Shirley Mandel

Shirley A. Mandel is a Christian poet who has overcome a disability to acquire a college education. She did undergraduate work at Averett University and graduated with two B.A. degrees, one in English and one in journalism. She has also won several awards at Averett for excellence in poetry.
Born in Baltimore she trained as an x-ray technician earlier in her life, and she did a stint in the Army at the end of the Vietnam War. She served in a Vietnamese refugee camp as a medical soldier which was one of her earlier life dreams. Currently she is working as a volunteer at Good Samaritan Ministries, a ministry to the poor in the community. She likes to help people.

Writers Studio: When and why did you start writing?

Shirley Mandel: I started writing in the 90's during a lengthy hospitalization. I found it to be both pleasurable and therapeutic. It was an important part of my recovery process.

WS: What writers have influenced you the most?

SM: Two diverse writers have influenced me, David the writer of the Psalms and Walt Whitman. Whitman influenced me with his free verse style and David influenced me with his passion for God.

WS: Define if you can, your writing style. Essentially what do you write and why?

SM: I write Christian poetry in a free verse style that is passionate, rich in imagery, and easy to read. I write in this style in order to communicate the love of God to a wide spectrum of readers.

WS: Why choose God for your subject?

SM: When I was a child and had newly discovered my talent for writing poetry, I knelt by my bed and dedicated the ability to Him. He took it.

WS: What response have you had from your writing so far?

SM: I have had mostly a positive response from people who have read my poetry. One reader called it "million dollar poetry."

WS: What inspired you to write in the poetry genre?

SM: I write poetry because that is where the bulk of my talents lie, but I am also trained to write in the journalistic style.

WS: Was there a single idea that inspired "The Stigma of Nature."

SM: The Bible concept of the curse that is on the ground inspired me to write the piece.

WS: When you are writing do you have a daily routine?

SM: No, I write poetry when I'm inspired to write. This writing normally takes place at night. I call it "working the night shift."

WS: What motivates you to keep on writing?

SM: The love of God and a sheer passion for verse keep me writing.

WS: What are you currently working on?

SM: Currently I am writing what I call "reality essays" in order to strengthen my journalism skills.

PUBLICATION HISTORY

POETRY

MIDNIGHT FLOWER: AN ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN POEMS by Shirley Mandel

Faith Notes,

a publication of Faith Community Church

God's Favorite Color
Vital Organ

Ember Magazine

The Stigma of Nature
Standing Ebony Against the Sun
Unconditional Love

American Poetry Annual

The Womb

Quill Books

Refurbished
Ode to My Master
The Master Musician Expresses

Living Jewels, a publication of The Fine Arts Press

Perpetual Safety

NEWSPAPERS

The Danville Register and Bee
The Petersburg Monitor
The Dinwiddie Monitor

AWARDS

Averett University:

The Ember Award for Poetry, First Prize
The Ember Award for Poetry, Second Prize
The Ember Award for Poetry, Third Prize, (Honorable Mention)

STANDING EBONY AGAINST THE SUN

Like a Japanese cock
standing ebony
against the rising sun,
black head crowned
with precious rubies
and charcoal feathers cascading
into a fountain of dark silk;
Christ broods.
Christ broods over His lost flock.

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

He lifted his
starry colored head,
and with double-deep creases
crossing his face,
he asked the neighbor
to watch out for his alcoholic son. Watch the hall for intruders, he said,
for often he's unconscious
and doesn't lock the door.
And call me collect
if he's sick,
for sometimes he doesn't
open the door for me.
Money is no object.
Money is no problem.

My, quipped the neighbor,
isn't he a lucky man
to have a father who loves his son. No. No. Replied the man,
I am the lucky one.

THE STIGMA OF NATURE

Above the trees
gleams a sea of blue space
rimmed with gold.
It's the sky,
the still waters of doves and eagles.
But often,
when the gold is marred
by the dust of an angry cloud,
and the still waters are rent by a rage,
the sky becomes
the birth-mother of destruction.
For all the hostile forces of nature meet to war there.

Beneath the trees
little flowers grow
by rotting stumps and logs.
In the fall the trees
share their ginger with the ground,
but venomous snakes,
also the color of ginger,
live among the leaves.

In a tree
a bird carefully weaves
a hollow home for her progeny.
She will nurture her eggs
to be the mirror image of herself
and her mate,
until her glorious children take wing.
But soon the Earth will tilt
the other way,
and her empty home
will turn a frosty, winter gray

Finally
between the trees
there stands a man,
as bright as the corona of the morning
with flowers in his hand.
But deep,
in the darker soils of his inner earth,
there grows a thistle.
In richer soils, he nurtures sin.

ODE TO MY MASTER, JESUS CHRIST

Oh Master of my destiny,
Oh Captain of my endless sea,
Never set me free.
Never set me free.

Oh Captain of my endless sea,
Oh Holder of my golden key,
Shackle me.
Shackle me.

Oh Holder of my golden key,
Oh Master of my destiny,
Bind to you my endless sea.
Never set me free.
Never set me free.

PERPETUAL SAFETY

The eye of the storm was red
and glowering
like the eye of a man
singed with anger.
Images of dust and rubble
were forming in my mind
because the wrath of nature
was about to fall on us.
I laid on my stomach
to protect my face against the storm.
It was then I heard
the rustle of a soft robe,
and I felt Him whisper
into my soul;
Be at peace, my friend,
in me is perpetual safety.