Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council
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July 2007 Artist of the Month
Each month LARAC highlights the work of an Artist
from the Adirondack Region.
See samples of
Susan's work at LARAC through July 2007
The upper outlet of the Saranac River, c. 1935
Susan Jefts, MS & Published Poet
Saratoga Springs, NY
Susan Jefts is a poet, counselor and photographer. The
poetry she writes is often imbued with sense of place using images
from the woods and waterways she explores and at times from her
ventures into various American and foreign cities. She has a
chapbook titled Bended Moments and has been published in
several nationally and locally distributed journals such as "Big City
Lit", "Parnassus", "ByLine", and "Parabalus Press" and has been
recognized in several poetry contests through prizes and honorable
mentions. In addition to writing, Susan runs poetry groups in
therapeutic, community and retreat settings where she uses poetry as a
tool for healing and personal exploration. In these groups, the
images and words of a poem are used to explore a theme, such as life
transitions, illness, or an aspect of nature or spirituality. In
the groups, participants move more deeply into the poem and an
understanding of its essence, and at the same time into an expanding
awareness of themselves, other people, and the world around them.
Susan also runs poetry groups that focus specifically on poetry and
the art of writing.
A Cello in April
The moan of a cello in April,
a movement from under the earth,
dark sound beneath the city
and outside a tree stands and listens.
Outside a tree stands and people pass by
the place where the cello moans
deeply from under the earth,
slowly rises into the place
where people stop to listen,
where the cello begins to breathe
and the earth holds and releases.
Where the earth holds and releases
and the vibrato hovers and reaches
and the cello moans and rises
like a dark bird in flight,
low just over the city
that sits at the edge of a wood
where the trees moan in delight
at the rise of a cello in April
and the dark bird in flight.
There is a poem under every folded tree,
every half bent, heavy with snow tree,
every broken in half
leaning upon another tree, tree.
Every tree with so many branches
and possibilities they simply curl
over and under themselves
instead of rising into the sky.
I know these trees,
their half spent, half grown spaces,
these would be giants, these bow
and stay close to the ground trees,
these earthward rather than skyward,
homespun rather than farspun trees.
These whole unto themselves, self-loving
even as they fold trees, for folding
and breaking does not have to mean
dying, and staying close to the ground
does not omit the sky, nor the love
of the entire forest that grows more
wild and tender with each blue breath.
What I like is…I don’t know what to call this.
I only know that it is April,
late evening, and I am standing
by the open window.
Something that reminds me of everything
at once drifts through.
Holds me for a moment like an angel
or an improbable saint.
Like the rain that will come
and the forsythia that shines
even before it has begun to bloom.
So much possible, so much held back.
The river runs fast tonight,
and the half moon hovers just over the hill.
In her work with photography, Susan works with images of the
Adirondacks from the 1930s. The images were created using medium and
large format photography and therefore have an unusually high quality
and resolution. Some are landscape scenes of well known mountain
ranges, rivers and lakes. Others are of elegant inns and hotels,
guide boat and canoe excursions, Adirondack structures, sporting
events, or idyllic scenes depicting the beauty and allure of the
Adirondacks during this era. Many offer unusual perspectives and
glimpses into the culture of this unique part of the country during
the early 1900s.
Susan also does her own photography and is slowly moving out of the
days of the dark room and into the digital age. Her photography
tends to reflect the tones and subtle feelings of her poems, which are
resplendent with light and nature. Some of her work also focuses
on the architecture of old cities, bridges and churches. Whether
writing poetry or creating photographs, she feels within both a desire
to capture a bit of beauty or a moment that might have otherwise been
missed. As Saint Exupery, author of The Little Prince
said, “What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Click on images to see more detail.
Please note the resolution on the screen does not
reflect the quality of the actual photographs.
Hunter’s Rest on Fourth Lake in the Adirondacks, c. 1935
