Enlarge Rachel Dukan reading her grandmother's poetry.

Posted: June 24th, 2010 Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman

In ancient times, Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, was a time for feasting and dancing, animal sacrifices and bonfires.

But things were a bit more subdued on Monday when about 20 people gathered at The Bag Lady, a whimsical store on Kenilworth Avenue, to celebrate Summer Solstice by reading poetry.

Some of the readers read their own poetry and some read the words of others. Rachel Dunkan read a poem her grandmother, Madeline Adams, wrote in 1937, from a now tattered orange folder last carried to school more than 70 years ago.

While there was no dancing or fire, the poems were as unique and full of life as the people reading them, each celebrating different sparkles thrown off by life's multitude of facets.

Madeline's poem, "Queer Character," was about a lady who sings over everyone in church ... from a hymnal that's often upside down.

Susan Balk read a poem that she wrote when she was 16. Now more than twice that age, she says it's the only she's ever written. Today, she says, the poem, originally about unicorns, takes on an entirely different meaning in her life.

One of the poems Catherine Anderson read was about asking for God's permission. It ended with God saying, "What I'm telling you is yes, yes yes."

Susan Proctor read the poetry of Ruth Shawn, who offered a feminist's view of male-written scripture. One of the poems was about Lot's wife, the no-name woman best known for turning into a pillar of salt. That poem ended, "A mother can't look away, even if God commands it."

Alice Wallace read a poem she was inspired to write when her husband was in the hospital. In it, she reminds him of a summer, 60 years ago, when the two young lovers spend a day in the forest near Black Mountain.

Ellyn Kirschner brought a poem laminated to a red heart that usually hangs in her office. "The Summer Day," by Mary Oliver, pushes the reader to be thoughtful about how they intend to spend their valuable life.

Catherine "Cat" Crawford's cried with her audience as she read poems inspired by her father's death last year.

Blynn Field turned an apology letter into a poem. The apology arrived with her camera, lost in the bathroom at the Cowboy Hall of Fame two years prior.

Each of the poems plucked at heart strings. Each offered a view through someone else's perspective on life. Each, ultimately, encouraged the audience to live boldly, as boldly as an extra long, hot summer's day.

As the sun set, the crowd lingered, laughing as if they didn't want to break their poetry-fostered bond, as if they didn't want the day to end.

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