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Ecce Panis, a poem … and your Wednesday Writing Prompt

ingres_the_virgin_of_the_host

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti …

Clad in blue-gray woolly plaid, black oxfords
and pressed, pristine white uniform-blouse
on the morning walk from the dorms to the convent,
past the apple orchard dripping rubescent fruit,
past long-lashed benign cows gently grazing,
walking briskly across that green pasture land
into the greener wood rich in conifers and
the piney debris that crunches amicably under foot,
in single-minded pursuit of that brass-hinged door,
on into aprons, to Sister Mary Francis, the kitchen, bread.

… we therefore beseech thee, O Lord, to be appeased, and to receive this offering of our bounden duty, as also of thy whole household …

The romance was not with bread to eat,
but with yeasts to proof, batters to mix,
and dough to knead, and rest, and grow –
that beautiful, mystical living thing you have
before the baking and dying into bread, and with
the crackling timpani of wood-ovens firing up, pans crashing,
the rhythmic swish and sway of our community,
punctuated by the clicking of Sister’s rosary as she
monitors the students and novices in silent industry at bakers’ tables.
This is the sacred work of those meditative hours before Mass and school
and the business of music lessons and art classes and
the methodical ticking of Liturgical Hours until finally Compline, sleep and
the contemplation of that final sleep and dust-to-dust.
And this being Tuesday, the day to commemorate St. John the Baptist,
and the day to bake our bread for the week to come.

…order our days in thy peace; grant that we be rescued from eternal damnation and counted within the fold of thine elect. Through Christ our Lord …

The next bake day, Thursday, commemorates the Holy Apostles.
Oh, palpable Presence, we work in the silence of Adoration,
preparing pure wafers for a week of Masses.
In a solemn alcove reserved for this task,
we mix flour, salt, and holy water blessed by Father Gregory,
then the fragile process of baking on baking tongs,
silvery antiques, perhaps a hundred years old.

… which offering do thou, O God, vouchsafe in all things …

Receiving the Eucharist
knowing it was formed by my own hand.

…to bless, consecrate, approve, make reasonable and acceptable
that it may become for us the Body and Blood of thy most beloved Son,our Lord Jesus Christ…

Friday, The Cross and Theotokos (Mary),
mother of both God and man, Divine and human.
A girl, like me, perhaps a baker of breads.

…who the day before he suffered took bread into his holy and venerable hands, and with his eyes lifted up to heaven, unto thee, God, his almighty Father, giving thanks to thee …

Mysterious. Numinous. Inexplicable.
A lifetime ahead to figure it out.

Ecce Panis.

Take this Bread.

… he blessed, brake, and gave to his disciples saying: Take and eat ye all of this…

from the pastures and the woods, from the sky and the stream
from nature’s great cathedrals, everywhere present

... hoc est enim Corpus meum…

for this is my body

for this is my life

Amen.

“Where is God? Wherever you let him in.” Rabbi Menachem Mendel Morgensztern of Kotzk, Poland 1787

© 2011, poem rewritten in 2013, Jamie Dedes, previously published in The BeZine, All rights reserved; Virgin adoring the Host by Jean Auguste Donminique Ingres (1980-1867), public domain; Menachem Mendel Morgensztern bio.

WEDNESDAY WRITING PROMPT

What event or experience or time in your life (doesn’t have to be associated with religion) birthed for you the freedom to explore beyond the boundaries set for you? Tell us in a poem and share it or a link to it in the comments below.  All poetry on theme will be published here on Tuesday next. You have until Monday at 8:30 p.m. PST to respond.  All are welcome to come out and play no matter the status of your career: beginning, emerging or pro. Thank you!

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ARTEMISpoetry, issue 19 has landed in the U.S.

ARTEMISpoetry’s (U.K.) nineteenth issue landed in my mailbox this evening. Yes! It’s always a good day when a fave poetry magazine arrives, especially good on a day like today that was grueling. Once I finish reading this issue, I’ll write the editors and get permissions to bring you some samplings. Meanwhile, I encourage you to explore Second Light Network (SLN) of Women Poets. As I say, probably ad nauseum, the poetry is by women but it is for everyone.

I’m pleased to see this issue is focused on accessibility, an important concern for poets and poetry lovers.  The editors are Katherine Gallagher (Katherine Gallager’s Website), Dilys Wood (Dilys page on SLN), and Anne Stewart (poetry p f).

