In Service: Author Mary Anne Abdo Finds Needed Service in the Arts & in Nature

"Whispered Conversations in a Turbulent World" mixed media by Anne Mitchell Reid

Editor's Note: Writers were asked to respond to the theme of "service' as part of Studio B Art Gallery's "In Service" project sponsored by a grant from the Berks County Community Foundation.

by Mary Anne Abdo*

The Artist’s Calling

Someone shot up the world again—yesterday.
Grief, pain, and ANGUISH fill the streets.
Happening in our schools, neighborhoods,
and houses of worship.
I call upon my fellow creators to take upon
what is in your hearts to spread the message—
of hope.
Those who write the words that is sometimes
UNSPOKEN.
Hold your pen to page and enable those
words to be—SPOKEN.
Fill our drowning hearts with VERSES,
we need to read.
Verses to hear when moments we experience
are too much to bear.
I call upon painters and sculptors to uncover
untouched clay, slabs of stone, and blank canvas
to create MASTERPIECES.
That our world needs to see THROUGH your eyes.
Find the BEAUTY that our world is numb to right now.
Show us the wondrous glory of this planet.
I call upon photographers to capture
stories on film.
THE dimensions, stillness, peacefulness,
and all of those MAGNIFICENT FACES within
one single frame.
I call upon all artists and creators of every genre.
To spread your messages OF LIGHT
that will dispel—the darkness.

A Silent Hanukkah Movie
(A Tribute Rob and Michelle Reiner)

The theater lights went black around 4pm.
Sally can no longer find Rob at Katz’s deli.
His director’s chair was stolen.
Forty years of cinematic folklore
and magic still linger in our hearts.
Writing movie lines that made us laugh, love, and cry.
The day you and Michelle left earth.
A sumptuous welcome home Hanukkah feast was
prepared and a line formed to greet you.
Your parents were first—weeping
for they missed their beautiful boy.
Carroll and Jean cried as they held tight
to their talented cinephile.
Down on earth Rob’s cast of characters
had lost their direction for grief and silence
are powerful emotions.
You were the voice of action on and off set.
For kindness always ruled in your heart.
You were our compass star portraying
life on the silver screen
The movie theatre is silent on 42nd street for now.
Please, guide us from above— show us how to tell a story.

Camp Archbald

Last Girl Scout camping trip
Full of toasted marshmallows and pre-teen angst.
One weekend filled with uptight mothers
afraid of the forest.
Sleeping bags and cooking dramas.
Going to the outhouse in late winter.
With complaints of why camping is uncivilized
wafted through the cabin.
Girls whining about gossip infiltrating
this idyllic nature scene.
Midnight enabled me to stoke
the outdoor fire in peace.
Watching the March constellations.
Realizing all at once how much
these girls are missing out.
And how much their wonderment
was lost to modern expectations of childhood.
Be the perfect child.
With fantastic grades.
Walt Disney vacations.
The right college and socially acceptable friends.
Looking back at that last trip.
I was happy that we all survived.
Except for a few squished bugs and a pair of broken glasses.
For my motto was “no hospital trips
and watch as nature teaches you many lessons.”
I see these girls every so often.
Now grown women with their own families.
Stopping me to say hello and thanking me for my mentorship.
Life has a way of telling us along our path—how many lives we have impacted.

* Mary Anne Abdo is an author, poet and photographer. She graduated magna cum laude from Luzerne County Community College with a degree in Human Services. She is the owner of Blue Stained Glass Poetry and Art. She is the self-published author of Fractured Lollipop Poems of Brokenness Healing and Hope, Droplets of Crystal Poetry for the Soul, and her children’s book, Pumpkin The Cat Who Plays With Words. All three books are on Amazon. She has been featured in many print and on-line anthologies. She is 2022-second place winner with her photography and essay for Mary’s Garden. She is a 2023 semi-finalist for the Bermuda Triangle Poetry Award and a 2025 first place award winner for the Bermuda Triangle Poetry Award. Her poetry has been achieved through Bindweed Magazine in the National Library of Ireland. Her second children’s book is available. Read her poem and the announcement about her award: https://thepoetsbillow.org/literary-art-gallary/2025-bermuda-triangle-prize/ An extended biography can be found https://thepoetsbillow.org/2025-contributors/.

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