Photography and Poetry Book: Almanac of Quiet Days

Almanac of Quiet Days is by Whidbey Island poet Lois Edstrom who wrote a poem for each of fifty full color photographs featured on the Barnstorming Blog by Emily Gibson of Whatcom County, Washington.

From poets.org:

Ekphrastic poems are understood to focus only on works of art—usually paintings, photographs, or statues…to interpret, inhabit, confront, and speak to their subjects.

“Particularly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries there is a good deal of such poetry…” wrote John Hollander in The Gazer’s Spirit, a collection of ekphrastic poems and the artworks they confront. Some of the ways modern poets have faced works of art, Hollander wrote, “include addressing the image, making it speak, speaking of it interpretively, meditating upon the moment of viewing it, and so forth.”

Available to order from Amazon here
Your review of this book on Amazon helps to get the word out about it!

Local Whatcom County folks!
You can find it on the poetry shelf at Village Books in Fairhaven and in Lynden

Trouble finding a copy or questions? I have a few copies left – you can email me directly at emilypgibson@gmail.com

“When in a single volume, verses of power and insight are joined with photographic images of striking natural beauty, the combination is a rare gift for reflection and enjoyment. How better to celebrate Creation in its varied forms!”
Poet and Author Luci Shaw

Reviews:

Leonardo da Vinci said, “Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” In this case, of course, we are referring to photography, not painting. But the truth of da Vinci’s dictum remains unchanged. Edstrom and Gibson’s collaboration is nothing short of a triumph. Here, poetry and photography partner in a volume that will provide
many hours of enjoyment as da Vinci’s wisdom plays itself out in real time. This is a collection not to hurry through, but to savor in quiet moments with a glass of your favorite wine.
~Michael Escoubas on Quill and Parchment
Full review can be found here

“In this gorgeous ekphrastic volume, a physician farmer and retired nurse combine their photographs and poems to convey the richness surrounding us. Grazing Haflingers and ripening grain; enchantment in the deep forest and the
reading room; spiders weaving; bumblebees gathering and snow geese soaring; these and many other scenes of peace and tranquility soothe the soul. In creating this collection, Edstrom and Gibson render a form of healing deeper than the physical.”
—Sheryl Clough, Editor/Photographer, Writer; Author of Ring of Fire, Sea of Stone and Poul na Brone: In the Hollow of the Millstone

“Fresh Air” is among the poetic gems to be found in a new volume of ekphrastic poems by Lois Edstrom and Emily Gibson. The photograph captures layered landscape decorated in subtle pastels of blue, green and yellow. There is a tree line bordering the outer reaches of a pasture. Taken through a window looking out, both the photo and the poem bid readers to, “Open the window. Breathe deeply. / Let fresh air in.” If fresh air is a need in your life Almanac of Quiet Days, is calling your name.”
—Michael Escoubas, author of Little Book of Devotions: Poems that Connect Nature, God, and Man

The “Almanac of Quiet Day’s”( by Lois Parker Edstrom, photographs by Emily Gibson) is so much more than a lovely book of pictures and poems to sit on your coffee table. It is a feast for the eyes and nourishment for the heart and soul of a person.It urges one to sit, be still and contemplate God’s creation. Then to hope in the quiet work that goes on in the heart as it matures….like a plant responding to the seasons of life.
A person might just see that life’s struggles are there for a reason and dwarfed by the enormous height, width and breadth of this wonder-filled world.
Read and see if you don’t walk away feeling somehow deeper than before you surrendered your life for a few moments to look at the world through the eyes of Lois and Emily.
Jan Lovegren, Washington

Emily Gibson’s photos and reflections in her Barnstorming blog have grounded me every morning for years. They keep me in touch, through word and image, with the steadfastness of the natural world despite any human hyperactivity that’s spinning around me. I have come to appreciate that gift more and more while living in the recent years’ unsettling political climate and ongoing global pandemic. I have a need for regular contact with things that are real — trees, wildlife, mountains, domestic animals. Lois Parker Edstrom’s poetry adds another element of beauty to Emily Gibson’s photography in the book Almanac of Quiet Days, and I treasure the opportunity it’s brought me to check in to a place of quiet simplicity and serenity, if only briefly, on any over-busy day.
Wendy Edwards, California

This is a beautiful and uplifting book. The photos accompanying each lovely poem are perfectly paired. You can open to any page and be transported to a place of wonder and deep appreciation for the beauty of this world. I’m a long time reader of Emily Gibson’s blog, and I am delighted to be introduced to the work of Lois Parker Edstrom. This is a great book to gift, as well as own.
Melinda Coppola, Massachusetts

I have been following Emily Gibson’s “Barnstorming” blog for many years, and I often marvel at her photography that stops me in my tracks. I was delighted when I found out that there is a book of her work, with an added plus – Poetry by Lois Parker Edstrom. Each page is a new delight. Summer is here, and the house guests are arriving. This is set up in the guest room with a comfy chair and view to the waterfall. I know my many guests will be as delighted as I have been for these moments of tranquility.
I highly recommend this book!
Leah Puhlman, Oregon

It’s a tender book. A peaceful one. And if the term “ekphrastic poetry,” has you scratching your head, let me add that, true to form, these ekphrastic poems draw from literal elements in Emily’s photos and then muse about them, expanding each photo’s potential interpretation. In these pieces, poet Lois comments on time and personal history; rural life and the natural world; relationships, beauty, awe—subjects photographer Emily regularly considers. A perfect poetry form to bring this photographer and this poet together.
~Cheryl Bostrom, WA

This is a book to discover and savor in the same way one sits quietly soaking in a lingering sunset.
Marian Blue – Amazon review

I have known of Emily’s photos for some time due to following her on social media, so when she recommended this book of Lois’ poetry, accompanied by Emily’s photos, it was, as is said, “a no brainer.” I have read the book through and have enjoyed both poems and photos. Now it is on my side table and I frequently pick it up just to open it up to any random page for a spiritual boost. I highly recommend it.
Brian Colgate, B.C.