Myra Schneider (Myra Schneider’s Poetry Website) gifts us with a fine interview of Deborah Alma the “Emergency Poet,” who was also interviewed by Mendes Biondo (Ramingo’s Blog), one of the founding editors of Ramingo’s Porch, in The BeZine – The Healing Adventures of Poemedic, Deborah Alma. We love Deborah’s idea/ideal of bringing poetry to people in need. Talk about accessibility.

In the opening editorial, Katherine and Dilys write:

“Selling poetry as the provision of life-belts for deep distress is a good play but can’t be the whole story. Poets are ‘servants of the Muse.’ ‘Inspiration’ can mean having no choice in what we write when impelled towards a certain form or subject matter.  Though some poets place serious reliance on ‘first readers’ (often fellow-poets), poetry is by no means necessarily driven by out-reach. A poet may be concerned with the ‘great issues of the day’ or not. This reflects the person – active citizen or primarily concerned with inner life?  Poets must also grapple with their demanding medium.”

You can purchase ARTEMISpoetry through Anne Stewart’s poetry p f and sign-up for membership in SLN as well, if so inclined. There are demographic restrictions on membership (age, gender) and its most productive for those living in the London area, but membership is open to women poets anywhere in the world.

Second Light offers workshops including remote (distance) learning, poetry reading events, competitions and publication of anthologies as well as the magazine. Info on Calls for Submissions for Issue 20 is HERE. 

If you live in the UK, you’ll want to reserve these dates (details on the site) in 2018:

  • Friday 25th & Saturday 26th May, Spring Festival
  • Monday 30th July to Friday 3rd August, Holland House Residential
  •  Friday 16th & Saturday 17th November, Autumn Festival

This year has been a physically challenging year but I hope in February 2018 to start catch-up on reviews for you of collections from SLN members Myra Schneider, Anne Stewart and few others and to restart the Celebrating American She-Poets series, something I look forward to and hope you do as well.

Meanwhile, my friends, poem on … and come out to play for Wednesday Writing Prompt tomorrow, a poem on Thursday, and an introduction to the Israeli Diaphanous Press written by Krysia Jopek, poet, artist and publisher on Friday.

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“Playing for the Win”… and other responses to the last Wednesday Writing Prompt

Here today are the responses to the last Wednesday Writing Prompt, No Baloney Sandwiches about being true to self, November 29. That’s something with which everyone struggles. After all, first we have to discover who we are. Each of these poems is moving in its own way.

Welcome and thanks to Short-Prose-Fiction, new to our pages, and many thanks to these talents: bogpan, Sonja Bensking Mesher, Gary W. Bowers, Ginny Brannan, Paul Brookes, Kakali Das Ghosh and our old friend, Lady Nimue. Enjoy! … and please join us tomorrow for the next prompt. All are invited to take part: beginning poet, emerging and pro. This is about exercising your imagination and your writing muscle and getting to know other poets.

*Fated to Love*

Destiny thought I was born under the brightest star
Thought I would conquer worlds from near or afar
But he miscalculated by one grade
And fated me to love you till the end.

© 2017, Short-Prose-Fiction (Short Prose, Fiction, Poetry)

SHORT-PROSE-FICTION: “I am a published author, and an academic. However, here I am just a humble blogger, a voice among billions of others. None of my friends or acquaintances know that I created this blog. Every post that I write is for you. I do not seek accolades. All I seek is to touch your hearts.”

White shirt

I am passing by at dusk
in a white shirt.
I am looking sidelong
in the boiled soil
the growth so wild
of yellow flowers.
I do not know
what Evil is
(“Flowers of Evil” –
how did you guess which ones they were?
Oh, Baudelaire!) .
I do not know,
what Good is
(in His name
I swear) .
And I am passing on again so distant,
again in a white shirt…

In an endless sorrow.

© 2017, bogpan (bogpan – блог за авторска поезия)

I just found out about Bozhidar Pangelov’s (bogpan) collection, A Feather of Fujiyama (2013, Hammer & Anvil Books), which is illustrated by his daughter and available on Amazon in a bilingual English/ Bulgarian.  All proceeds from the sale of this collection go to the Bulgarian Integrated Education Foundation, working to improve the lives of children and youth with special health and educational needs (including mild Down syndrome, autism / autistic spectrum, cerebral palsy, language-speech disorders, and hyperactivity) and their families.

