L.M. Browning's Blog, page 21
August 28, 2012
My Interview on The Wild Hour Show Hosted by Emmy Winning Filmmaker & Writer Alan Cooke
August 22, 2012
New Website Design!
August 10, 2012
Fleeting Moments of Fierce Clarity (An Audio Preview) Read by the Author: L.M. Browning
Homebound Publications now has an official channel on soundcloud.com! As the first of many audio previews we will offer, we would like to share with you an excerpt from the Introduction to Fleeting Moments of Fierce Clarity: Journal of a New England Poet, as read by the author L.M. Browning.
Fleeting Moments of Fierce Clarity will be released on October 28th but you can pre-order a signed edition now, exclusively in the Homebound Publications bookstore >>
Listen here:
August 1, 2012
Blue Mornings on the Concord River | A Preview of Fleeting Moments of Fierce Clarity by L.M. Browning
On October 28, 2012 Homebound Publications will release Fleeting Moments of Fierce Clarity: Journal of a New England Poet—my latest poetry collection This charming little collection of poetry and prose follows my New England rambles from the solitude of my home along the shore of Connecticut, to the rushing city streets of Boston, to the tall-pine landscape of Arcadia Park in Rhode Island, to the quiet edges of Walden Pond.
The early praise for the book is already gathering. Philip F. Gura, author of American Transcendentalism: A History, reflects:
“Thoreau, that great New England saunterer who serves as one of the inspirations for L. M. Browning’s new book, advised never to underestimate the value of a fact, for it one day might flower into a truth. Facts flowering into truths are what one finds on every page herein. Browning’s gift is to see the miraculous in the commonplace, and readers will leave her poems and journal entries the wiser and more human. This is no small gift.”
Below is a preview of the journal entry I made while on pilgrimage in Concord, Massachusetts. I hope you enjoy! Check back for further previews or stop by the bookstore and pre-order a signed edition now (see below).
Blue Mornings on the Concord River
November 2011 Concord, MA
In late autumn of 2011, I had the great fortune to be invited on a trip to Concord Massachusetts, arguably the epicenter of contemplative literature in New England. From the moment the trip was planned I felt as though I was making a literary pilgrimage. It was the birthplace of the Transcendentalist movement, home to Emerson, Alcott, Hawthorne, Fuller and Thoreau. I felt rightfully overwhelmed.
When arriving in Concord I was struck by the history of the place. It was the little things at first. The old graves, the site of Orchard House, which called to my fond childhood memories of enjoying Little Women with my mother. The road signs pointing the way to Walden, the Old Manse and Minute Man National Historical Park, where the opening battle of the Revolution was fought in April of 1775.
Not at all surprising to those who know me, my first stop upon arriving was the public library. I walked down the stone path I knew I was following in the footsteps of those New England minds I most respect. Opening the narrow double doors, I proceeded through the short mud room and into the main room where I was suddenly struck by the ponderings held within that room.
At times when I am hiking through the woods behind my Connecticut home, I will ruminate on the history of the ground beneath my feet. Wondering if perhaps some Mashantucket or Eastern Pequot village might not have resided nearby and if the paths I walk weren’t once crossed by one among the tribe.
I found myself asking the same such questions that morning while exploring Concord. As I walked the paths I felt Henry and Louisa brush past me in the crowd. As I grasped the old wrought doorknobs, I shook hands with the past. Using the window of their books, I had ever-been looking in on the lives of these kindred minds, but finally on that day I found myself invited in from my musings.
Walking across the slanted floor of her room to sit at her small desk, I found Louisa. Walking the hidden paths behind Orchard House, I found Nathan. Reading in the study of the Old Manse I found Ralph Waldo. Sitting along the Concord River I found Margaret. And there, along the banks of Walden I found Henry.
Blue Mornings on the Concord River
Across the yard of the Old Manse
following the stone wall
down to the boathouse,
I come to the edge of the river;
Its gray, still waters
mirror the marbled sky above.
