Quiet Sheba

About the Book

“Three” is a numerical symbol used throughout literature, especially Holy Scripture, to signify completion, the full whole, the circle joined. In Volume III of Quiet Sheba, the final volume of the trilogy, I have, again, my lamentations, with their similar subjects and themes as different and repeated vehicles of carriage for thought, finishing the construct provided by work already known to my readers. There are death- and triumph, joy beside heavy sorrow, but, more, the very purposed movement within experience, carrying toward a conclusion, that of one’s own place, again, at table. We do conclude, as we began, at table, but with more cautious steps and thoughtful strategies; and continuing, beauty remains, for many, for me, the antidote to sorrow, with illness and bitter acceptance, full, still, often. The valediction then, is thoughtful: for morning, it remains, sunrise; for evening it falls gently as twilight. But whether a passage in nature, or the appearing of a memory- a hymn or prayer of any of many methods of closure – these verses finally conclude, a coming back to table, to the feast of life, for we come to know that there is no antidote to truth, and ours, now, is the only life we can objectively know; when living is no longer a reality, it is not. As Stephen Crane’s desert beast states, while eating its own heart, crying “bitter, bitter” – we, as the beast, embrace, take into ourselves – eat, drink, - all – for it is the only one we have, and “we love it” – if to the side, to use the French poet, Verlaine’s poignant – strikingly powerful – closing words describing the falling seasonal ambiance of the year: “Et je pleure” – (And I weep) – the fullest source of working truth, reason, giving up the response – poetic – beautiful or no: “And I weep.” In life, we are not wise, but willful, yet in the holistic view, we live our most sentiment lying over reason, it very now hurting, but with that arrangement with which we look, always, to find the grail, the feast, the peace.

About the Author

Elizabeth Clayton began teaching at the age of twenty at the University of Southern Mississippi. Presently retired, she is spending her days reviewing and preparing her works for publication. Clayton has published ten to thirteen works (primarily poetry) since the release of her autobiography in 2007, which chronicles her struggles with Bipolar Disorder. In November, 2012, she was inducted into the Literary Hall of Fame, Sigma Kappa Delta, and nominated for the Eric Hoffer award by her publisher in early spring, 2013. She is also featured in the summer, 2013 quarter of Forward magazine, and her work, Scarlet Flow, was shown in the World Book fair, in London, England in early 2013. Additionally, on January 5, and February 9, 2014, she was featured in the New York Times “New Voices, New Perspectives” segment; her most recent work, Quiet Sheba, was published by Trafffod in September, 2014. In the spring of 2015, Elizabeth received the Golden Seal of Excellence award by her publisher, Trafford, for the work, Scarlet Flow.