Wednesday, March 20, 2019

#86 Backstory of the Poem "View from Gethsemane" by Marletta Hemphill



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***This is the eighty-sixth in a never-ending series called BACKSTORY OF THE POEM where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog (CRC) focuses on one specific poem and how the poet wrote that specific poem.  All BACKSTORY OF THE POEM links are at the end of this piece. 

#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