Holidays Amaze

Do holidays amaze, or are holidays a maze? They are both, as the book Holidays Amaze illustrates with its maze poems, prayer poems, shaped poems, sonnets, and narratives. The poems that look like mazes, in addition to the ones that use maze symbolism, make Holidays Amaze an amazing collection of poems to enjoy.

Dr. Karen Petit‘s inspiration for this book was two items: a chapter about Thanksgiving in Mayflower Dreams and a poem that she wrote in 2014:

A May Flower in November 1620

The flowers of May were blooming away

in summer’s great warmth and fall’s wintry air.

A petal broke off, went sailing astray,

into the wind, with a Separatist’s prayer.

It paused in the sky with the blue turning gray;

then continued its trip ’til wooden beams were near.

When one of them cracked, the petal did say:

“I fear for my life! This storm’s so unfair!”

“But I know, in this world, many are things unfixed.”

“’cause I trust in my Lord, to Him I’ll pray.”

With prayers and repairs, the beam was soon fixed.

“I thank thee, Lord, for strengthening my ‘May.’”

The voyage moved on; many problems eclipsed.

In November within a New World’s bay,

the flower became Mayflower in-mixed.

This poem first was posted on Petit’s Mayflower Dreams blog and is now one of the poems in Holidays Amaze. Thinking a lot about Thanksgiving as an amazing holiday helped the author to also think about other holidays as amazing. These connections resulted in her creation of Holidays Amaze and maze poems.

Dr. Karen Petit is the author of four novels: Banking on Dreams, Mayflower Dreams, Roger Williams in an Elevator, and Unhidden Pilgrims. She loves to write and loves helping others to write.at the Community College of Rhode Island.

Hope to see you on Saturday, December 1 at the RI Author Expo!