reamSeekreamSeekerer MagazineMagazine DD Voices from the Soul Lambing David Corbin Strawberry Love Brenda Hartman-Souder In the Garden Anna Maria Johnson The Beatles Meet High School Musical! Kent Davis Sensenig Summer of the Hero By Regina Wenger Beneath the Skyline The Enchanted Forest Deborah Good Reel Reflections “Juno”: Beyond a Cautionary Tale Dave Greiser The Turquoise Pen Faces in the Sky Noël R. King and much more Spring 2008 Volume 8, Number 2; ISSN 1546-4172 Editor N THIS ISSUE Michael A. King I Editorial: Let Spring Burst Out! Spring 2008, Volume 8, Number 2 Assistant Editor The word has recently been circulat- pondering the beauties and risks of Renee Gehman Editorial: Let Spring Burst Out! inside front ing that Westerners are less and less sex and how they connect with sex ed- Editorial Council Letter 2 connected to nature. Instead we re- ucation or unplanned pregnancy. But David Graybill, Daniel Poetry late to the world through electronic if dangers and appropriate channels Hertzler, Kristina M. King, Jean Janzen, The Heart of It • 3, Communion media. What a tragedy. for sexual expression need Richard A. Kauffman, Box • 7; Alan Soffin, I Think of Ohio • 11; Yet all is not lost. Maybe all or to be mentored into us, Paul M. Schrock Ann M. Schultz, Joseph • 33; Debra Gingerich, Spring is here, a season most of these what a springlike drive sex Columnists or Pulling Taffy with Mom • back cover during which even ob- at its best is. Regular Contributors writings connect Lambing 5 sessed technophiles may to spring if we And might it just possi- Renee Gehman, Deborah manage a peek at na- Good, David B. Greiser, David Corbin think of it as a bly be the impish urge of ture’s beauties. And I spring blooming in her Daniel Hertzler, Michael A. Strawberry Love 8 season of primal challenge any reader to spirit that prompts Noël R. King, Nöel R. King, Mark R. Brenda Hartman-Souder take in the first three ar- forces, life burst- King to tell us so casually of Wenger In the Garden 12 ticles in this issue and ing forth, ener- the encounter with the little Publication, Anna Maria Johnson not feel blessed by gies seeking to face in the UFO? Printing, and Design springtime images of bear fruit. Then anger, as in Mark Cascadia Publishing House The Beatles Meet High School Musical! 15 lambing, jars of straw- Wenger’s column. Is anger Advertising Kent Davis Sensenig berry love, and digging (even peeing!) springlike? I’m reminded of the Michael A. King in a garden’s dirt. spring I drove through the Rockies on Summer of the Hero 21 I don’t want to impose a spring Contact Regina Wenger Interstate 70, stopped at a rest area, 126 Klingerman Road theme too rigidly on the rest of the and found I couldn’t call my parents Telford, PA 18969 Beneath the Skyline 23 materials in this issue of DreamSeeker on my cell phone because the spring 1-215-723-9125 The Enchanted Forest Magazine. But maybe all or most of snow melts had made the Colorado [email protected] Deborah Good these writings connect to spring if we River roar too loud. What do we do think of it as a season of primal forces, Submissions Reel Reflections 26 with a force like that? Wenger asks. Occasional unsolicited sub- life bursting forth, energies seeking to Meanwhile Renee Gehman draws “Juno”: Beyond a Cautionary Tale missions accepted, 750-1500 Dave Greiser bear fruit. spiritual lessons from a child in words, returned only with Kent Davis Sensenig reminds us springtime. And this issue’s poets SASE. Letters invited. The Turquoise Pen 29 of that primal force which was the touch spring in seeking to touch the Subscriptions Faces in the Sky Beatles. Love or hate them in their very heartbeat of life. Maybe even Standard rates in U.S. Noël R. King springtime, how they did blossom! Daniel Hertzler, writing about peace $14.95/yr. in US, automatic Even as Regina Wenger’s story is set in and security, connects with spring. Jan. renewals, cancel any time. Community Sense 30 summer (and in time for Father’s Because how often are the crops of Single copy: $3.75 Rehabilitating Anger Mark R. Wenger Day), its report on a budding rela- spring trampled when war and vio- Free online: tionship with her dad feels springlike. lence rage over them. www.CascadiaPublishingHouse.com/dsm Ink Aria 34 The tone shifts with Deborah So let spring burst out! DreamSeeker Magazine is I’m Ready to Listen? Good and David Greiser—now we’re —Michael A. King published quarterly in spring, Renee