The BeZine logo design and copyright by Terri Stewart.
The BeZine is published quarterly on the fifteenth of March, June, September and December. Please read our Intro and Mission Statement and at least one back issue of The BeZine before submitting work for consideration. Each issue is theme based.
Please be mindful that our core team (The Bardo Group Beguines), guest contributors and readers represent the world’s diversity. Nonviolence, respect and inclusion are core values.
All work must be submitted in English and properly edited for publication. Submissions in other languages are fine but only if they are accompanied by an English translation.
Please send submissions to bardogroup@gmail.com and put “submission” in the subject line. If you were referred by one of our core team, please put their name in the subject line along with “submission.” Please include a brief bio not a curriculum vitae. If you have published the work submitted on your own website, blog, YouTube channel or other online venue you may send a link.
PLEASE NOTE: We apply the same standards with regard to content, quality, submission guidelines and reading policy that all high-caliber literary magazines do with the exception that we will consider work that is already published. The copyright, however, must be yours.
DEADLINE: The 10th of the month prior to the publication date, but for the June issue it is extended through May 20th. You still have some time.
Themes each year are consistent with the concerns of the global movement cofounded by Michael Rosenberg and Terri Carrion, 100,000 Poets (and others) for Change:
March, Peace;
June, Sustainability;
September, Social Justice
… and for December the shared value of The Bardo Group Beguines:
a life of the spirit.
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On the fourth Saturday in September , we’ll hold our traditional 100,000 Poets (and other artists and friends) virtual event. Michael Dickel will be our master of ceremonies. Details in future announcements.
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COPYRIGHT: You retain your copyright for work published in The BeZine. If you are doing multiple submissions, please let us know that you have submitted the work to other publications and advise us when and if the work is accepted elsewhere. From our perspective this does not preclude publication in The BeZine but we need to know if another publisher has contracted for first-time or exclusive rights.
We regret that we are unable to offer payment or editorial feedback. However, while we don’t offer payment we also don’t charge submission or reading fees or subscription fees. This effort is entirely volunteer run, a gift of love.
Some issues will include a subtheme and for June it is Domestic and Gendered abuse. As of today (May 15, 2018) I have sufficient materal from women and would be interested in reviewing the work of other genders.)
All creative arts that lend themselves to online publication are acceptable for consideration: visual arts, literature and poetry, and music and film (video).
FICTION/NONFICTION/ESSAY: Should you have anything to submit for consideration that is over 1,000 words, please forward a brief one-paragraph summary description for preliminary evaluation.
POETRY: If you are submitting poetry, please don’t bomb us with work. Restrict your submissions to three at a time every three months. Be selective. Send your best.
VIDEO: One video at a time.
PHOTOGRAPHS and ILLUSTRATIONS: If you include these with your poems and features, then you must include the source with url and licensing information. We do not accept work that is not properly – respectfully – credited.
READING SCHEDULE: At the time of this writing, the reading schedule is variable but a regular schedule is forthcoming and will be announced.
Send your work for the zine to us at the bardogroup@gmail.com.
NEW THIS YEAR: We’ll submit nominations for The Pushcart Prize, probably in October. The BeZine welcomes – encourages – work from the world community, but The Pushcart Prize is only open to citizens of the United States.
We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you!
Be the peace.
Jamie Dedes, Founding and Managing Editor
Update: May 15, 2018
CONNECT WITH US
The BeZine: Be Inspired, Be Creative, Be Peace, Be (the subscription feature is below and to your left.)
Daily Spiritual Practice: Beguine Again, a community of Like-Minded People
Here we are! Tuesday again and this is a fave day for many readers who so enjoy the variety of responses to each week’s prompt. Today we welcome the poetry of Gary W. Bowers, Paul Brookes, Marta Pombo Sallés, Frank McMahan, and Sonja Benskin Mesher in response to the last writing writing prompt, May 9, Autumn Promises, which was to write about a favorite season. Why is it a fave? How does it move your heart or inspire your thoughts? So, enjoy these and do join us for the next Wednesday Writing Prompt – tomorrow.
