Carter gives unique look at holy land, scripture in new book

It’s not often you come across a published book from a local author, or one as cultured, thought-provoking and artistic as “Muted Hosannas” from Newton resident and Salvation Army Major Jeff Carter.

Last summer, Carter’s friend and fellow Salvation Army officer Kevin Jackson enjoyed Carter’s writing and asked him if he would be interested in publishing. Carter obliged.

The book is large in size at 9 x 12 inches and has 70 color glossy pages full of poetry and photography by Carter.

Muted Hosannas is divided into three sections — Part One: Holy Land, Part Two: Advent to Pentecost and Part Three: Haiku.

Holy Land is a series of poems inspired during a trip to Israel and Palestine earlier this year including “Eating an Orange on Mount Caramel on Ash Wednesday” and “Pray for the Peace of Bethlehem.”

The 10-day educational trip was for Salvation Army officers and pastors to better understand the material and see the places they speak about. It was his first time to the Holy Land and he got to share it with his wife, fellow Major Mikey Carter.

Advent to Pentecost is a collection of various faith-inspired poems written over the past few years, including “How Shall I Rise?” and “The Locusts,” and Haiku is a series of haiku based on Bible passages such as “Psalm 134” and “John 20:1, John 21:1-4.”

The art, which illuminates the pages and poems, gives a unique view of places near, like Mariposa or farm land near the drive-in, and far, like the Church of the Nativity or Golan Heights located between Israel and Syria.

“While we were standing there, we could hear the sound of artillery going off somewhere across the border,” Carter said.

The title of the book, “Muted Hosannas,” is drawn from one of the poems itself.

“It’s a reference to Psalm Sunday, the day that Jesus would have gone into Jerusalem, and celebrated, welcomed and whatnot. (Civilians) were shouting hosannas and waving the palm branches, but as you go from that exhilarating moment on Psalm Sunday to Good Friday just a few days later where he’s getting arrested and executed — let’s mute those hosannas for a moment and think about where we’re going with this,” Carter said.

The book is available through the publisher, Frontier Press, website at frontierpress.org/shop/muted-hosannas as well as at Amazon.

Carter will host a book signing, poetry reading and guitar performance for the community from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Bridgehouse Coffee Company, 111 W. Second St. in Newton.

For those who can not attend the book signing event in Newton, there will be a second one from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Dec. 18 at Plain Talk Books & Coffee, 602 E. Grand Ave. in Des Moines.

Contact Kate Malott at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or kmalott@newtondailynews.com.