The bare trees
are stiff in the cold breeze.
Thick, stout bushes are scratched
into the scene—
etched there by the pallet knife
of the Great Painter.
Plump geese waddle along the rim,
sifting seeds and bugs
from the muddy grass roots
passing through their black beaks.
Just beyond—across the arc
of the wooden bridge
there grows the meadow
of the Minute Men.
Running through the draping grasses
the farm boys fired their muskets.
Son against son,
as blue collided with red,
the world changed.
In the fields
along the Concord River,
violence begot a nation.
A century later
the passion continued to
pulse through the place
as the minds in the Manse
spurred a revolution of intellect.
How small am I to stand here
along the banks of a river
that has seen so much.
I who but scribble in the margins
of those classics penned
on this ground.
In the distance
the sun is rising
above the treeline.
The field is smoking
as the morning fog rises.
The rifles sound…
The hearth of the Old Manse smokes…
And the river rushes ever-on.
Pre-Order Fleeting Moments of Fierce Clarity
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Fleeting Moments of Fierce Clarity:
Journal of a New England Poet
List Price: $14.95
This title will be released on October 28, 2012 | Pre-order now!
Ships from and sold by Homebound Publications.
Fleeting moments of fierce clarity are had when the confusion clears and the gray numbness that hangs about our senses draws back allowing us to see the world and ourselves with sharp relief.
Follow author and New England native L.M. Browning in her wanderings across the Northeast, from the solitude of her home along the shore of Connecticut, to the rushing city streets of Boston, to the tall-pine landscape of Arcadia Park in Rhode Island to the quiet edges of Walden Pond.
July 17, 2012
Release Poster for Fleeting Moments of Fierce Clarity!
Fleeting Moments of Fierce Clarity Release Poster
2 pages, published 7/18/2012
Fleeting moments of fierce clarity are had when the confusion clears and the gray numbness that hangs about our senses draws back, allowing us to see the world and ourselves with sharp relief. Follow author and New England native L.M. Browning in her wanderings across the Northeast, from the solitude of her home along the shore of Connecticut, to the rushing city streets of Boston, to the tall pine landscape of Arcadia Park in Rhode…
July 10, 2012
Deep Notes, Quick Pace | Preview of Fleeting Moments of Fierce Clarity
This journal entry and poem are featured in my upcoming work, Fleeting Moments of Fierce Clarity: Journal of a New England Poet being released October 28th by Homebound Publications! Pre-Order a signed edition in my store today.>>
Deep Notes, Quick Pace
by L.M. Browning
Deep Notes, Quick Pace is one of those poems I am tempted to let the reader interpret without a relating-point. The emotions that triggered the creation of this poem are so full they cannot be wholly captured in words.
The poem began to gather one evening while I was alone listening to a piece of modern orchestral music. Alone, working long-past late night and into early morning, this piece of music came over my headphones. I ceased tinkering with the document I was working on, opened a note pad and let the words taking form.
The Music was so radiant—so intense, I found myself transcended. I was taken away from this flat earth and into a place of suspended bliss and acute awareness of the miracle of drawing a single breath. Riding a wave of poetic ecstasy, I savored the moment. Yet as my appreciation for the moment ascended within me, I found the joy slowly muting into grief.
This poem embodies a fleeting moment of fierce clarity as it captures one of those brief, transcendent moments of pure love and appreciation that when experienced, affirm to us that the struggles in our daily life are worth persevering through.
The poem is an expression of the ache we feel when the music heard is so beautiful yet also bound to fade into silence as it evidently approaches its end. …Those delicate moments of radiance, when the moment is so precious and the soul next to us so dear that we hold tight—willing the moment to last, knowing that it will fade.
These moments are so beautiful that we mourn them, even as we live them.
…We are in this life for such a brief time—
a thin space of a breath and that it is all gone.
—Connecticut, January 2012
Deep Notes, Quick Pace
by L.M. Browning
The despairing beauty of the music
causes us to lament life as we live it.