Gehman summer, fall, and winter. Copyright © 2008 Books, Faith, World & More 37 ISSN: 1546-4172 (paper) Peacemaking at a New Frontier? Reviews of ISSN: 1548-1719 (online) At Peace and Unafraid and of Just Policing, Not War Daniel Hertzler The Heart of It —After Marcus Borg Dear Editors: Fiducia* I continue to enjoy DreamSeeker Magazine and read They zipped up their jackets the most recent issue (Winter 2008) in one sitting. and flew out the door into Different customs associated with baptism are particu- winter fog and traffic. larly intriguing to me. I think Quakers do not baptize or What rooted me then, for that matter observe any of the other practices which we kept me from running after? Mennonites call ordinances. No assurance except My thought about adult baptism and the severe perse- the necessity to allow cution it elicited in olden days is that it was really an ex- breath and space, and pression of Christians’ desire to be free from the rule of the the memory of a flax field state. Thus in our day, the tendency to mix what we call pa- in childhood, how once I triotism and religion is the real issue—not whether we lay down it its blue blooming baptize in infancy or adulthood. and felt the sky encircle me. —Dorothy Cutrell, Deland, Florida Fidelitas* The tree is upside-down, she said. Roots must be pulled out and thrust upward where they tremble, drying. Birds settle there, sing of release and of earth’s fragrance. A tree cannot live in such reversal unless it drinks song and sky. Vision* The Lover is both earth and air as we stand in silent embrace. What language shall I borrow Letters to DreamSeeker Magazine are encouraged. We also welcome and when possi- to speak this doubleness ble publish extended responses (max. 400 words). of clinging and letting go? 3 In a dream there are no words, only the warmth of cheek against cheek, full recognition, and calm. Lambing *fiducia: radical trust; fidelitas: no other gods; visio: seeing it whole —Jean Janzen, Fresno, Califor- nia, is an award-winning poet. David Corbin This poem is from her forthcom- ing collection of poetry, Paper House. Lambing season is an amazing time of year. It may be helped by the fact that, for us at least, it comes in the early spring. While lambing arrives along with crocus and tulips and other signs that the cold and grey of our winters is about over, lambing is too full of wonder to be treated like spring’s icing. You can tell when a ewe is ready to start lambing by the way she acts. To begin, she moves off to separate herself from the other sheep. When this occurs, the other sheep respect the distance. Even with sheep that have a high flocking instinct (like ours do), this is a time when you get a little extra space. During the rest of the year, a ewe prefers to be in the middle of the flock and always works to keep a good distance between herself and my wife and me. Now, however, she’s open to a little pressure and can be moved into a barn stall or “lambing jug” even though there aren’t any other sheep around. When contractions start, the ewe will lie down, stand, turn around, sit down again, stand again, and continue to look for a comfortable position until the first lamb starts to show. At this point, the ewe is usu- ally standing. She’s also oblivious to her surroundings. She’s working very hard, particularly if she’s never lambed before. Teeth clenched, breathing heavily, and 5 4 6 / SPRING 2008 DREAMSEEKER MAGAZINE / 7 staring right at me, she doesn’t know don’t need a sheep dog. When I want next exciting moment life would of- and will be ready to breed in the fall I’m there. When the first lamb to move the flock, I can point to the fer. with the other yearlings we’ve kept. “drops,” the fall breaks the umbilical gate I want them to move through, This evening when I went out to There are hundreds of examples of cord. It lies on the ground covered and 007 will lead them through. It’s feed the flock, there was 007 standing the wonder of God’s creation. But for with mucus and not breathing. The not that she particularly likes me. It’s at the gate, wondering why I was tak- me, lambing is right up close to the ewe turns around quickly and starts just that she knows that I don’t move ing so long. Right behind her was her top. licking it. them whimsically and that when I second lamb, now almost a year old. This has several effects. The lamb point them in a new direction, it’s We didn’t breed 007 again, so she’s go- —David W.