Sedona News

    Sedona Lit: Poems of the Sedona Light, Part Two

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    Sedona Lit is a series by Dr. Elizabeth Oakes, an award winning poet and former Shakespeare professor. A Sedonian of three years, she will highlight the literature, written or performed, of Sedona, past and present.

    photo_elizabethoakes_216By Elizabeth Oakes
    (August 29, 2016)

    Light is a thing; it weighs something. Astrophysicists theorize that 160 tons of sunlight hit the earth each year. When we feel heat, we are also feeling (although it is too slight ever to be noticed) weight.

    Light is also a major metaphor in literature, metaphysics, songs. It is the true subject of much of art – Monet, for instance, painted it with the form of haystacks just the backdrop.

    Light is our innerscape. We call the earth our mother, but light is as well. It gives us everything – including the food we eat and the energy in our cells. Lightscapes resonate with us, for they are self portraits.

    T20160828_sedonalit1oday, in Part Two of Poems of the Sedona Light, four Sedonians pay homage to light, worshiped through millenia both in actuality and in metaphor. Also, three photographers catch a moment in time, giving us their vision in art of the three basic elements: time, light, and space.

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    A magical land of light
    when day turns into night
    so stunning to man and to beast
    when sunset glows in the East
    Oh, Sedona, you wizard of light.
    Randy Fridley, WuWu Philosopher

    Summer Light Eagle
    This desert light arrives softly in the cool morning,
    Then almost unnoticed, spreads out her huge wings of gold
    Blinding us all with her intensity and strength
    Before she reluctantly relinquishes her hold
    To rest in darkness, preparing for flight again tomorrow.
    Kate Hawkes, Theater Professional

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    Like the best Wines
    The Light
    Of the Stars
    Is Aged to Perfection
    Nicholas Kirsten Honshin, Artist

    20160828_sedonalit3Nature’s perfect sight
    Thunder Mountain bathed in light
    Sun, shadow, dusk, night
    Barbara Litrell, Community Leader

    Next week, Part Three, with poems by Christine Marie, Jan Justice Oswald, Kenyon Taylor, and Bill Ward, and photographs by Honshin, Jan, and your Sedona.Biz columnist.

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    10 Comments

    1. Christine Cole on

      I never realized that light has weight. So interesting!
      I love how you weave so many subjects into your articles, Elizabeth.

    2. Kenyon on

      My goodness, I am so honored to be included in this stellar group of creatives. And it’s thrilling to be PUBLISHED!! Thanks, Dear.

      • Elizabeth Oakes on

        I was reminded of it in a book — one of the best ever, actually, I’m re-reading it — by Leonard Shlain, Art & Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light. It’s about the way artists (and writers, to some extent) often anticipate new theories in physics before the physicists.It’s been around for a while in quantum physics publications written for a mainstream audience. As I remember, the physicists became interested when they wondered why the tail of a comet did what it did. Evidently, it doesn’t accumulate, so some say it doesn’t count. But still . . . .