A Poem by Justine Johnston Hemmestad

Books

by Justine Johnston Hemmestad

Sharp, blackened words in their quest to survive,

Breath clinging to spoken revelation;

A strained life fallen, opened to revive –

A called move in divine inspiration –

Providing an opened door to new quest,

Paths leading to worlds not yet discovered,

Jewels hidden in a single treasure chest,

A vessel for words divinely ciphered –

Secret pages creased and yellowed by time.

Books with timeless writing, weathered but strong,

From sought years lived, richly scented as thyme,

For in these worn years gracious notes belong.

In the pages of books, antiqued and old,

Come years of life, ageless richness untold

About the poet:  Justine Johnston Hemmestad is currently enrolled in the BLS program at The University of Iowa, where she has taken several Iowa Writers’ Workshop courses, including poetry and novel writing; and she has been writing for over 20 years. Her poems have been published for Dead Silence, a compilation of entries into the 2010 Y-City Writers Conference Contest; Poetica Victorian Magazine (2012); and The Classical Poets Society (2012); and she has also written history lists for historylists.org as well as has written several unpublished historical novels. She lives in Iowa with her husband of 23 years and their seven children, though two have recently grown to begin their own lives and pursuits.