Bozhidar “has been present among contemporary Bulgarian poets for some time, a long time. He is a poet who manages to disorder the order of the usual in order to breach a material world for a more human world of ideas and feelings. Using dramatic tensions within the poetic and semantic, Pangelov’s spare yet verdant imagery evokes the sound of bamboo sticks and Zen Buddhist monks, poem after poem.

Writer and poet Palmi Ranchev says, ‘Pangelov will enrich the palette of world poetry with new colors and nuances.’

“With a light melancholy of something desired but not known to the end, forgotten but endlessly close, no lover of international verse will go unmoved by Bozhidar Pangelov’s A FEATHER OF FUJIYAMA.”

boy howdy

his pockets are lumpy. heavy. marbles
and a little money, a golf pencil,
bent feathers, string,
something for luck, something
metal lying on a canal bank,
and much more
he cannot remember
fifty-eight years later.
what he does remember
is emptying those pockets,
marveling at the quantity
and variety of that boystuff,
and gloating over it.

some went into a drawer of treasure,
some got thrown out,
some got spent,
and one thing was held up to the light
and found miraculous.

remembering, the man
looks at the surface of his drawing table,
so cluttered, so discoverable,
and knows the boy
abides.

© 2017, Gary W. Bowers (One With Clay, Image and Test)

. admission of guilt .

perhaps it was the weakness,
brought on with aspic jelly,
perhaps the truthfulness
that lives inside me.

i admitted it was me, and in
the confusion babbled and fought
embarassment. it is truthful
and honest work i do each day,
yet i am discovered now.

secrets will come out, lies will catch
you some day, they do say.

he was a nice man, who explained,
who takes photographs. I will leave
him gifts.

© 2017, Sonja Benskin Mesher

Kudos to Sonja. Her artwork has been getting featured, awarded and displayed so much I can’t keep track. Check out her visual art:

Ever Themsens

EVER Themsens
Tow their own barra.

Have no truck wi anyone elses.
Not beholden to no one.

Learnt early only themsens
Is reliable, can be trusted.

If they ever do ought for free
It’s allus for themsens.

Keep their own counsel.
Quiet as a muffler with a flat cap on it.

© 2017, Paul Brookes  (The Wombwell Rainbow, Inspiration, History, Imagination)

Paul’s newest collection, She Needs That Edge, isn’t out yet. We’ll announce when it is. Meanwhile this is the cover design:

#The Little Insane Atin#

Tramping the earthen road in a rainy morning
through the brimming field
walked the little insane Atin

Kissing a puzzled infant snake in a rainy morning
In the brimming field
smiled the saviour little insane Atin

Reposing the baby snake on his lap
fetching it to home
cherished it the little insane Atin

Being a snake rescuer
With painted snake tattoos over the whole body
grew up the little insane Atin

Making abode in the snake kingdom with hissing sounds
playing with snakes
rejoiced the little insane Atin

Abiding in a world beyond our sense
trampling an way isolated
could love selflessly
the little insane Atin

© 2017, Kakali Das Ghosh

The Void Now Left

Some years back,
I packed a part (major one) of me;
The void now left
To fill with whatever flowed.

Some years since,
I let distances grow between
parts I missed and the ones new;
The mirror mocked,”is that really you?”

Some months past,
The bells rang loud and clear
I sacrificed my self and peace some,
To chase the dreams of someone else.

Went back searching what was locked away,
The yellowed photos,the dusty hopes,
Fixed them,framed them,gave new light
And yet the person I seeked, refused to step out.

Neither here, nor there I feel
Yet I like this person – mix of old and new;
Maybe this is how it has to ideally be,
Or perhaps I the transition is our true being.

© 2017, Lady Nimue (Prats Corner, Pages of my mind: collecting words, experiences and memories …)

Playing for the Win

I’ve never been good at playing games—
I can’t bluff to save my life
all that I feel is written across my face,
so cards are out.
And chess would not be my forte;
I barely have the ability to see one move ahead
much less twelve to the win.
Monopoly, like poker, and chess,
requires certain skills,
none of which I possess.
No, my life is more like Snakes and Ladders
a mix of skill and chance, good and bad,
of climbing and slipping back again.
How many times have I ended up where I’ve begun
—falling back to square one?
I can only hope when the game is complete
that the good will outweigh the bad
that I will find the salvation that awaits
those who persist.

