Category Archives: encouragement

47–“Ask and Response” from “Frazzle”

Heading Back Home by Margaret Dubay Mikus, Copyright 2015

“…Who has not given up

in the dark-pit times,
the apparent endlessness

of the drop down,
the fall from grace

it seems like it…”

From poem 47, “Ask and Response,” from Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing. Listen here: https://youtu.be/0bVzeIUO6es

These times we are in…perfect time for a poem about grace.

I need to have more real contact with people, talk on the phone, meet in person. It is lovely and good to be connected online, but not sufficient to sustain. I have a list of people in front of me to meet for dinner or tea or a long phone conversation. Slowly I am reconnecting with friends I had lost track of and it feels good.

Sunday I went to the Evanston Writers Resist gathering (one of a number of Writers Resist events in the Chicago area) to hear amazing inspiring speakers, but also to be with people who are all trying to navigate these chaotic days and create positive change. It was most uplifting. I am grateful. And thank you to my husband, Stephen for coming with me. It was truly an evening of grace.

For more poem videos from “Frazzle”

THROWN AGAIN into the FRAZZLE MACHINE: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing

24–“Melting” from “Frazzle”

Datura Unopened, Copyright 2008 by MD Mikus,

From “Melting,” from my book, Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing.

“…This puddle of you,
this chrysalis,
this butterfly in the making,

in transition,
that familiar rough patch
neither here nor there….”

 

Although I wrote this poem in 2009, under quite different circumstances, I am again in that place right now. You?

Listen here to poem 24: https://youtu.be/ahlWyKgPyi4

For more poem videos from “Frazzle”

19–“This Big Thing” from “Frazzle”

This poem feels especially appropriate for today, when there seem to be huge mountains challenging us to climb. To take the first step, to trust and join with the rest, and just do it.

“…From fearful to sure,
or sure enough
to take one step…
then another, not necessarily big leap.

Not to erase the past,
but creating the future, your future…”

Poem 19, “This Big Thing,” from Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing. Listen here: https://youtu.be/rR_SAhCofhs

Although one original inspiration for this poem was our extensive home remodeling, it also applied to the ongoing healing process for me. What might “this big thing” refer to in your own life?

    For more video poems from Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine

16–“Pam” from “Frazzle”

I am grateful for the many gracious and generous people who came to my aid in my ongoing healing process. Some were in the medical realm. Some were family and friends, and some passed briefly through my life, perhaps delivering a few lines that gave hope or lifted me out of darkness.

It took me 9 months to assemble the poems from Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine—what to leave in, what to take out, the editing, re-writing, and designing. Then, I thought of it as a “lifeboat through hard times,” poems to perhaps give voice to loss and offer comfort. Now, I mostly see all the help that came to me on the journey: the walks, music, inner guidance, books, nature, people…

My poems act as memory. This poem tells the story of a woman who helped me years ago. And refers to the previous poem about the gifts of remodeling—clearing away what is no longer serving. I am a saver. I have a hard time letting go things that once were dear to me. One way I’ve found is to take photographs, as many as I need. And then let them go. (It can also help to find a good home for certain things, as in this case.)

Listen to “Pam,” Poem 16 from Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing: https://youtu.be/DfovFAC842U

Does this poem bring anyone to mind from your own life? Perhaps you were the “Pam” for someone else?

Listen to more video poems from “Frazzle”

THROWN AGAIN into the FRAZZLE MACHINE: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing

US Review of Books: Recommends Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine

THROWN AGAIN into the FRAZZLE MACHINE: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing

Exciting news to share with you! My book, “Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine,” is Recommended by US Review of Books! Yay! I am most grateful. Here is the review:

Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing by Margaret Dubay Mikus, Ph.D., Three Heart Press, reviewed by Donna Ford

“…take this lifeboat with me through some rough seas and calm, into the streaming light on the far shore. Let me tell you a story…”

Whether in the midst of a stormy period of life or having recently passed through such a time, you will instantly relate to what the author means by being thrown into the Frazzle Machine. Beating multiple sclerosis, breast cancer, and other health issues, Mikus remains so much more than a survivor. Taking inspiration from her full life as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend, she demonstrates how to overcome.

This collection of poignant poems resonates with the input of two halves of one skillful poet. The research biologist can be recognized by her wielding of medical knowledge and naming body parts unmentionable in polite company. The living woman pours out her experiences on behalf of readers who need support to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and move into future healing. Mikus’ sensitive words warm the reader similar to the gentle touch of a friend on the sufferer’s shoulder. Balancing the high drama inherent in hospital stays and visits is a series of poems titled “Evening Walks.” Vivid colors of the sky, trees, and glowing paths fade into evening to bring elements of peaceful closure to the often tiresome days of life.

Mikus has previously proven her skill as a poet of note by winning an Eric Hoffer award for As Easy As Breathing. Her lines of poetry are short and rhythmic, almost like a heartbeat. Punctuation is fluid to maintain the steady flow of thoughts and experiences. Repetition of key phrases is a technique used for emphasis, for example, “be loving… be joyful… be a good example.” The book is to be commended for its extensive Table of Contents and a Time Line covering events in the poet’s life between 2009 and 2014. These two organizational strategies help tie a specific poem to an actual life event.

RECOMMENDED by the US Review
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