New gift book, Passing Shadows, features color photos and haiku poems

Passing Shadows, a collection of poignant three-line haiku poems, each illustrated with surprising photos and watercolor paintings, is the third of a series of joy-centered books by author and artist Mary O'Connor. Reflective and at times amusing, this latest book illustrates how to uncover unexpected moments of calmness through musings on ordinary, everyday objects.

Finding a measure of quietude is what this book is all about. Full-color photographic as well as painted images, including four pet portraits, are offered as meditative stopping points, reasons to pause and to think of the subject's lure. Accompanying each visual image is a verbal reflection expressed in the ancient Japanese poetic haiku format.

Haikus use the barest minimum of words, structured in three lines of five-seven-five syllables, to depict a single moment in time through colorful mental imagery and natural world reference. Hallmark of a haiku is its delivery in just one breath of an unexpected sense of illumination. It is this ability to inspire fresh thought, to provide moments of ahhh, that the author delivers in Passing Shadows.

O'Connor lives along the Connecticut shoreline, the source of inspiration for much of her creative work, which typically turns to nature for vision. As throughout the book's content, she has a way of finding sunlight in the ordinary and drawing it out in surprising, thought-provoking observations.

Take for example, the 15-word haiku "Birth." Illustrated with the warm pink petal of a tulip lit by a shaft of sunlight, she simply writes, "life gives birth to spring/little trace of winter stress/just stretch marks of light."

Or, with a wry sense of humor, she shows a seagull pecking at a broken clam shell and comments, "the half-eaten dish/to be served tomorrow/blessed leftovers." Or, when she catches the stare of a bad-humored grackle, she chides, "blinded by temper/ability to laugh gone/better to calm down."

It is such a focus on finding the lessons of the commonplace and expressing them in words that deliver insight, amusement, peace and calm that defines this book.

All proceeds from the sale of Passing Shadows will be donated to the nonprofit Warrior Expeditions (www.warriorexpeditions.org) in support of its therapeutic programs that help veterans transition from their wartime experiences through long distance outdoor expeditions.