{"id":62,"date":"2013-04-17T10:28:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-17T14:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/?p=62"},"modified":"2025-09-14T15:04:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T19:04:04","slug":"the-writers-who-inspired-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/the-writers-who-inspired-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Lynda’s Journal – Writers Who Inspired Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

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April is National Poetry Month<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n

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Recently, in one of my writing groups, someone issued a bit of a challenge. \u00a0We were asked to consider the influence of a poet\u00a0 who has had a lasting effect on us?<\/div>\n
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The question is: \u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
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What poem\u00a0 inspired me?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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I thought about it for some time.\u00a0 How can I even begin to single out one? I have been thinking about this for awhile, since the beginning of National Poetry Month. I would think of one poet, or one poem, and would say to myself, \u201cthis one is it!\u201d But something was not quite right, so I would continue to contemplate the\u00a0 many writers I have loved over the years. I taught\u00a0 a wide assortment of\u00a0 poetry courses over my years as an English Professor \u2013 how to choose which one is the most influential to me? What poet brought me the core values I have embraced for my entire lifetime? What poetry answered the questions of life and death, and gave me a world view that is lasting beyond the trends and fashions of the changing times?<\/div>\n
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Was it in my own college years that I found that special one? Robert Bly took me on journeys to ancient times, as we walked together through snowy fields; I thrilled to the language of the 16th century poets and wrote papers on romance and death through the eyes of John Donne.<\/div>\n
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I looked back to my high school years – the Beats were living and breathing inside my thoughts and actions. I still love them, and I learned so much about life from them – things that still thrill me today as I look back.<\/div>\n
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No, move back further – what about the poetry of grade school years? Joyce Kilmer’s poem “Trees.” He gave me a life-long appreciation of nature and the universe and my place in it.\u00a0 And, the wonderful stories that were read to me by Mrs. Mathews, in her story time breaks at the North Star School.<\/div>\n
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My summertime reading – came to me.\u00a0 My mother would take me to the local public library where I would collect an arm full of books to bring home. Oh, the smell of them! The feel of them in my hands! Heaven on earth. Just me and a book, on the old front porch – reading through the summer afternoons there on the glider. Walter Farley and Louisa May Alcott –<\/div>\n
took me to a world of wonder and delight.\u00a0 I cried along with the tragedies of “Black Beauty” and I walked along with the children and had tea parties “Under the Lilacs” of Louisa May Alcott’s imagination.<\/div>\n
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Authors and books stay with us forever. In the final quarter of my life, they are still there, alive and thrilling. My memories abound with the people, places, and life lessons I have learned from all those writers and poets.<\/div>\n
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Finally,\u00a0 last night, in a conversation with another writer it came to me \u2013 in an instant, I knew for sure the \u00a0one key source of my own writing, from a very early age.<\/p>\n

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My source is an ancient one \u2013<\/div>\n
the Psalms of the Bible.<\/div>\n
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King David\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
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was \u00a0my earliest source of creative writing, and I would always connect poetry with singing.<\/b><\/p>\n

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I would have heard them read in church from the time before I could speak. The various Psalms have been at the core of my life.<\/p>\n

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When my younger brother was dying on New Year\u2019s Eve our entire family was there surrounding him in his home as he lay unconscious.\u00a0 My brother departed from this world at dawn on the first day of\u00a0 2007.\u00a0 We said the 23rd<\/sup> Psalm to him while he was in his final minutes that \u00a0\u00a0night.<\/p>\n

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Three months later, my sister, \u00a0youngest brother and I were tending to our Mother as she was beginning her final journey to the next world, I sat beside her with my Bible and I began to read her a number of Psalms because I knew those words would bring her comfort and peace. I sang to her, and I read to her that afternoon.<\/p>\n

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Last year, once again, I was with my Aunt Bettie, in a hospice, watching over her and holding her as she was getting ready to leave this world. Again, it was the songs of faith, and the Psalms that I shared with her. This time, my sister Patti was there with me again, as she had been the other two times. My two granddaughter\u2019s were there, and our little 3 year old great-granddaughter was there as she gently\u00a0 slipped away.<\/p>\n

