Cinquefoil, from "Circling to the Center" I hold in the palm of my hand a minuscule yellow flower, a cinquefoil. The five petals form a mandala around the inner circle of seeds. The seeds are dark, about a dozen of them. My gaze is drawn to the center than out again to each petal. The flower weighs nothing, as light as air. When I close my eyes, I no longer know whether it is in my hand or has fallen to the ground. My father's ashes weighed nothing, light as air they were. I could not hold them in my hand. They were scattered before I arrived, scattered in the small courtyard. I entered the church and wept. Each tear tinted gold in the sunlight of the stained-glass windows. The stem of grief stretched through me. My father in each tear. His melanoma surrounded by moist earth. Tumor spots dark brown like seeds. The stem pulls me to the ground. My father always said, “You can do it.” Now the doing is toppling me over. The flower needs to rest its head. The petals curl and shrivel. My father's ashes are light, light as my yellow flower. But his seeds are planted deep. |
BiographySusan Tiberghien is an American-born writer living in Geneva, Switzerland. She holds a BA in Literature and Philosophy (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and did graduate work at the Université de Grenoble and the CG Jung Institute of Zurich. She has published three memoirs, "Looking for Gold, One Year in Jungian Analysis" (Daimon Verlag, 1997, "Circling to the Center, A Woman’s Encounter with Silent Prayer" (Paulist Press, 2001), and "Footsteps, A European Journal, 1955-1990" (Xlibris, 2004) and numerous narrative essays in journals and anthologies on both sides of the Atlantic. Her new book, "One Year to a Writing Life, Twelve Lessons to Deepen Every Writer's Art and Craft", was published in September 2007 (Da Capo, Perseus Books.) "Tiberghien's advice, encouragement, and wisdom make this an invaluable book for writers at all stages of their writing lives."--Michael Steinberg, founding editor of Fourth Genre. "Susan Tiberghien provides a clear, affectionate, and truly inspiring window into the world of writing in her new book, One Year to a Writing Life.",--Lee Gutkind, editor Creative Nonfiction. Ms Tiberghien teaches and lectures at graduate programs, at C.G. Jung Centers, and at writers’ conferences both in the States and in Europe. She has taught at the International Women's Writing Guild Summer Conference at Skidmore since 1990 and does workshops for the IWWG annually, especially in the Northeast. Since 2002 she has given workshops at the Hudson Valley Writers' Center. She founded the Geneva Writers' Group in 1993 which she continues to dirrect and where she teaches monthly workshops. She is the founding editor of their literary review, "Offshoots, Writing from Geneva". Since 1998 she directs the biennial Geneva Writers' Conference, that brings together close to 200 writers from around the world. She is on the executive committee of the International Writers' Residence at the Château de Lavigny, where each summer thirty writers from around the world are welcomed for three week sessions. Please visit the site, www.chateaudelavigny.ch She is married, with six grown children -- and fifteen wonderful grandchildren. Presentations and Workshops: I. Creative Writing: workshops, presentations, and readings: 1990-2008 Creative Writing Workshops: USA-Boston, Smith College, Hudson Valley Writers Center, NYC, Washington DC, Orlando, Chicago, New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, Santa Fe, Denver; Europe-Geneva (monthly), Basel, Paris, Bern, Luxembourg. 1990-2008 Instructor at the International Women’s Writing Conference, Skidmore College, one week each summer 1995-2008 Presentations and Readings: USA-Boston, NY, Washington DC, Chicago, New Orleans, Santa Fe, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver; Europe-Geneva, Basel, Bern, Paris, Brussels, Luxembourg. II. Jungian-oriented Writing Workshops and Lectures: 1996-2008: Lectures and Workshops, USA-C.G.Jung Institutes: NYC, Boston, Chicago; C.G.Jung Centers: San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, Washington DC; Pcifica Graduate Institute; Europe-Institute of Psychoanalytical Studies, Stockholm, Sweden (launch of Swedish Edition, Looking for Gold), Jungian Conferences Einsiedeln |
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