The book is here! The photos are beautiful and so are the poems. They fit your photos well. I will enjoy it very much. Thank you and God bless you and yours.
Joyce Clements, AL

The photos are first class with thoughtful poetry alongside. I love it.
Nancy Matheis, WA

Received my copy of “Almanac of Quiet Days” this morning. It is wonderful from cover to cover. Your pictures and the poetry are so complimentary! Know I will enjoy reading it over and over.
Thanks to you, Ms Edstrom and the staff who put it all together.
Pat Hanson, NY

We received our book today. It’s beautiful! We’re very grateful and feel so blessed.
Pastor Rick and Elizabeth Shafer, NC

I want to let you know how much I’ve been enjoying the pictures and poems in your book! It is really lovely. It’s amazing how the writer sees the pictures and how she comes to the words they inspire in her. Wonderful!
Nancy Casey, WA

The beautifully illustrated poetry book arrived yesterday. We will treasure it!
Eunice Powell and Ardis Lawrence, WA

I am ENTHRALLED with your book and the poems. thank you thank you thank you. What a bright beautiful place in my heart and life today.
Jack Newton, WA

This is just a note to tell you that your book arrived yesterday afternoon and I delighted in scanning the pages. I am glad you included the beautiful scene with the Haflingers grazing in the pasture surrounded by trees. It has been one of my favorites because of the serenity Ms. Edstrom described in her poem.
Pastor Michael Hiranuma, California

If you’re unsure of its meaning or find the term ‘ekphrastic poetry’ a little discouraging, purchase (at a very reasonable price!) a copy of Almanac of Quiet Days and enjoy the surprise of beautiful photography blended with excellent poetry inspired by the images.Together, photographer Emily Gibson and poet Lois Parker Edstrom have hit a bases-loaded grand slam you’ll want to enjoy again and again.
Rob Burnside, Pennsylvania

What a remarkable publication by two talented women!
Doug and Margaret Gibson, Nebraska

We just received the book and are delighted with it. Looking forward to many more of your heart-warming, thought-provoking posts on Barnstorming.
David Lewis, paracletos.org

A physician’s chronicle of faith, family and farm life in rural northwest Washington state.

I come from Pacific Northwest farmers going back four generations: the daughter of teachers, married to a son of farmers. We have raised three children who are making a difference in the world in their professional lives and as people of faith.

While keeping my eyes and heart open to the extraordinary things around me, I have worked over forty years as a family physician as well as a steward of the small farm we call home.

What I harvest in words or pictures finds its way here.
I welcome your messages and comments sent to emilypgibson@gmail.com

Listening to Others…

…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. … And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4: 8 -9

What is my only comfort in life and in death? That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
~Heidelberg Catechism

Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
~Mary Oliver

To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.
~ T.S. Eliot

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

To live is so startling, it leaves little room for other occupations.
~Emily Dickinson

I believe in God as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
~ C. S. Lewis

Remember this. When people choose to withdraw far from a fire, the fire continues to give warmth, but they grow cold. When people choose to withdraw far from light, the light continues to be bright in itself but they are in darkness. This is also the case when people withdraw from God.
~ Augustine

Hello, sun in my face. Hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields…Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.
~ Mary Oliver

The seed is in the ground. Now may we rest in hope while darkness does its work.
~ Wendell Berry

Nothing will sustain you more potently than the power to recognize in your humdrum routine the true poetry of life.~ Sir William Osler

But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts, and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.
~George Eliot’s final sentence in Middlemarch

If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
~ E.B. White

Geese appear high over us, pass, and the sky closes. Abandon, as in love or sleep, holds them to their way, clear, in the ancient faith: what we need is here. And we pray, not for new earth or heaven, but to be quiet in heart, and in eye clear. What we need is here.~~ “The Wild Geese” Wendell Berry

Let it come, as it will, and don’t be afraid. God does not leave us comfortless, so let evening come.
~ Jane Kenyon from “Let Evening Come”

You can only come to the morning through the shadows.~ J.R.R. Tolkien

If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for. ~ Thomas Merton

This life therefore is not righteousness,
but growth in righteousness,
not health but healing,
not being but becoming,
not rest but exercise.
We are not yet
what we shall be,
but we are growing toward it.
The process is not finished
but it is going on.
This is not the end
but it is the road.
~Martin Luther

Ten times a day something happens to me like this – some strengthening throb of amazement – some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.
~ Mary Oliver

It is not your love that sustains the marriage —
but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love.
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

She has done what she could…
~Mark 14:8

What do you mean? Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good on this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?~ J. R. R. Tolkien from The Hobbit

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