Announcing the Publication of The Amazing Glass House: A Haiku Storybook!
By Susan Beth Furst
Illustrated by Jiliane Vilches

You can learn all about The Amazing Glass House, the author Susan Beth Furst (that would be me), and find out just what a Haiku Storybook really is!!
@
https://www.scbwi.org/scbwibookstop/

Available now 
 www.amazon.com


​

Do you see it? The ogee arch? The S shaped curves in the background of the photo? Beautiful, isn't it! Ogee arches can be found throughout the conservatory. The grand ogee arch topping the Palm Court was destroyed by  a windstorm in 1937. It wasn't until 2018, in celebration of Phipps 125th anniversary, that the Palm Court's glass roof was restored to its former glory, and the original ogee arch  recreated!

You can see the arch at the very top of the glass ceiling in the Palm Court. If you look closely you can see a line of Fleur-de-lis topping the arch. Underneath, through the glass panes, the tropical forest is visible. Oh, how  I loved exploring the great jungle at Phipps. I was sure that Tarzan, Jane, and Cheeta were hiding somewhere in the treetops. I half- expected Tarzan to swing down on a vine and swoop me up at any minute...

Stay tuned for more stories about Phipps and the latest on my upcoming book, Mr. Phipps And His Amazing Glass House.

You can sign up for new post notifications delivered directly to you inbox, just click on newsletter at the top of the page!

Always remember that Jesus loves you! He said so!

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16

Susan

​;)

​
One of the things I love most about Phipps is the architecture. There are so many different shapes and styles to see, from the ogee arch at the pinnacle of Phipps Palm Court, (google it), to this simple brick and wood arch. I must have walked through it a hundred times and never noticed it.

I love the lines and reflections in the glass windows, and the ferns peeping through on the bottom left. The photo has an art deco feel.

​Or perhaps a scene from a film noir, starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck, The lady wore orchid...


Just a few months from now, I will be releasing my first in a series of Haiku Storybooks!

Mr. Phipps And His Amazing Glass House, will make his appearance in the fall of 2019. 

The story is written, the poems are composed, and the illustrations are being illustrated! 

It's just a matter of time!

Sign up now for my weekly blog notifications! 

Don't miss what's going on with Phipps!!!



Hopefully,

Susan
;)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life...  John 3:16

​Is there any news better than that?


Sign up for blog post and Life Poems Journal notifications delivered directly to your inbox. Just click on Newsletter at the top of the page!
 
 
Susan Beth Furst is a Touchstone Award-nominated poet and author. She writes Japanese short-form poetry and especially enjoys writing haibun. Susan has published two haiku collections; souvenir shop: memories of the highland park zoo, buddha baby press, 2018, and road to utopia, Yavanika Press, 2019. Her haibun, 57, appears in Old Song: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku, 2017. In the secret garden, was nominated for the Dwarf Stars Award and appears in, The 2019 Dwarf Stars Anthology. You can find her on Instagram @sueshaikus, @susanbethfurst, and www.beautifuldefect.com.  Susan lives in Woodbridge, Virginia, with her husband, Herb.

                                                                Beautiful Defect​

On a recent visit to Phipps I captured Van Gogh floating on water, or so it seems...

Dreamlike, isn't it?

And what about that yellow flower?

Phipps Conservatory is my favorite place in the world! Six generations of my family have visited the spring and fall flower shows. And I have the pictures to prove it! I am still seeing spots in front of my eyes...

I will be posting my photos of Phipps, old and new, over the next few months. I want you to get to know the place, because...

Just a few months from now, I will be releasing my first in a series of Haiku Storybooks!

Mr. Phipps And His Amazing Glass House, will make his appearance in the fall of 2019. 

The story is written, the poems are composed, and the illustrations are being illustrated! 

It's just a matter of time!

Sign up now for my weekly blog notifications! 

Don't miss what's going on with Phipps!!!



Hopefully,

Susan
;)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life...  John 3:16

​Is there any news better than that?


Sign up for blog post and Life Poems Journal notifications delivered directly to your inbox. Just click on Newsletter at the top of the page!
 
 
Susan Beth Furst is a Touchstone Award-nominated poet and author. She writes Japanese short-form poetry and especially enjoys writing haibun. Susan has published two haiku collections; souvenir shop: memories of the highland park zoo, buddha baby press, 2018, and road to utopia, Yavanika Press, 2019. Her haibun, 57, appears in Old Song: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku, 2017. In the secret garden, was nominated for the Dwarf Stars Award and appears in, The 2019 Dwarf Stars Anthology. You can find her on Instagram @sueshaikus, @susanbethfurst, and www.beautifuldefect.com.  Susan lives in Woodbridge, Virginia, with her husband, Herb.

                                                                         Beautiful Defect​

The Battle Hymn of the Republic

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; 
He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.

Glory, glory! Hallelujah! Glory, glory Hallelujah!
Glory, glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps;
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on. 

Chorus

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
"As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal;
Let the Hero born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel.
Since God is marching on."

Chorus

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men  before His judgement seat;
O be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.

Chorus

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

Glory, glory! Hallelujah! Glory, glory! Hallelujah!
Glory, glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

Julian Ward Howe

November 19, 1861

Julia Ward Howe was a published poet, abolitionist, social reformer, and sometime preacher. She was encouraged to write new lyrics to the civil war song, "John Brown's Body."  In February 1862, Atlantic Monthly published her poem. The Battle Hymn of the Republic was played at a rally President Lincoln attended. When he heard it, he cried. 

