St. Lucie Cultural Alliance | Member Spotlight – Cultural Alliance Members, Dorothy Kamm, Barbara Lyons, and Jane Baldridge, in Literature
Member Spotlight – Cultural Alliance Members and Literature
Contributed by Dorothy Kamm
Port St. Lucie Poet and Writer Dorothy Kamm Wins First Place For Poem “Satori” in Florida State National League of American Pen Women Letters Competition
PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida/November 6, 2021 — Port St. Lucie poet and writer Dorothy Kamm won First Place in the Free Verse category for her poem “Satori” in a contest sponsored by the Florida State Association of the National League of American Pen Women (NLAPW). Her award, which included a cash prize, was announced at the State’s virtual conference on October 23.
Satori is a Japanese Buddhist term for enlightenment, when one has an epiphany that alters one’s consciousness. Satori is a sudden intuitive illumination, creating an understanding and awareness not previously known.
According to Kamm, oftentimes, when one is seeking clarity in a situation or trying to find the solution to a particular problem, the answer remains hidden. This situation is described in the poem’s opening stanza:
Early morning
Mist envelops
The landscape
A person “seeks/But cannot find. . .” When one stops trying, the answer comes spontaneously. Kamm describes this in the poem as:
That flash of insight that arrives
When looking elsewhere:
Evaporating mist.
“What a pleasure to read this beautiful poem, which seems to emerge from mist itself to clarity or enlightenment, effortlessly,” says Karen Morris, President, Florida State Association, NLAPW. “And the image of the black bird is like a stroke of ink.”
Kamm has been a member of the National League of American Pen Women in the Art category since 1989 and in the Letters category since 1993, and is a member of the Vero Beach Branch. She has won numerous awards for her poetry, articles and books in competitions sponsored by this organization.
Founded in 1897 and based in Washington, DC, the National League of American Pen Women encourages, recognizes and promotes the production of creative work in Art, Letters, and Music. Its membership is a sisterhood of professional creatives who are artists, writers and composers. Past members have included sculptor, writer and singer Vinnie Ream; songwriter, singer and pianist Carrie Jacobs-Bond; composer Amy Beach; First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt; painter Georgia O’Keefe; and writers Erma Bombeck and Eudora Welty. Today there are more than 1,600 members in over 80 branches throughout the USA. For more information about the NLAPW, visit www.nlapw.org.
The Poem
Satori
©Dorothy Kamm
Early morning
Mist envelops
The landscape,
Shrouding trees,
A black bird in a branch –
Perhaps Yatagarasu
Waiting for the sun
To break through.
In the way of Zen
One seeks and seeks
But cannot find;
One then gives up
And the answer comes
By itself.
Satori is sudden,
Intuitive,
That flash of insight that arrives
When looking elsewhere:
Evaporating mist.
In Japanese mythology, this flying creature is a raven or a jungle crow called Yatagarasu (八咫烏, “eight-span crow”) and the appearance of the great bird is construed as evidence of the will of Heaven or divine intervention in human affairs. Yatagarasu as a crow-god is a symbol specifically of guidance.
Satori is a Japanese Buddhist term for awakening or enlightenment. In the Zen Buddhist tradition, satori refers to the experience of kenshō, “seeing into one’s true nature”.
More congratulations to Jane Baldridge and Barbara Lyons! Both artists are featured in the recently released COVID Chronicles book. Barbara’s artwork also made the cover.