The capture and loss of the moment
—the bittersweet quality of these fleeting days—
deepen the significance of what is felt.
The fragility of time
—strong one moment,
fading the next—
is the seduction
of the human experience.
The momentary ripeness of this flesh,
the short space of this breath,
quickly withered,
the beauty is missed
if not lived.
Each note
sweet and somber
has its harmony.
This movement
rushes so quickly
unto silence.
Fall backward
into the tide.
Be carried away.
© Copyright 2012 L.M. Browning | Original Image entitled: Waves of Black Glass by L.M. Browning © Copyright 2011
July 9, 2012
Anything is Possible | A Reflection on the Day of my Graduation
Today is a rather remarkable day in my life. Early this morning I received the results from my final exams and I am happy to say that I passed. (B+ average) So, it is official: I have earned my degree in Philosophy from the University of London!
While college graduation is always a day of note in one’s life, it is a particularly monumental one for me given that I never thought I would ever have this opportunity.
After high school I desperately wanted to attend college but my family had limited means and one horrible thing after another seemed to befall us, leaving college out of reach. At every turn the dream seemed an impossible one. Lacking the means to attend classes, I was determined not to allow my budget to dictate my growth. I resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn’t be able to attend university at that time but in the end realized that the knowledge I yearned for wasn’t found in the classroom but in the books studied therein. So each week for 6 years I attended the library where I carried out thorough independent studies on religion, art, history and literature. I purchased secondhand textbooks from thrift shops and book-fairs, and went in the direction my heart desired; knowing that in the end it was indeed the knowledge I wanted and not the physical diploma.
The quote from Good Will Hunting pretty much sums up my view on the matter: [Impoverished but brilliant Will is address a Harvard student] “…you dropped 150 grand on an education you could have got for a $1.50 in late charges at the public library!”
I will admit however that, even with the knowledge, I yearned for a proving-ground. Ten years after graduating high school, my circumstances improved slightly and I found myself once again chasing the dream of attending college. Like so many however, I simply couldn’t quit my job and become a student. Doing a great deal of research into distance learning I discovered the University of London’s International Programmes. This program is the original college of distance learning. The program was established in 1858 by a grant from Queen Victoria and since then has graduated countless independent thinkers including seven Noble Prize winners, among them Nelson Mandela who spent many of his 27 years of imprisonment studying through the University of London International Programmes. Other well know alumni include H. G. Wells, D.H. Lawrence and Luisa Diogo (first woman Prime Minister of Mozambique). When I found the University of London I knew this program, while difficult, was the one for me. I saved up the money, wrote a damn good essay for my entrance exam and was accepted into the Philosophy program. Studying independently throughout the year I sat my exams each spring at Yale University.
Yale University Spring 2012 Final Day of Exams
This past year I sat my last set of exams and found out this morning that I have completed my degree. As is custom in the United Kingdom, graduation is being held almost a year from the end of our studies, in March 2013. Since going to London is financially out of the question at the moment I am planning on having a small gathering at my home on the day of the graduation. The University broadcasts the ceremony live. As Chancellor of the University, Princess Ann is giving the commencement speech. I am going to serve all traditional English foods that day and gather around myself those most dear to me—those who helped me reach this long-held dream. (Most especially my mother and Andy.)
Today, as I take-in this achievement, I am left with a feeling that has eluded me for some time…the feeling that anything is possible.
Yale University Spring 2012 Final Day of Exams
June 30, 2012
Fleeting Moments of Fierce Clarity | Forthcoming October 28th!
Journal of a New England Poet | Forthcoming October 28th | Homebound Publications
Fleeting moments of fierce clarity are had when the confusion clears or the gray numbness that hangs about our senses draws back and we can see the world and ourselves with sharp relief.
Follow author and New England native L.M. Browning in her wanderings across the Northeast, from the solitude of her home along the shore of Connecticut, to the rushing city streets of Boston, to the tall-Pine landscape of Arcadia Park to the quiet edges of Walden Pond.
