 2018
Frank Paino’s “Laika”
049 December 15, 2018
Jennifer Martelli’s
“Anniversary”
O50 December 19, 2018
Joseph Ross’s “For Gilberto Ramos, 15, Who Died in
the Texas Desert, June 2014”
051 December 23, 2018
“The Persistence of
Music”
by Anatoly Molotkov
052 December 27, 2018
“Under Surveillance”
by Michael Farry
053 December 28, 2018
“Grand Finale”
by Renuka Raghavan
054 December 29, 2018
“Aftermath”
by Gene Barry
055 January 2, 2019
“&”
by Larissa Shmailo
056 January 7, 2019
“The Seamstress:
by Len Kuntz
057 January 10, 2019
"Natural History"
by Camille T Dungy
058 January 11, 2019
“BLOCKADE”
by Brian Burmeister
059 January 12, 2019
“Lost”
by Clint Margrave
060 January 14, 2019
“Menopause”
by Pat Durmon
061 January 19, 2019
“Neptune’s Choir”
by Linda Imbler
062 January 22, 2019
“Views From the
Driveway”
by Amy Barone
063 January 25, 2019
“The heron leaves her
haunts in the marsh”
by Gail Wronsky
064 January 30, 2019
“Shiprock”
by Terry Lucas
065 February 02, 2019
“Summer 1970, The
University of Virginia Opens to Women in the Fall”
by Alarie Tennille
066 February 05, 2019
“At School They Learn
Nouns”
by Patrick Bizzaro
067 February 06, 2019
“I Must Not Breathe”
by Angela Jackson-Brown
068 February 11, 2019
“Lunch on City Island,
Early June”
by Christine Potter
069 February 12, 2019
“Singing”
by Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum
070 February 14, 2019
“Daily Commute”
by Christopher P. Locke
071 February 18, 2019
“How Silent The Trees”
by Wyn Cooper
072 February 20, 2019
“A New Psalm
of Montreal”
by Sheenagh Pugh
073 February 23, 2019
“Make Me A
Butterfly”
by Amy Barbera
074 February 26, 2019
“Anthem”
by Sandy Coomer
075 March 4, 2019
“Shape of a Violin”
by Kelly Powell
076 March 5, 2019
“Inward Oracle”
by J.P. Dancing Bear
077 March 7, 2019
“I Broke
My Bust Of Jesus”
by Susan Sundwall
078 March 9, 2019
“My Mother
at 19”
by John Guzlowski
079 March 10, 2019
“Paddling”
by Chera Hammons Miller
080 March 12, 2019
“Of Water
and Echo”
by Gillian Cummings
081 082
083 March 14, 2019
“Little
Political Sense” “Crossing Kansas with
Jim
Morrison” “The Land of Sky and Blue Waters”
by Dr. Lindsey
Martin-Bowen
084 March 15, 2019
“A Tune To
Remember”
by Anna Evans
085 March 19, 2019
“At the
End of Time (Wish You Were Here)
by Jeannine Hall Gailey
086 March 20, 2019
“Garden of
Gethsemane”
by Marletta Hemphill
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