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“I remember thinking that if we were rioting in 120 countries for sure you’d see us on CNN. It’s a sad reality in today’s world that good news doesn’t travel well or far.” Jamie Dedes, How 100,000 Poets Are Fostering Peace, Justice & Sustainability, YOPP Voice
Thanks to Kella Hanna-Wayne, Creator of YOPP!, a social justice blog dedicated to civil rights education, elevating voices of marginalized people, and reducing oppression, for helping to further our goals for a better world by publishing a feature I wrote on 100TPC.
Shelly famously wrote and is frequently quoted for saying, “poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” Activist poetry in the service of making change, of protesting war and injustice and in giving voice to the oppressed has a long and honorable recorded-history and probably started before written language. It didn’t come to me as something approaching a way of life until I was benched by a disability and forced into medical retirement.
Ruderal species of plants are the first to colonize lands disturbed by natural events or human activities. Typically, they dominate the disturbed area for a time, gradually losing ground to the competition. In extraordinary circumstances, the ruderals may become permanently established.
In 2011 poet Michael Rothenberg posed a question on Facebook: “Would you be willing to organize a day of poetry to celebrate change in your community?” That question went out into the social networking sphere like ruderal seeds in the wind. Poets and even other artists responded enthusiastically. READ the rest at YOPP!
ABOUT
Jamie Dedes. I’m a Lebanese-American freelance writer, poet, content editor, blogger and the mother of a world-class actor and mother-in-law of a stellar writer/photographer. No grandchildren, but my grandkitty, Dahlia, rocks big time. I am hopelessly in love with nature and all her creatures. In another lifetime, I was a columnist, a publicist, and an associate editor to a regional employment publication. I’ve had to reinvent myself to accommodate scarred lungs, pulmonary hypertension, right-sided heart failure, connective tissue disease, and a rare managed but incurable blood cancer. The gift in this is time for my primary love: literature. I study/read/write from a comfy bed where I’ve carved out a busy life writing feature articles, short stories, and poetry and managing The BeZine and its associated activities and The Poet by Day jamiededes.com, an info hub for writers meant to encourage good but lesser-known poets, women and minority poets, outsider artists, and artists just finding their voices in maturity. The Poet by Day is dedicated to supporting freedom of artistic expression and human rights. Email thepoetbyday@gmail.com for permissions, commissions, or assignments.
Testimonials / Disclosure / Facebook
Recent and Upcoming in Digital Publications Poets Advocate for Peace, Justice, and Sustainability, YOPP! , September * The Damask Garden, In a Woman’s Voice, August 11, 2019 / This short story is dedicated to all refugees. That would be one in every 113 people. * Five poems, Spirit of Nature, Opa Anthology of Poetry, 2019 * From the Small Beginning, Entropy Magazine (Enclave, #Final Poems), July 2019 * Over His Morning Coffee, Front Porch Review, July 2019 * Three poems, Our Poetry Archive, September 2019
“Every pair of eyes facing you has probably experienced something you could not endure.” Lucille Clifton
Jamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine 
Thank you!