Lessons in Love – Saturday Stopover
Walking by Inner Vision Blog
Walking by Inner Vision Blog
with Lynda McKinney Lambert
Today I am Present ting…
Lessons in Love – Saturday Stopover
Lessons in Love: A Poetic Autobiography
by Penny Fleckenstein, Pittsburgh, PA Poet
Book Design and Editing by
DLD Books
When my mail arrived yesterday I was delighted because my copies of Penny Fleckenstein’s first published book of poetry arrived. I bought a copy for my collection of poetry books. I also purchased a copy to send to a friend, as a surprise gift.
The book cover is so lovely – you have a feeling before you open a page that something beautiful will be waiting for you to discover. I had a surprise when I read her Acknowledgments page. Penny listed six writers who strengthened and encouraged her in her writing journey. My name was there on her list. And I thought, “This is just like Penny to give credit to others for her success!” Thank you, Penny, for your friendship over the years. I always love chatting with you about our family, poetry, writing, and everyday mundane things that we share in common.
this book is very special to me because I am the mother of a child from Vietnam. Like Penny, he as grown up and has a family of his own. Through conversations with Penny I hear her inner thoughts, I gain insight in our own family. I am sure Penny’s family is so proud of their daughter.
From the book’s description at retail outlets;
72 poems
150 Pages
in this book Penny presents poems about many types of love:
for the author’s three guide dogs, for her six children, for her parents and grandparents, for God and nature, for her many friends, and in a handful of light–hearted selections, for food.
The many romantic poems express love for both real people and dream lovers, for ideals yet unattained. One of the most humorous poems, “Beautiful Music,” which is cleverly composed primarily of song titles, appears in this section.
The introductory paragraphs that appear before many of the poems are an unusual and moving feature. Most of them introduce the people described in the following poems; they provide a rich background, fleshing out the characters. Others tell more about the author’s life, from babyhood on, their spare words providing a brief but poignant autobiography. The reader is left hoping that someday, the author might choose to write more fully on these very personal subjects.
the book is loaded with love and when I saw the poem, “There is One Race,” it brought my heart to a stop.
As a mother of two adopted children from Vietnam and Korea, as well as three biological children we can understand this so well – an international family with children of European, Asian and African heritage. I read long ago as a young girl that our children are not from us, but they flow through us. They are not a possession that we own but they are individual spiritual beings that were brought into our lives by God. All children were in Heaven with God. They ere spirit beings. Each little spirit belongs to God who has allowed them to come into this world and live for a while.
As a mother, I know that all children pass through our body, but that they belong to God.
In this poem, Penny speaks of the key to peace and love that unites a fallen world. It is the truth that I read in the first book of the Bible (Genesis). God created the first man and woman to be his image bearers on earth. He created only one man and one woman – and they are our ancestors. We are all from those two people – the only ones that were ever created by God.
Penny writes in the poem, There is One Race, that God wants all people
“to live in his Kingdom for all eternity
as his church
as one human race
a rainbow of color
which decorates His place.”
This is only a tiny slice out of a collection of seventy-two poems by Penny Fleckenstein.
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© 2021. Lynda McKinney Lambert. All rights reserved.
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Week 1 – January 10 – 16 – Take a WALKING TOUR of my PRIVATE FIBER STUDIO – Here
Week 2 – January 17 – 23 – I shared a few photos of the paintings that are on the walls of my Fiber Studio. Here!
Week 3 – January 24 – 30 – Lynda takes visitors on a little tour of some of the 3-D Objects that are in her studio. Here.
Week 4 – January 31 – February 6…POETRY BOOKS on the Studio Shelves – Here
Week 4 – BONUS – February 7 – An Interview with Lynda – by American Printing House for the Blind. Here
Week 5 – February 7 – 13 – Publications and Winter Wonderland updates- Here!
Week 6 – February 14 – 20 – Valentine’s Week SALE – my chapbook on SALE now.. Here – ONLY 5 AVAILABLE THIS MORNING
Week 7 – February 21 – 27 – Inspirations from LOOKING at ART and ART BOOKS. Here.
Week 8 – February 28 – March 6 – I face the Clutter Dragon #1 ~ March Madness. Here
Week 9 – March 7 – 13 – Face the Clutter Dragon #2 – March Madness – Here.
Week 10 – March 14 – 20 – Cover Reveal . Saturday Stopover – A Spring Surprise See it NOW.
Week 11 – March 21 – 27 – Come back to Visit and Find Out –