‘Budding & Wilted Roses’: Monroeville resident celebrates book of her poetry

Popular reading material among seventh-graders is likely to be along the lines of, say, teen romances or comic books.

But that doesn’t apply across the board.

“I was a big fan of Shakespearean sonnets and writing at 12 years old,” Monroeville resident Susan Frazier DeLaney said. “One of my teachers bought me the complete volume of all of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets. He knew I enjoyed it.”

With motivation from the Bard complementing her natural interest, she has been writing for most of her life, culminating in her recently published collection “Budding & Wilted Roses: Inspirational Poems Through Life’s Seasons.”

“Someone said, ‘How can a wilted rose be inspirational?’ I said, ‘Because it still has the essence of the fragrance and the beauty.’ All of that is still there,” she explained. “We may not be budding, and we may be in full bloom and might even be wilting. But through our faith and through all of the beauty that God has created within us, it’s still there.”

In celebration of her book, DeLaney organized an evening of poetry and music on Feb. 13 at Monroeville Public Library, with each of the guests who filled the library’s Gallery Space receiving either a chocolate-covered roses or rose-decorated cupcake. Supplying the music were two of her friends, vocalist Connie Allensworth and flutist Gemma Stemley, who closed the program by leading their audience in singing “Let There Be Peace on Earth.”

As far as her poetry, DeLaney recalled a seventh-grade composition directly influenced by one of William Shakespeare’s most enduringly popular, albeit melancholy, plays.

“I had written a poem after reading ‘Hamlet,’ and the title was ‘Today I Live, Tomorrow I Die.’ It was creative, but it was dark,” she said with a chuckle. “I enjoy more of the Shakespearean tragedies, so I had to really work on making my poetry more upbeat.”

Another source of inspiration for DeLaney, a longtime educator and Gateway School Board member, is the writing of Phillis Wheatley (1753-84), the first Black poet to have her work published in the United States. Her oeuvre includes the autobiographical “On Being Brought from Africa to America.”

Prior to “Budding & Wilted Roses,” DeLaney had been contemplating an anthology of her poetry for some time.

“About 20 years ago, I specifically started doing some writing that was my therapy when my two sons went away to college,” she said. “Then I shared it with a few others, who felt a sense of consolation, too, that they weren’t going through certain things alone. I had quite a few things, and I put it aside because I just got frustrated trying to figure out how to publish it.”

In the meantime, Stemley authored and published “Finding Home: A Sentimental Journey,” a book based in part on conversations she had with her great-grandmother in her native Trinidad. Stemley convinced DeLaney that she could accomplish something similar.

“She walked me through the process, every step of the way,” DeLaney said. “She is very good at writing, so she edited it. She’s just a great motivator and influencer in terms of me completing that project.”

All proceeds from “Budding & Wilted Roses” benefit the William C. and Susan A. DeLaney Scholarship Fund. The book is available by contacting the author at susandelaney@verizon.net or by visiting www.amazon.com/Budding-Wilted-Roses-Inspirational-Through/dp/B0BLYHRMD7.