It is one of my favorite songs. The beauty of the lyrics, and the message of hope, sacrifice, triumph, and redemption, makes me cry every time...

God Bless You And God Bless America!! 

Hopefully,

Susan
​;)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16



Sign up for blog post and Life Poems Journal notifications delivered directly to your inbox. Just click on Newsletter at the top of the page!

Submissions are open for the August Issue of Life Poems. Check the submission page for guidelines. Write a poem. Send it in. Dazzle us with your creativity!

Send in your poems!!

                                                                                           Beautiful Defect​

Prologue

I play it in the dark,
very softly,
like cats'
feet...
disappearing
in 
the
f
o
g

                          and the clock strikes thirteen​

​
my father says
I can be anything
horsehead nebula
                                                                       
                                               
​             

one red sock all it takes
               
​            

​

road to utopia

​Susan Beth Furst


Yavanika Press
Shloka Shankar: Editor 
Cover Art: Robin Anna Smith 

I am celebrating the release of my third chapbook, road to utopia, this week! I hope you have enjoyed the preview. You can download a free copy @

https://yavanikapress.wixsite.com/home/our-titles

keep looking up...

Susan
;)


Third chapbook, Sixteen poems, Do the math...

​"And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me, I have found my lost coin.'"   Luke 15:9 NIV

​​

"For god so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall  not perish but have eternal life"  John 3:16 

Sign up for blog post and Life Journal notifications delivered directly to your inbox. Just click on Newsletter at the top of the page. Leave a comment, like, and share widely. Thank you!

​
Submissions are open for the August Issue of Life. Check the submission page for guidelines. Write a poem. Send it in. Dazzle us with your creativity!


Beautiful Defect has a new look! Check out the "new pages." Read about my second Golden Haiku on the About Page. Visit The Life Journal and Submission Pages. And take a look at what's new on the Contact and Newsletter Pages. You might even want to sign up for notifications or submit a poem! ;)



                                                                                   Beautiful Defect

​"Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."
​
​Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz
​

"If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with..."

Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz
​

​Until next week,

Hopefully,

Susan
​;)



For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16 NIV



Sign up for blog post and Life Journal notifications delivered directly to your inbox. Just click on Newsletter at the top of the page. Leave a comment, like, and share widely. Thank you!

​
Submissions are open for the June Issue of Life. Check the submission page for guidelines. Write a poem. Send it in. Dazzle us with your creativity!


Beautiful Defect has a new look! Check out the "new pages." Read about my second Golden Haiku on the About Page. Visit The new Life Journal and Submission Pages. And take a look at what's new on the Contact and Newsletter Pages. You might even want to sign up for notifications or submit a poem! ;)



                                                                          Beautiful Defect

Journal Entry

April 23, 2019

(Written before I read my Bible)

I have turned the corner on my depression. I see colors brighter and notice the things around me. I have a hope for my future. This is most certainly signs of my depression lifting...

I randomly opened to;  Job 38:12-15 (The Message)

"And have you ever ordered 'Morning Get Up! told Dawn, Get to Work!' So you could seize Earth like a blanket and shake out the wicked like cockroaches? As the sun brings everything to light, brings out all the colors and shapes, the cover of darkness is snatched from the wicked, they're caught in the very act!"

A word to me, a confirmation from the Lord!


I had been sick since January, with pneumonia, and then the flu, and then another virus, and then, well the doctors didn't know what it was. All of this was on top of the usual chronic pain and autoimmune stuff I dealt with every day. I was feeling hopeless and afraid.

So I began to read my Bible, the Word of God, everyday, and I began to pray. Nothing happened, at least not right away. And then God healed me. It wasn't a big amazing miracle healing. They happen to other people, mostly on TV,  but that's not what God had in mind for me, at least not yet. I had to walk that road, with Him, everyday, and carry my cross. 

My big beautiful cross.

My arts and crafty cross.

My colorful ceramic tile and glass bead cross.

I read the Word and I prayed hard, even when I couldn't feel Jesus' presence, even when it was hard to believe, I believed anyway.

One day as I read His words, I looked out my window and I could see colors. I could see the blue river and the green trees, and the big puffy white clouds in the sky. It was Spring! Wow! When did that happen? And I could feel it too. There was a lifting. I felt lighter, like I could fly.

What a Beautiful Day that was!!

Thank you Jesus!!

Never lose hope. Stay close to Jesus. He is always there, even when you can't feel Him.
He doesn't promise a smooth path, but He will walk it with you. And he always gives you what you need to survive, and then some. He makes all things new!
​

Until next time,

Hopefully,

Susan
​;)



For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16 NIV



Sign up for blog post and Life Journal notifications delivered directly to your inbox. Just click on Newsletter at the top of the page. Leave a comment, like, and share widely. Thank you!

​
Submissions are open for the June Issue of Life. Check the submission page for guidelines. Write a poem. Send it in. Dazzle us with your creativity!


Beautiful Defect has a new look! Check out the "new pages." Read about my second Golden Haiku on the About Page. Visit The new Life Journal and Submission Pages. And take a look at what's new on the Contact and Newsletter Pages. You might even want to sign up for notifications or submit a poem! ;)



                                                                          Beautiful Defect