The Fox at Dawn

Time is both shadow and hope.

-Karen Salyer McElmurray, from I Could Name God in Twelve Ways

I am in the middle of Karen McElmurray’s latest book of essays I Could Name God in Twelve Ways and I can’t count the times I have already had to set the book down to catch my breath and get my bearings. Wow, I have thought, this is bedrock, this is what is real.  I am reminded of my first reading experience with Virginia Woolf when I was a young woman. I read the first page of To the Lighthouse and had to put my head in my hands to stop the dizziness as an interior world opened up that was far larger than the exterior one. You can do that? I thought, you’re allowed to do that with writing? That’s what Karen does, she opens vast interior worlds. She is one big beating heart, vulnerable and utterly courageous. I am suddenly thinking of the last painting Titian completed as an old man The Flaying of Marsyas, a gruesome and arresting depiction of the satyr Marsyas, who dared to compete with Apollo, being hung upside-down and flayed alive, an otherworldly expression of transcendence on his face. That’s what it is to be an artist and Karen is an artist. The costs are high.

So kind, so very kind, I treasure all the conversations I have had with her at Hindman Settlement School where she has been a teacher and a mentor. Her work is luminous. I’m grateful for all the love she has sent out to the world. 

A writer of fiction and creative nonfiction, she has a beautiful website:

https://www.karensalyermcelmurray.com/

Here’s a splendid interview with her (and there are a lot out there) about her latest book: https://www.hippocampusmagazine.com/2024/09/interview-karen-salyer-mcelmurray-author-of-i-could-name-god-in-12-ways-essays/

Learn more about the book here:https://www.kentuckypress.com/9781985900653/i-could-name-god-in-twelve-ways/ 

Gala is a purply Diamine Ink.

My Advent Tree this year is dedicated to my writer friends and teachers. I am so grateful for all the light you shine in the darkness. 

An Apology: I am behind on my Advent tree posts, the last week of school before the holiday break has pretty much done me in, but I aim to catch up in the next few days. 

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