Poets, Poetry, News, Reviews, Readings, Resources & Opportunities for Poets and Writers
Author: Jamie Dedes
Jamie Dedes is a Lebanese-American poet and free-lance writer. She is the founder and curator of The Poet by Day, info hub for poets and writers, and the founder of The Bardo Group, publishers of The BeZine, of which she was the founding editor and currently a co-manager editor with Michael Dickel. Ms. Dedes is the Poet Laureate of Womawords Press 2020 and U.S associate to that press as well. Her debut collection, "The Damask Garden," is due out fall 2020 from Blue Dolphin Press.
American Historian and Historical Novelist, Thomas Fleming (July 5, 1927 – July 23, 2017)
“Novelists focus on the intimate side of life. This is the first time anyone has looked at the intimate side of the lives of these famous Americans, with an historian’s eyes.” Fleming said with regard to Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers, which examines the roles of women in the lives of these early leaders
Thomas Fleming was an historian and former president of PEN America and the Society of American Historians. When his tenure as president of PEN ended, he remained active in its Freedom to Write program. Fleming chaired the New York American Revolution Round Table and was an honorary member of the New York State Society of the Cincinnati. Fleming died last month on the 23rd. He is survived by his wife, writer Alice Hoffman (literature and fiction, young adult, magical realism).
Thomas Fleming’s work reflects the foci of his interests – the American Revolution and military history – with books including Liberty! The American Revolution And The Future Of America, Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the History of America and Washington’s Secret War: The Hidden History of Valley Forge.
“And whoever saves a life it is as though he had saved the lives of all mankind” (5:32).
*****
“Each [hu]man’s step forward is a step forward for all of [hu]mankind.” the great white* brotherhood
* “white” here is not a reference to race but to the Aura of White Light that surrounds the anointed ones, those who have arisen from every race, creed and walk of life to lead others to enlightenment.
Thank you for sharing your love of words. Comments will appear after moderation.
After winter, the usual home repairs and gardening prep. On the East Coast in March crocus pushes its way through crusts of snow. On the left coast Trader Joe’s has yellow daffodils for sale. Come mid-April the IRS will demand wrists slit for things defensible and indefensible. We eat the days. Flowering bushes burst into bloom and finally the cheery air of farmer’s markets, street fairs, Shakespearian festivals and concerts in the park on hot August nights. We are rosy-cheeked with warm-weather pleasures, full of life and keeping house at the edge of Infinity . . .
What are you thinking and doing these summer days and hot August nights? What are your summertime rituals? Perhaps you are doing something that is unique to the month of August. Let us know in poem or prose. If you feel comfortable, share your work in the comments section below or leave a link to it. All shared work will be published in The Poet by Day next Tuesday.
On Facebook, there’s a video making its way around Facebook that gives us a view of a spider at work on his web. As I was watching it just now – fascinated, though spiders are not my most favorite creatures – I thought how like a writer this little guy is. He starts to spin his web without a thread in sight. In effect he spins on faith. It’s a faith very much like ours when we pick up a pen or sit down at the keyboard. Often we don’t know what the words will be, how the story will end, or what is the best cadence and flow for each subject we chose to address or the story we are inspired to tell through poetry or fiction. We proceed in the faith that the perfect word, the perfect ending, the perfect cadence will come to us. We have confidence (perhaps a shaky confidence at times, but confidence all the same) that our writerly thread will be there as needed.
Note: Given a message on this post received elsewhere, this is NOT about writer’s block, something I never had. In fact, if anything, this is the antidote to potential block.
If you are viewing this post from an email, you’ll likely have to link through to The Poet by Day to watch the video.
Jamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine 
