August 2022

Henriette Muus, this unique artist who, from her professional roots as a journalist has become a visual artist and poet, gave us the great pleasure of accepting our invitation to come to London and give us an illustrated poetry reading on April 7th this year. Along with Henriette arrived a collection of her very beautiful small religious paintings, icons she calls them.

It was an unforgettable experience for the group of Danish women who were present. On the walls of our Danish church's hall in London's Regent's Park, Henriette had her icons hung and to further illustrate her poems, Henriette showed digital versions of her magnificent watercolors via a projector. The poems touched us a lot. What impressed us most was probably Henriette's ability to express the human condition with both humor and warmth. But what touched us the most were the poems about misery, loneliness, old age and grief. Especially the loneliness many elderly people suffer from because of the busyness of the younger people, the busyness of their children and grandchildren, the busyness of our society, all the busyness that prevents us from giving enough time to the elderly in society.

A poem that made a big impression on me is called " In my pursuit of tomorrow I have postponed today". In that poem, Henriette illustrated in both a clever and beautiful way the problem that so many of us have, namely that we are so busy that we forget to relax and live in the moment. It is actually the title of a whole collection of poems dealing with this subject and many of the poems were read by Henriette when she visited us in the spring.

Henriette spoke and read aloud in a very engaged manner. Her personal warmth and radiance emphasized the message behind her creative work. It was a very inspiring experience that gave food for thought.

Dr. Alette Rye Scales, Chairman Danish women in England