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For several years, I had been writing my own personal \u201cMeditations on the Psalms.\u201d\u00a0 It was a way of worship for me. I would read a Psalm and then keep it in my heart during the day. Throughout the day, I would jot down notes, little meditations, on that Psalm.\u00a0 Many of the Meditations were published by a gallery in New York. They appeared in the gallery newsletters over several months. I had not thought about them for quite awhile, until I began working on my writing archives and came across them once again.<\/p>\n

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Below\u00a0 is one of my \u201cMeditations.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Psalm 138<\/u>\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/b>The link below will take you to a recording of the \u00a0original source if you want to compare my meditation with the original that inspired me one day in 1999.<\/p>\n

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You can listen to this Psalm:<\/b><\/p>\n

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http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/audio\/mclean\/niv\/Ps.138<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

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\u201cAn Interpretation on Psalm 138\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 by Lynda McKinney Lambert<\/b><\/p>\n

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I am standing here,\u00a0 Lord –<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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my heart full of praises for you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I am sometimes aware<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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that the angels of heaven<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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surround me as I sing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In my imagination,<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I\u00a0 stand against a gentle breeze-<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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still on the mountain top,<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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looking at your Holy Temple.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The sun warms my face.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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How could I refrain<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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from singing today<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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as\u00a0 I think about your faithfulness,<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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and the promises you keep?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Your trust is guaranteed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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You know there\u2019s been days<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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when I\u2019ve been weak –<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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my condition has been shameful<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Yet, you respond to me<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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with encouragement and new dreams.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Wouldn\u2019t every person in this world<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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like to hear your voice today?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Surely they would give you thanks<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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because you know them personally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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They will see that you are great.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Through the greatest dangers<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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we have come hand in hand.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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You cleared the way before us<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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and quietly rescued me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Is it\u00a0 because you have plans for me?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The vitality of life passes before<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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the presence of\u00a0 your glance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Let this day develop as you say<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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and for only one reason –<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I am your creation!<\/p>\n

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Lynda McKinney Lambert. Copyright 1999. All Rights Reserved.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

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Lynda<\/div>\n
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\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  \u00a0 April is National Poetry Month   Recently, in one of my writing groups, someone issued a bit of a challenge. \u00a0We were asked to consider the influence of a poet\u00a0 who has had a lasting effect on us? …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trusting-god"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4gbwn-10","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4619,"url":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/bouquet\/","url_meta":{"origin":62,"position":0},"title":"Bouquet","author":"Lynda Lambert","date":"April 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"April is National Poetry Month. 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Pennsylvania poet and author, Lynda McKinney Lambert, reads her poem on a voice recording and shares the text of a poem from her book, Walking by Inner Vision: Stories & Poems. This poem is inspired by the abduction of Persephone\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "#Trusting God"","block_context":{"text":"#Trusting God","link":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/category\/trusting-god\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo of a white rose in full bloom. 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Today's poet is Georg Trakl. Lynda includes a poem by Trakl, a brief history, and some commentary on his work.","rel":"","context":"In "#Trusting God"","block_context":{"text":"#Trusting God","link":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/category\/trusting-god\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/georg-trakl.jpg?fit=448%2C293&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14114,"url":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/national-poetry-month-day-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":62,"position":4},"title":"National Poetry Month – Day 3 – “Good morning, my Friend”","author":"Lynda Lambert","date":"April 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Good Morning, My Friend,\" is a FOUND POEM. I FOUND the lines for this poem in my E-mail message today. What will YOU find in your mailbox today? You might FIND a poem there just waiting for you to FIND it.","rel":"","context":"In "#Trusting God"","block_context":{"text":"#Trusting God","link":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/category\/trusting-god\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo shows Lynda Lambert standing outside with trees in the background. 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