You’ll notice that I always include a link to each poet’s blog or website to facilitate getting to know new to you poets. That’s what this exercise is primarily about. So do connect. If there’s no site, you can probably link-up on Facebook.
All are welcome to join us for Wednesday Writing Prompts, no matter the status of career: novice, emerging or pro. Come, be a part of our poetry community.
Please note: Folks have sent me emails for Wednesday Writing Prompt with their photo and bio, which I don’t post unless there is a reason to do so… That is, you won’t see your photo and bio go up unless you share a poem on Wednesday in response to the prompt … and it’s your first time participating. It’s by way of intro to everyone. Thank you for your interest. I look forward to your future a participation.
Thanks to those who contributed today’s delights and to all who take the time to read their work and travel on to visit their blogs or websites. Bravo!
the longhot
in 1990 the Valley
of the Sun served up
a 122 degree day
on the 26th of june
then
i was a long distance runner
of the mind
that i could not miss a day
i had to run
at least a mile
every
single
day and so
i ran in the predawn
and it was already pushing a hundred
and fifteen minutes was all i had
but it scratched the itch
but not enough
so after sundown a friend of mine and i
ran again
briefly
he was soon wiped
but i was full
of essence of beenthere
and extract of donethat
and was oddly energized
when he asked if we could stop
and when we drew in heated air
i felt like a furnace being stoked
years later i was on a golf course
in july
had the course practically to myself
but for one or two twosomes
riding in carts
while i walked and carried my bag
at the twelfth hole
on the fairway
a worried ranger told me
i didn’t “look so good, partner
why don’t you sit down for a while?”
“nah, i’m ok,” i replied
plastering on a grin
i didn’t feel
because my focus was derailed
“you shouldn’t do this by yourself”
“i’m drinkin a lotta water
i’m ok thanks”
and i touched that with asperity
and he left
more worried than ever
but he need not have been
this was my sweat lodge
this was my forge
this was the longhot and my home
it makes cold water taste sublime
it cleanses it cures
it defines
When I am hot and fevered, bring
me from a cold, clear spring, water
in earthenware pitchers. Lave
my limbs indulgently. Let
the drops on my brow fall softly.
Carry me then on a litter,
in cotton covered, smooth and cool,
to the shingle shore where the
breeze, the merest breeze can glide,slow
across the contours of my skin,
sloughing away this burning. Let
the tide’s murmuring bring a slow
descent through slumber into sleep,
weightless, dream-less, floating.
The autumns of our lives
Unfold in harsh winters
Still nature turns the page
In the book of seasons
That trembles now and then
With echoes of climate change.
A new spring reminds us
There’s hope to carry on.
Past glories and stories
Can never be erased.
Once the seeds are planted
Smiles begin to flourish.
One autumn father died,
Another we voted.
What seemed impossible
Under such repression
Became a hero’s act
For our democracy.
Wishes held in fingers
Jolly voices strangled
By repressive police.
Our hearts froze with fear.
Yet we’re no criminals,
We just wanted to vote.
That autumn was half-won
With promise unfulfilled.
All masks were now fallen
And everything had changed.
In most uncertainty
Untrodden way to go.
Monster decay with clay
Planted so many fears.
Imprisonments began
Freedom of speech attacked
Democracy at stake
Our claim remains awake.
That was just one more fall
In the book of seasons
Where revolutions find
Their own written pages.
Ours will have its place
Within nonviolent fight.
I have found flowers
I have found flowers,
And the cool winds feel softer
Dry leaves are lifted
Waves are visible in the grass
And I know
That Nature with her sensitive ear
Hears the tender touches of, the velvet
tiptoes of Spring-
Evergreens sway to welcome, in
Murmuring whispers of youthful sprouts
Rippling away invisible woes , and I find
More flowers as loneliness fades away-
Comfort engulfs the soul and spirit as
The mind drifts away to memories
When families were together to stay-
All seasons were loved December or May
And now I find flowers but not the family
All seasons seem the same ,as joyful memory
In summer heat cool raindrops or autumnal
Falls, touches my soul, inspires the spirit-
Jamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine 