Letha C.
Chamberlain
The poet
is a 58 year old woman born into
deep affliction- this affliction
was complicated by severe
physical
illnesses, a severe auto
accident by an uninsured
motorist in which her neck,
back, and knees were shattered
(to the tune of over a million
dollars in losses), and also
losing one-fourth of her face to
melanoma cancer... yet through
this God showered grace
abundantly-- and a life as a
solitary contemplative/spiritual
director/poet emerged. There ARE
also former career paths of
psychiatric nursing (thirty
years) AND visual arts (six
years).Due to the nature of her
"call" the poet wishes to remain
anonymous, except to chosen
close friends... She desires
that those knowing her identity
understand her mission is for
the glory of God- not herself-
and to please honor that mission
with silence until God reveals
the "right time" for identifying
herself.
Wait,
Beloved, for Darkness's Gift has
won an award! The Best Book of
2007 in the Christian Poetry
Category for
www.Books-and-Authors.net
Visit
Letha online at
http://www.publishedauthors.net/allisgift
PageOneLit.com: Where did you grow up
and was reading and writing a part of
your life? Who were your earliest
influences and why?
Letha C.
Chamberlain: I grew up in rural NE Ohio.
From a toddler my father gathered us
around him and read to us out of
children's classics like the
Winnie-the-Pooh series,
Alice-in-Wonderland, a children's
version of Bibical stories, many of them
contained poetry--which he also read to
us with silly drama and sound-effects.
We loved it all. Reading then became a
big part of our lives--we were all
excellent students; my brothers are both
academic scholars, and I, myself, spent
twelve years in college..
PageOneLit.com: Why do you write?
Letha C.
Chamberlain: I write as prayer--in
order to share God's presence of LOVE as
given to me with others.
PageOneLit.com: Briefly discuss your new
book of poetry WAIT, BELOVED, FOR
DARKNESS'S GIFT. How is this book
different from other books of poetry on
the bookshelf?
Letha C.
Chamberlain: It is in the sharing of
God's gift of LOVE that this poetry is
meant... and what drives my current
writing. It was also important to me
that the doctrine in it be
correct--which was why I asked the
Archbishop of Seattle if he would be so
kind as to read it. He did, and
graciously loaned the weight of his
praise and approval to it--although it
still awaits official "imprimatur". But
the correctness of the doctrine only is
important where it has to do with the
sharing of this LOVE. I wouldn't want to
lead anyone astray--there is much
comment on Biblical passages on it...
PageOneLit.com: WAIT, BELOVED, FOR
DARKNESS'S GIFT has many beautiful poems -
Do you have a favorite and why?
Letha C.
Chamberlain: Personally, the poem
written November 3, 2006 on the feastday
of St. Martin de Porres, where I'm
asking for God to fill me completely and
without hesitation was the turning point
in my prayer life. So often we do not
even know what to ask of God--we ask of
God "things" and "to make things better"
because we are human, after all. But
there is yet even more that is
better--and which God will answer in
which ALL one's needs will be satisfied
most fully and heaven-on-earth will be
found... THAT is, indeed, what I'm
asking in this prayer--and it is really
so simple: asking for God to fill one
totally. This means giving up ALL of
oneself, however. That is where the "rub
comes in" for many people. It means
"self-emptying." This tends to be a
painful and lengthy process. It is the
process I had been going through before
I made that prayer--I was caring for my
mother with Alzheimers and spending
hours a day in the Church in the very
early morning hours in meditation, all
of which caused me exquisite pain with
my chronically painful conditions.
PageOneLit.com: In your opinion, what
does/can poetry offer a reader that a
book of fiction or nonfiction cannot?
Letha C.
Chamberlain: There is a special language
of emotion and passion in poetry that
prose does not begin to answer. It is a
kind of music really, and comes to me
that way in my prayer. I was a trained
classical musician in my youth--studied
at the Cleveland Institute of Music and
also at Williamete University in Salem,
Oregon. This musical background served
me well in writing poetry. When you read
the poetry aloud, as it should be read,
you will find hidden rhyme and sometimes
metrical parts that add to the depth of
meaning and emotion.
PageOneLit.com: What did you learn from
writing WAIT, BELOVED, FOR DARKNESS'S
GIFT?
Letha C.
Chamberlain: I learned very tangible
things like 1) how good my parish home
is in providing help for me to promote
my work (how loving my neighbors are)...
2) I found a permanent, personal editor
(Barbara Hainley) who was a senior
editor at (Houghton-Mifflin) before
joining the parish here--after she read my book she
became a "fan" and is now helping edit
ALL my writng (she was responsible for
the editing of this book, too). 3) that
print-on-demand books published by these
kinds of publishers CAN "make it big",
so don't be frightened to publish your
first book with them, if you can't get
the attention of a major publisher at
first.
PageOneLit.com:
Descibe your title WAIT, BELOVED, FOR
DARKNESS'S GIFT as it relates to the book.
Letha C.
Chamberlain: "Waiting" is a very
important word in terms of spirituality.
We often have to "wait" for the Lord...
"Darkness's Gift"--everything is
gift--and "darkness: especially. I hear
so many people ask, "Why do good people
suffer?" "Why does a good God ask this
of me?" "Why? Why? Why?" and, indeed,
suffering is one of the questions that
drives many away from faith...
Yet, we also see it BRING many to the
faith--those who are driven to their
knees and have no where else to turn...
We are all such individuals. I try to
address ALL of these issues in the
book--with the same loving kindness
(compassion) the Lord showed me when I
was in the same boat (through His
ministers.)
PageOneLit.com: What's next?
Letha C.
Chamberlain: I am in the process of
publishing a manuscript entitled
Virginity Reclaimed--the life journey of
an ordinary mystic. Look for it on the
bookshelves in less than a year. I also
have five other books ready for
publication--but unlike God we have to
do it one-by-one because I'm human.
Three of those titles are more
poetry--three are prose.
PageOneLit.com: What was the last book
you read?
Letha C.
Chamberlain: I've got several open right
now-:1) The Collegeville Bible
Commentary (Old Testament) because I am
doing a writing on "Bridal Mysticism"
and a Song of Songs Meditation. 2) The
Complete Poetry of Teresa of Avila 3)
Boethius. The Consolation of Philosophy.
This book was given me by a friend a
long time ago and I'm just now getting
to it.
PageOneLit.com: Do you have any hobbies?
What are they? How do they enhance your
writing?
Letha C.
Chamberlain: My only hobby as such is
going to the corner Starbuck's and
"chewing the fat" with all the people
that come in. This gives me great
joy--many of them are patients at
Swedish Medical Center, so I end up
doing impromptu spiritual direction (I'm
a spiritual director by calling.) I love
people--and i love listening to their
stories, which often enrich the stories
I tell in my writing. I learn so much
from everyone. You'll have a chance to
read of these marvelous people in my
prose when it comes out.