© 2017, Ginny Brannan (Inside Out Poetry, From the inside-out, the inner poet escapes, needing to express …)

Ginny Brannon’s poetry has been included in four anthologies: Poetry as a Spritual Practice: Illuminating the Awakened Woman; Where Journeys Meet: The Voice of Women’s Poetry; Journey of the Heart: An Anthology of Spiritual Poetry by Women; and, The dVerse Anthology: Voices of Contemporary World Poetry.

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SUNDAY ANNOUNCEMENTS: Calls for Submissions, Contests, Events and Other Information and News

CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

Opportunity Knocks

MAYDAY MAGAZINE art literature commentary publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction (including personal essays, critical articles, book reviews, and interviews), translations, and visual art. Details HERE.

NOCTUA REVIEW,  a publication of Southern Connecticut State University, publishes art, short fiction and poetry and is open or submission. Deadline: December 31, 2017. The General theme for 2018: instinct.  “General submissions should, but are not required to, adhere to the annual theme.” Details HERE.

THE SONDER REVIEW literary review and small press is open for submissions of short fiction, creative nonfiction and visual art for online and print publications. Details HERE.

SEQUESTRUM Literature and Art publishes short fiction (up to 8,000 words), nonfiction (up to 8,000 words), poetry (up to 35 lines) and visual arts by new and emerging talent as well as established. Deadline: December 15. Details HERE.

THE BeZINE, Be Inspired, Be Creative, Be Peace, Be December issue – themed Spirituality (Spiritual Paradigms, Awakenings, Miracles)  is now open and the deadline is December 10th. NEW RULES: Please send text in the body of the email not as an attachment. Send submissions to me (Jamie) at bardogroup@gmail.com. Publication is December 15th. Poetry, essays, fiction and creative nonfiction, art and photography, music (videos or essays), and whatever lends itself to online presentation is welcome for consideration.  No demographic restrictions. Please read at least one issue and the Intro/Mission Statement and Submission Guidelines. We DO NOT publish anything that promotes hate, divisiveness or violence or that is scornful or in any way dismissive of “other” peoples.

The BeZine will go to a quarterly schedule in 2018:

  • March 2018 issue, Deadline February 10th. Theme: Peace.
  • June 2018 issue, Deadline May 10th. Theme: Sustainability
  • September 2018 issue, Deadline August 10th, Theme: Human Rights/Social Justice
  • December 2018 issue, Deadline November 10th, Theme: A Life of the Spirit

Suggestions for sub-themes are still being reviewed. Send yours to thebardogroup@gmail.com.

The BeZine is an entirely volunteer effort, a mission. It is not a paying market but neither does it charge submission or subscription fees.

Previously published work may be submitted if you hold the copyright. Submissions from beginning and emerging artists as well as pro are encouraged and we have a special interest in getting more submissions short stores, feature articles, music videos and art.

THE BOOKENDS REVIEW, an independent literary has a call for submissions of visual art or the cover of its upcoming Best of 2017 Anthology. Submissions of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and mixed-media are welcome or consideration. Deadline: January 21, 2018. Details HERE.

THE FLEXIBLE PERSONA, a literary magazine, publishes print issues twice-a-year and semi-weekly “web flash” – fiction (1,200 – 6,500), poetry, and short essays on the craft of writing. $3 submission fee. Details HERE.

THE WAiF PROJECT (The Where Am i From Project) is “a not-for-profit online journal that publishes creatively written, true stories about moving around in today’s world, and bumping into other people.” The deadline for their inaugural issue is December 15. The theme is choice, as in choosing to migrate. “All forms of creative narrative are accepted — long form, short form, personal essay, graphic narrative (i.e. illustration, comic art), poetic prose, et cetera.”  Details HERE.

CONTESTS

Opportunity Knocks

SEQUESTRUM 2018 EDITOR’S REPRINT AWARD is open for submissions for “reprints.” Cash awards $500 to writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. There will be a first-prize winner and “a minimum of two runners-up per genre.”  $15 entry fees.Deadline: April 30, 2018. Details HERE.

SONDER PRESS, “sister” to the above literary review, publishes fiction and narrative nonfiction. It hosts an annual chapbook contest that will close on November 30, 2018. Submission fee is $10 for manuscripts between 4,000 and 15,000 words. Details HERE.

THE NEW AMERICAN PRESS 2018 New American Poetry Prize is open for submissions. The deadline is January 15, 2018. Details HERE.

THE SOUTHERN REVIEW accepts unsolicited poetry through February 1st. $3 service charge for online submissions. Payment is $25 per page with a max of $200 and copies. Details HERE.

