Returning to work on this issue after participating in an ebullient local No Kings demonstration, three trains of though collided in my too-often disorganized mind: the prescient advice Abigail Adams sent to her husband, John, in 1776, as thirteen American colonies were beginning to wrest their freedom from the government of King George III; distress over the many conflicts currently engulfing our tiny planet; and implications of the chaos theory developed by mathematicians and physicists.
Chaos theory, it is sometimes said, is “the science of surprises.” It considers how, in complex systems, small events—perhaps the publication of a stirring poem, the exhibition of controversial paintings, or one person’s refusal to stand by as a neighbor child is threatened by thugs—may create ripples that affect these systems in unpredictable ways. Ripple effects also characterize military conflicts: explosions in one country so often reverberate around the world in completely unanticipated ways. Wisdom is desperately needed to cope with the continuing chaos of life.
Which brings me to Abigail Adams. “Remember the ladies,” she wrote in perhaps her most famous letter to John. If you do not, she continued, “we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”
While it’s true that women have gained greater voice and influence since Abigail’s time, women’s voices and achievements are still too often muffled. That’s particularly the case with the voices, talents, and accomplishments of older women, who have experienced so much and have, as a result, accumulated a vast well of wisdom. Sharing that wisdom is the increasingly important mission of Persimmon Tree and the members of the growing Persimmon Tree community.
“Challenging Chaos” is, in fact, the subject of this issue’s Forum, in which you will find many eloquent testaments to the determination, perseverance, and insight of Forum contributors. Poetry Editor Cynthia Hogue includes in her interview with Barbara Kingsolver (featuring readings by Kingsolver) the poem, “Dancing with the Devil: Advice for the Female Poet,” in which Kingsolver writes:
or forever hold your peace,
remember how “peace” comes around
in time to feeling like this crocodile
you are trying to drown
Art Editor Greta Berman celebrates the thrilling, cosmically chaotic creations of Irene Clark, who writes, in the short biography at the end of her interview, that she strives to “integrate the disciplines of painting, printmaking, fresco, and book arts” and that “mystery is a governing issue” in her artwork.
“Making Room” by Tutt Stapp-McKiernan heads the stunning and varied Nonfiction roster of eight essays in this issue, which also includes the harrowing yet light-hearted article “You Don’t Look Like the Tooth Fairy” and the rending essay “Waking Thoughts from January 3, 2016.” Babette Gallard’s “Still Here” is the first of six riveting stories in the Fiction section. And our twice-yearly Creative Life section features three tributes to the impact the arts have had on older women—and vice versa.
Finally, and so appropriately, Persimmon Tree Publisher Jean Zorn celebrates the many inspiring memoirs featured in our magazine’s ArtsMart section, books that are not only tributes to the wisdom and experience of older women, but also inspire all of us who read and learn from them. Creativity, as these memoirs remind us, does not die. As poet Jane Hirshfield wrote in “The Envoy”:
of which we know nothing.
Until, perhaps, we choose to acknowledge and move through them.
I know you will find many treasures and much food for thought as you move through this issue of Persimmon Tree, which I hope you will visit again and again. And please send us your own thoughts and reactions via the Comment pane at the end of each page.
Editor-in-Chief
It took me forty years to write my story. Hundreds of drafts in desk drawers, computers and even in my dreams. The beginning I knew, but the end was lost with my first husband. And I just couldn’t make it up.
After a book deal was offered, I drove my editor crazy with changes. I told her the albatross wasn’t letting go till I got the story right. She threatened to come and tear off the bird’s legs if I touched the copy one more time.
And when it was all done, the book on display in the window of a downtown Helsinki bookstore, my former stepson called for the first time ever.
We need to talk, Niko said, and I learned how wrong I’d been about the things that really mattered.
This is the final, final version of my story.
Unless, of course, Mariam decides to get in touch.
More on www.tualaine.com
Carrie Stein is half of the team that selects the illustrations and images for Persimmon Tree. Her father was a musician, her older brother an artist. As a result, she became an occupational therapist, worked at Harvard University’s Mass Mental Health Center and taught at Tufts, before focusing on raising three children. She did not take up painting until the last of her children went off to college. It began as learning what play is like, a leap into me time as she was facing an empty nest. But, working with a teacher, she learned color and shape and to trust herself. Her art is displayed in Miami, New York, and Seattle.
Hi Peggy, second line down your piece left out the t in thought. Yep, we all make them! This is so interesting as I just finished a piece re: Chaos. Ill send for consideration.