The poetry of Charis Southwell spans the horizons of intimate human experience, from the romantic to the metaphysical, from the spiritual to the sentimental. Yes, young lovers picnic in the spring grass (Spring) , but the shadow of death lurks through the darkened halls of a lonely night. She wrote poems that elate and inspire faith (I am the weakest of all things) , and poems that put us gently face to face with that familiar specter that haunts us all ( Dust) .  

  Charis's poetry, indeed, offers something for everyone. Nevertheless, there are a few special treasures for those who shared the deeper strata of her world (To My Grandpa, Gene Wagstaff, When He Died) . Her family, near the core, still remembers the green apples and salt in the August orchards of her grandfather's farm, and none are able to restrain the tears when taken back to that world which is no more. (The Orchard) 

   In the outer circle are her fellow Latter-day Saints, or "Mormons" as they have been known since their uniquely American church was founded over 150 years ago in New York State. Charis Southwell was a Mormon of six generations, untypically well versed in its theology and history, enamored by its ideals, and unshaken by its flaws. She loved her religion, and honored her ancestors who gave up their homelands to brave the new world, many losing their children and spouses to disease, accident, and to the elements on their wilderness trek to Zion. 

   Although her work was recognized with highest honors at Brigham Young University and published there in academic periodicals, it never received the deserving attention of LDS commercial publishers. Charis won the coveted Hart-Larson Poetry award each of her first three years at BYU. Illness prevented her from participating the fourth year. That year, the award committee elected not to offer the award at all, announcing that none of the entries lived up to the standard of excellence set by Charis in prior competitions. In the final analysis, the failure of Charis's poetry to win wide acceptance among the general Mormon readership was a matter of marketing.

   To be sure, her work lacked the Mormon spin and cliché Mormon jargon that characterizes popular LDS literature. It would be, therefore, a mistake to view Charis's poetry solely from with the framework of Mormonism. Only a few of her poems focus on LDS topics, and while a few allude to her religion in terms that might evoke special meaning to seasoned Mormons (The Restoration) , much of her work merely hints of her Christian faith, or is purely secular in nature. Even so, an acquaintance with Charis's Mormon legacy will only enhance the reader's enjoyment and appreciation of her work.

   Charis's earliest Mormon progenitors joined the church while it was still under the personal leadership of founder, Joseph Smith, Jr., and it has been three generations since her last ancestor was converted to the faith. All of her great grandfathers, grandfathers, and her father each served at least one term as missionary for the church to domestic and/or foreign provinces.  

   Her parents were faithfully tenured members, and like most active Mormons, went to church not only on Sunday, but served in various auxiliary organizations that required their attendance at meetings and other activities throughout the week.  

   By the time Charis entered high school, she had already served in teaching and leadership positions with the Sunday School and in the various youth groups. The practice of calling children to positions of responsibility and speaking assignments has served the LDS church well over the years, ensuring that each succeeding generation is equipped to fill leadership roles. When Charis was selected as a commencement speaker at her high school graduation she was already well accustomed to and comfortable with public speaking, having regularly given talks at church throughout her youth.  

   Unlike mainstream Christian denominations, Mormons have no professional clergy at the local or regional levels. Congregations, called "wards," are pastored entirely by volunteer bishoprics. Auxiliary organizations have been established for each special interest and age group, including the Primary organization for pre-teen children, the Mutual Improvement Association for teenagers and young adults, and the Relief Society for the adult women. 

   Most Mormon boys are initiated into the Aaronic Priesthood at the age of twelve by ordination to the office of Deacon. Their duties include serving the Eucharistic bread and water, or "sacrament," to the congregation during Sunday services. At fourteen, LDS boys usually progress to the office of Teacher, then to Priest at the age of sixteen, and as such, are authorized to perform the ordinances of baptism and "blessing of the sacrament" (praying over the Eucharist). Any time after reaching the age of eighteen or nineteen, young LDS men may be ordained as Elders into the higher Melchizedek Priesthood, receive their sacred "endowments" in one of the now over 100 Mormon Temples worldwide, and be called to serve as full time missionaries for a term of two years almost anywhere in the world. There are now over 60,000 full-time missionaries in service, and a significant and ever increasing percentage of this force is made up of young women and retired couples. 

    From there, young adults are expected to marry, to marry within the church, and ideally, to marry under apostolic authority in an LDS Temple, through a rite sealing husband and wife together for all time and eternity. Male return missionaries are considered prime choice for college aged women, and once married, begin a lifelong upward climb through the local chain of Priesthood command. While faithfulness to the doctrines and standards of the church are primary requirements, the level a man is able to achieve in his Priesthood career often coincides with the level of success he has achieved in his secular life. A few, usually upon retirement from highly successful business careers, are called to positions of "General Authority," where one might even be ordained an Apostle - usually after serving for a few years as a Stake or Mission President or other calling in regional leadership. 

    For women, upward progress through the ranks is more or less dependent upon their husbands. While they may serve as missionaries, and ultimately hold high office in church auxiliary organizations, women are never granted the Priesthood authority to baptize, confer, or ordain. For the most part, LDS women are content in their roles as wives and mothers in the Kingdom of God, and believe that if they continue in faithfulness they may become "mothers in heaven," aiding their husbands as Goddesses in the creation of worlds of their own, and of their own populating. 

   Charis aspired to the Mormon ideal of womanhood -- to serve her church, her family, to marry in the Temple, to bear children in this world and in the next, and to live eternally with her husband in the Celestial Kingdom. From the age of sixteen, when she was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Charis began to fear that she might not survive to marry, let alone bear children of her own. Although she was an attractive and popular young woman at school and at church, her illness seemed to obstruct serious relationships, and her hopes for fulfillment in the LDS context darkened. 

   Her faith did not go unrewarded, for Charis finally did meet the man of her dreams, who loved her, and married her despite her prospects. A few years later she was blessed with the adoption of an infant daughter under certainly miraculous circumstances. For the few short years remaining in her life, Charis loved and cared a lifetime for her little girl. There can be no wonder, then, at the breadth and depth of Charis's faith. And so it is in her poetry, that she has been able to reach such heights of joy for the love of her family and faith, while standing eye to eye against the constant presage of premature death and the separation it would eventually bring -- if only temporary -- from those she loved.