EVENTS

  • TONIGHT: The Academy of American Poets in New York City and Berkeley Books of Paris host Jennifer K. Dick, the last in their fall series on American poets in Paris. Ms. Dick’s reading will take place at 7:30 pm tonight at Berkeley Books (8, rue Casimir Delavigne in Paris, France 75006).
  • Poets Ian Dreiblatt & Judah Rubin will read under sponsorship of the Poetry Project regular Monday evening events. 8 pm EST, St. Mark’s Church, 131 E. 10th Street, New York  General admission: $8. Students and Seniors: $7. Project members: $5. ” … or free; no one turned away for inability to pay.”
  • UCLA, Department of Slavic, East European & Eurasian Languages and Cultures, Poetry & Music Night, March 7, 2018, 6 – 7:30 pm, 314 Royce Hall, 10745 Dickson Court, LA.An evening of poetry from Eastern and Central Europe with musical performances of great works by composers such as Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev to be performed by students from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music! This event is free and open to the public.
  • The Women of the World Poetry Slam (WOWps) is a four day poetry festival in which 96 of the best female-identified poets in slam compete for the women’s slam championship. March 15th – 17th at multiple venues in Dallas. The top poets will go on to finals at Majestic Theater to compete for the title of The 2018 Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion. Details HERE.

Accessible anytime from anywhere in the world:

  • The Poet by Day always available online with poems, poets and writers, news and information.
  • The Poet by Day, Wednesday Writing Prompt, online every week (except for vacation) and all are invited to take part no matter the stage of career (emerging or established) or status (amateur or professional). Poems related to the challenge of the week (always theme based not form based) will be published here on the following Tuesday.
  • The Poet by Day, Sunday Announcements. Every week (except for vacation) opportunity knocks for poets and writers.
  • THE BeZINE, Be Inspired, Be Creative, Be Peace, Be – always online HERE.  
  • Beguine Again, daily inspiration and spiritual practice  – always online HERE.  Beguine Again is the sister site to The BeZine.

KUDOS TO

  • DON BEUKES (The Salamander Chronicles) and Alien Buddha Press on the publication of Volume 1 of Don’s Icarus Rising, a collection of ekphrasic poems and the art works that inspired them.
  • REUBEN WOOLLEY (reuben woolley) who found I Am Not a Silent Poet Facebook group and magazine,a magazine for poetry and artwork protesting against abuse in any of its forms. The Facebook group is three years old and has 5,888 members. It’s grown quite a lot from the fifty original members. The magazine has received 143,548 views. Reuben’s newest collection is Broken Stories (2017, Vision Publishing).

SPECIAL REQUEST (deadline December 10, 2017): More and more magazines are charging submission fees and these are in some cases going up. The highest I encountered recently was $23 for the submission of one poem. Sometimes the publication pays writers and poets. Sometimes it doesn’t. This is not new, of course. Its been going on for some years now. It makes me wonder how much of a barrier that creates for writers. I’m collecting material on how you feel about these charges as a poet/writer and/or editor. Fair? Not fair? Okay depending on rate? Okay depending on whether they pay poets and writers? That sort of thing. I do plan to share the results of this informal survey at The Poet by Day. I won’t quote you by name without first getting your permission. Please let me know your thoughts about submission fees in the comments section below or by email: thepoetbyday@gmail.com.  Thank you! J.D.

Related:

INFORMATION and OTHER NEWS

YOUR SUNDAY ANNOUNCEMENTS may be emailed to thepoetbyday@gmail.com. Please do so at least a week in advance.

If you would like me to consider reviewing your book, chapbook, magazine or film, here are some general guidelines:

  • send PDF to jamiededes@gmail.com (Note: I have a backlog of six or seven months, so at this writing I suggest you wait until June 2018 to forward anything. Thank you!)
  • nothing that foments hate or misunderstanding
  • nothing violent or encouraging of violence
  • English only, though Spanish is okay if accompanied by translation
  • though your book or other product doesn’t have to be available through Amazon for review here, it should be easy for readers to find through your site or other venues.

Often information is just that–information – and not necessarily recommendation. I haven’t worked with all the publications or other organizations featured in my regular Sunday Announcements or other announcements shared on this site. Awards and contests are often (generally) a means to generate income, publicity and marketing mailing lists for the host organizations, some of which are more reputable than others. I rarely attend events anymore. Caveat Emptor: Please be sure to verify information for yourself before submitting work, buying products, paying fees or attending events et al.

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