Holly Cusumano

Thirty five years ago today, I had an out-of-body experience while giving birth to our son.  At the time, I didn't know how to label it or why it happened. I t was pretty weird. But when I took a poetry writing class in 1996, I knew immediately that my birthing experience would be the topic of my first poem.  Our professor said I was the only student he’d ever had who submitted a poem with a number as its title. I like being different, so this pleased me.  My classmates thought the poem was filled with symbolism; it’s not. It’s more of a report.  011478 Elevator silently slips through the dark tunnel; we burst forth Machines and metals and masks but I am lying in the grass Drab green walls, brash fluorescents sapphire sky, air, earth The illuminated and mechanized beep, beep, beep rhythmic tribal drums Phones ring, the damn TV introspection, focus, a suspended pause Isolation connected to the Clan Who’s running t...

People often tell me their dreams. No, not their personal goals, I mean they ask me to interpret their nighttime dreams. I do like to think about symbols and their meanings. And like Lucy van Pelt in the Peanuts comic strip, I provide inexpensive insight. My husband is going through a phase where he talks and moves around a lot during sleep. It’s very hard to res t with a melodramatic opera or Greek tragedy being played out in bed, right next to you. The other night, during the second act, he jumped and screamed. I said, “Are you all right?” He said “Snakes.” Snakes are classic symbols appearing in the mythology of cultu res around the world. Often thought of as a symbol of evil (Adam and Eve), they can also rep res ent transfiguration (shedding skin) and healing (rod of asclepius). A few years ago, I made herbal dream pillows to sell, based on a book Dream Pillows and Love Potions by Jim Long, herbal superstar and author. Dream pillow recipes change d...

Recently while helping my sister, Kit, move to a new house, we found an inte res ting old bible belonging to “V. H. Reinhart” in the bottom of a moldy old box. I’d never seen a bible like it. The left-hand column is written in German and the right, in English. Victor H. Reinhart, born in 1885, was the father of my step father, Wilbur Reinhart, and I knew from oral family history that he was a Mennonite minister. Inside the bible we found a single, brittle, pale green leaf and immediately recognized it. I said, “Holy cow, it’s costmary!” (Tanacetum balsamita also Chrysanthemum balsamita)  Because I’m passionate about both genealogy and herb gardening, this discovery was a bit like taking a beautiful old painting to the Antiques Roadshow and finding a signed copy of the Declaration of Independence behind it. Costmary’s (now obsolete) common name is “bible leaf,” having been used as an aromatic bookmark since the time when a bible was likely the only book in the house. The volat...