Bowen’s own Pauline Le Bel, prolific singer songwriter and award winning author, has just published another collection of poems entitled Becoming the Harvest.
In this most recent collection, Pauline shares her musings on aging and death, that “slow, gentle, unstoppable force for change” (p. 16) through her observations of nature, journeys with, and memories of, beloved friends and family, and her own personal experience of becoming an elder in her body and in her community.
Throughout the book we find recurring themes of death as part of the natural cycle of life, and of life, including death, as a treasure to embrace and experience to the fullest.
Pauline includes a story of her experience of accompanying her sister, with whom she shared an “ability to be outrageous and silly,” (p. 59) as a caregiver through Suzanne’s diagnosis of ALS to her death some 18 months later. I find the piece tender and tenderly amusing as I witness these two elderly women savouring as much humour and richness as they can from life right to the very end.
In her Acknowledgements at the end of her book, Pauline gratefully acknowledges that “It takes a village to raise an elder” (p. 68). Many of her poems in this delightful collection give nod to, and express gratitude for, those who have gifted her over the years with pearls of wisdom.
She includes the natural world around her her as a valued source of teachings and inspiration. In If I Should Write an Anthem for Old Age, she acknowledges that “we exist because of others” (p. 37). In Teachings of the Chinese Lantern in My Garden, that we become “seed for the next generation” (p. 10).
I did laugh out loud, maybe even guffaw, at her “worry about turkeys” (p. 15) in At the Salon. And in her poem Avoiding the “D” Word, (p. 44) where she pokes fun at our euphemisms for death. Pauline considers and offers up in her thoughtful and witty way some refreshing choices in how she might approach her own aging and dying. Sometimes reverent, bowing down her “aging back greeting the morning with gratitude” (p. 12).
Wonderfully hopeful, questioning “who knows what deep inside me is still waiting to bloom” (p. 11). And feisty to the end, keeping on “raising hell until Heaven is in sight” (p. 39).
What I have learned from these writings is that while aging and dying are natural stages of life, I do have choices about how I envision and value these stages. And a combination of gratitude and humour goes a long way to making the whole experience more enjoyable.
Pauline will be at the Bowen Island Library to celebrate the launch of Becoming the Harvest on Sunday, October 27 at 1 pm. The event is free to attend and all are welcome.
Unable to attend the launch? Becoming the Harvest is available to order from all Canadian bookstores and directly from Caitlin Press.