L.M. Browning grew up in a small fishing village in Connecticut where she began writing at the age of 15. A longtime student of religion, nature and philosophy these themes permeate her work. Browning is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominated author. She has written a three-title contemplative poetry series: Oak Wise: Poetry Exploring an Ecological Faith, Ruminations at Twilight: Poetry Exploring the Sacred and The Barren Plain: Poetry Exploring the Reality of the Modern Wasteland. In late 2011 she celebrated the release of her first full-length novel: The Nameless Man, which was co-authored by Marianne Browning.
Preview two selections from Fleeting Moments of Fierce Clarity
Self-Sufficient & The Late Train Home
June 20, 2012
Release of Written River: A Journal of Eco-Poetics
The summer solstice issue of Written River: A Journal of Eco-Poetics in now available!
Written River is a literary journal published bi-annually by Hiraeth Press which focuses on poetry and non-fiction prose exploring nature and our relationship to it. Published on the Summer and Winter Solstices in digital format, we strive to encourage the discipline of ecopoetics and return the voice of the poet to the body of the Earth. Ecopoetics is poetry in which the energy of the ecosystem flows through the poem, creating a written river of words which ebbs with the creativity of the entire Earth community. Written River marks the confluence of many streams and many voices as they flow back into the nourishing ground of the watershed.
The theme of this issue is: Becoming Wild. In this edition we feature poetry by: Wally Swist, Maureen Epstein, Nina Pick, Jenny Angyal, Lowell Uda, Michael Salcman, Gwendolyn Morgan, Sonya Deulina , J.K. McDowell and Jamie K. Reaser. Essays by: Daniel Becker, Jenny Walicek, Greg Hlavaty, Daniel Robinson, Greg Graham and Treasa Ní Chonchobhair. With a preview of Sacred Recoprociy: Courting the Beloved in Everyday Life, a forthcoming poetry collection by Jamie K. Reaser and a look at the photography of James Liter, T. Parker Sanborn, L.M. Browning and Eleanor Leonne Bennett . Also featured: a profile of New England poet and wildlife artist L.M. Browning. Print copies will be made available through Magcloud.com soon. We will update you with an exact day soon! For now, enjoy our free e-edition on issuu.com. {See below.}
Open publication - Free publishing - More eco
June 10, 2012
The Late Train Home | A Journal Entry & Poem
by L.M. Browning
“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J. R. R. Tolkien
When I plan a journey, I never mind long travel times or layovers. Most cringe when I tell them I recently booked tickets for a seven hour journey on the train with two layovers but to me, the journey is the thing.
Some find their solace along the beach, drowsy under a warm sun; I find mine in a widow-seat, traveling along the rails. No phone, no computer, no rush and no concerns. I sit withdrawn from the chaotic world, quiet within myself watching the landscape scroll by. Day moves into night and I descend deeper into myself. The horizon swallowed by night, my window becomes a mirror. I see my own reflection in the glass now—a silhouette cast by the overhead lamp in my small compartment. I look and listen. The rhythm of the wheels churning provide an orderly, comfort to a mind overwhelmed by a modern chaos.
—Boston, Massachusetts, January 29, 2011
The Late Train Home
The river of black glass
cuts starkly through the
blanket of cotton snow.
The wind is visible today.
The icy dust highlights
its fine edges.
My time
of mediation
takes place on travel.
My mantra
is the rhythm
of the engine’s movement.
The prayer wheel turns
as the train wheels churn.
My green eyes stare impassive
at the scrolling screen outside my widow
as the mind’s eyes turns inward.
There is something holy
about traveling with a purpose
that serves the greater whole.
There are those who speak
of religion
and those who carry
a spirituality.
Do not speak
of what you believe;
live it.
Image: Train Window (c) Bernt Rostad Text by: L.M. Browning (c) copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved
