Deanna Mulvihill’s latest book “mmm... Mulvihill’s Monday musings” is more than a collection of words and images. It is an insight into her life. Her poems and paintings lead us into a maze of feelings which form the web of this unusual journey of self-discovery.
“This work started in the late 1970s when I was a working mother and searching for some creative outlet of my own,” explains Deanna. At that time, she was involved in work with adolescents in small group therapy. Soon after, she started to keep a journal of her thoughts, poems and drawings.
The book opens with a poem “Less Than” in which Deanna explains her fear of writing:
“Lest my efforts be less than
Less than what?
Less than ideal
Less than perfect.”
In another poem, she tells us how the urge to paint becomes so profound when words somehow cannot capture “what she feels.” However, both words and colors ultimately serve the same purpose: they constitute a method of self-discovery.
In a humorous poem, the author wonders if she has messed up her life the way she has messed the picture.
“There is no hope for the
Painting — but my life
Is still here, it is not constant,
How shall I change it?”
The intimate intertwining of the art and journalizing process has been particularly healing for Deanna. “Sometimes reading it years later has been healing or even at times inspiring. Perhaps they can be healing or even inspiring for you,” she says.
One of her most beautiful poems “When Time Melts” speaks of her feelings for the Kingdom. A painting of a clock in the desert by Salvador Dali (La Persistance de la Memoire) which was hanging in an office at a hospital in Riyadh inspired her thoughts.
“When time melts, the sand shifts
The dunes flow and falcons fly
When time melts, the sun eclipses
Rain falls and plants drink
Flowers bloom and bugs crawl.
When time melts.
Yet here are you and I
Amidst this time warp
Amidst this prayer call
When time melts
Dew falls and animals feed
When time melts,
When time melts
Sand blows, moves and crawls
From here to there, to here again
When time melts and
Melts and melts and
Then dissolves.
Then here are you and I
And I and I
Among the dunes,
Beneath the skies
Beneath the burning sun
When time melts.”
In a recent interview she gave for Channel Two, Deanna disclosed that one of her poems in the book “Heading Homeward” was chosen to appear in an anthology of poems “Symphonies of Words” published by the International Library of Poetry.
Deanna Mulvihill does not think of herself as a writer but a teacher, or a communicator. “Most of my writings has been in relation to my work as a therapist, a nurse, a teacher. It is just sharing thoughts and ideas. I hope these ideas will inspire others to look within themselves for their growth and direction, inspire others to rely on their own creativity. I do, however, think of myself as a poet. In the coming months, I hope to delve deeper into my own creative space for more poetry. I have always considered myself an artist, even in times when I have not been writing or painting anything, even as a young child.”
She hopes to write another instructional book which would be on helping parents with their difficult and confusing task of raising children with a high self-esteem. Her book, “Rebonding of the Body” is based upon her concept for a therapeutic tool to be used in group therapy for women and adolescents. Her first book, as co-author with noted psychiatrist Dr. Phillip Nay, “Child Psychiatric Treatment: A Practical Guide” was a textbook for health professionals.
More than 90 exhibits from Canadian artists resident in Saudi Arabia opened in May of this year at the Canadian Embassy in Riyadh. All of the works on display drew their subject or inspiration from the people and places of Arabia. The purpose of the exhibition, called “Desert Energy” was to show Saudi Arabia as seen through the eyes of artists who were living in the Kingdom. Deanna Mulvihill shared how she captured Saudi Arabia in her art in a series of featherlight impressionistic watercolor scenes of the Arabian landscape. These paintings were designed to create a mood or an emotional response from the viewer.
Deanna Mulvihill is currently associate administrator of the Nursing Program at National Guard Health Affairs. At the school, on the grounds of King Abdul Aziz Medical City in Riyadh, she’s business oriented and her sensitivity is expressed in her care and concern for the Saudi nurses who she has dedicated her life to training and developing over the past eight years.