Page 39 of 131

Posted on

the blanket of my love

THE BAX

2006 – MAY 17, 2017, 6:06 PM

Baxter died of kidney failure Wednesday evening.  I held him in my arms as he went painlessly, fearlessly and peacefully into that good night. If there is a literal heaven, then surely Bax passed through whatever doggie door there may be into that Eternity.

Much thanks to Muttville, Joe and Raphael for the gift of Bax. They saved him from premature death in a rescue that has a kill-policy. Muttville is an elder-dog rescue with a no-kill policy. They rock big time.

Much appreciation for Dr. Linda Hall of Peninsula Avenue Veterinary Clinic in San Mateo for compassionate and professional care. We love her and recommend her without reservation.

We are fortunate to have Pet’s Rest Cemetary and Crematory available to us in this area. They also provided our family with gentle and respectful service when our feline family member, Gypsy Rose, died a while back. Javier is kind.

Our love and appreciation for professional jazz singer and world-class friend, Candice Hawley, for getting us back and forth to Linda Hall and Pet’s Rest and other related appointments and errands. Before we went in for our last visit with Dr. Hall, Candice took Bax’s paw and sent him off with a prayerful good-bye.

And most of all our love to my son, Richard, and my beautiful daughter-in-law – writer, blogger and photographer –  Karen Fayeth –  for loving Bax so much and having my back in this as in everything. ♥

I hope to return to email and Facebook and to my regular posting schedule on WordPress this Sunday with Sunday Announcements. Meanwhile thank you for the kind and understanding comments (here and Facebook) and for the messages and emails.

Warmly,
Jamie

Tribute To A Best Friend

Sunlight streams through window pane
unto a spot on the floor….
then I remember,
it’s where you used to lie,
but now you are no more.
Our feet walk down a hall of carpet,
and muted echoes sound….
then I remember,
It’s where your paws would joyously abound.
A voice is heard along the road,
and up beyond the hill,
then I remember it can’t be yours….
your golden voice is still.
But I’ll take that vacant spot of floor
and empty muted hall
and lay them with the absent voice
and unused dish along the wall.
I’ll wrap these treasured memorials
in a blanket of my love
and keep them for my best friend
until we meet above.

– Anon

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Thanks to
Cindy Tailor for sending this cartoon. Sweet and it did make me smile. xo
Posted on

dogs just don’t live as long as people do

“. . . owning a dog always ended with this sadness because dogs just don’t live as long as people do.”  John Grogan,  Marley and Me

I am sitting with Bax. His kidneys are failing. His time with us is about to end, so forgive me for the delays in posting. He needs my undivided attention and I need to say goodbye. I’ll be back soon with poetic responses to last week’s writing prompt and with this Wednesday’s Writing Prompt.

To be featured:
Renee Espiru
Paul Brookes
Sonja Benskin Mesher, RCA
Colin Blundel

Thank you for your patience.
Jamie

Posted on

Goddess Mothers and True Heroes

Originally published on The Bardo Group blog

“All you need is a sense that there is no such thing as ‘no’ and everything is possible.” Moira Kelly

This shining face, this sweet spirit with reason to be bitter and yet he is not. He is a hero and pure inspiration. When Naomi Baltuck (Writing Between the Lines/Life from a Writer’s POV) posted this video on Facebook, I was as touched as anyone would be. I had to wonder though about his mom. What kind of hero is she, I thought, remembering the heroes of my childhood: Josephine Baker and my spiritual mother, Pearl Buck. Each of these women grew their families in unique – and extraordinarily unselfish – ways.

“All my life, I have maintained that the people of the world can learn to live together in peace if they are not brought up in prejudice.”  Josephine Baker (1906-1975)

Josephine_Baker_1950Josephine Baker was born in America but became a French citizen. She was a dancer, singer, actress and civil-rights activist.  As a child living in St. Louis, Missouri, she suffered from discrimination, abandonment, and poverty.  As an adult she had one miscarriage. She adopted twelve children, two girls and ten boys. They were from diverse races and cultures because, in addition to caring for them, she wanted to show that people can get along despite their different backgrounds. In the early ’80s two of her sons went into business together. They started Chez Josephine, which is on Theatre Row (42nd Street) in Manhattan. They dedicated the restaurant to their adoptive mom’s memory and decorated it with her memorabilia.

“. . .  the test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its helpless members.” Pearl Buck (1892-1973)

220px-Pearl_Buck_(Nobel)Pearl Buck was an American novelist, writer, humanitarian and the first woman to be awarded the Noble Prize in Literature (1938).  She grew up in China and spent most of her life there until 1934. She had a deep affection for and knowledge of the countries of the East, not just China. She suffered through the Nanking Incident when the National Revolutionary Army captured Nanking (now Nanjing) in 1927.  Many Westerners were killed, their homes destroyed, and their property stolen.  Her only biological child, Carol, had phenylketonuria (PKU), which causes mental retardation and seizures.  Pearl Buck adopted seven children. At a time when mixed-race children were considered unadoptable, Pearl Buck founded Welcome House, Inc., the first international, interracial adoption agency. At the time of this writing, Welcome House has placed some five thousand children since it was established 1949.

“The greatest act of kindness changes generations. Wherever there is the greatest evil, the greatest good can be achieved.” Moira Kelly (b. 1964)

emmanuel-kellyThis brings us to a contemporary hero: the mother of Emanuel Kelly, the young man in the video. Moira Kelly is an Australian humanitarian whose work has garnered her many awards and acknowledgements.  When she was eight years old, after seeing a movie about then Blessed (now saint) Teresa of Calcutta (now Kolkata), Moira committed herself to working with disadvantaged children.  She is the legal guardian of twins from Bangladesh, Trisha and Krishna. They are surgically separated but originally cranially conjoined twins.  Moira Kelly also adopted the Iraqi-born Emmanuel and his brother Ahmet, both born with underdeveloped limbs. Among her efforts is Children First Foundation, formed to provide transportation and healthcare for children with urgent needs in developing countries.

These women are mothers in the best senses of that word. Their ideals are real and they stand by them. They have saved children from abandonment and loneliness, from poverty and hopelessness and from early death. They are goddess mothers and true heroes.

© 2013, essay, Jamie Dedes, All rights reserved;  Photographs of Josephine Baker and Pearl Buck are in the U.S. Public Domain; I don’t know the origin or copyright of the photograph of Moira Kelly and her sons. If it is yours, let me know and I’ll credit you or take it down as you wish.

Zbaida
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO MY MOM

and to all mothers and the fathers, grandparents, siblings and others who

assume a mothering role for motherless children.

(c) – Mom & me

THE WORDPLAY SHOP: books, tools and supplies for poets, writers and readers

Posted on

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

CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

Opportunities Knock

THE PEEKING CAT publishes a magazine and annual anthology and offers editorial services. They are always open for submissions to the magazine but the deadline date for the 2017 anthology is August 31.  Appropriate material for consideration: poetry (all forms), nonfiction (up to 1,000 words), artwork and photography. A broad range of subjects are well despite the “cat” in the title. Detailed submissions guidelines are HERE. No demographic restrictions.

THE BeZINE submissions for the May 2017 issues (theme: Honesty and Transparency, the Post-truth Era) should be in by May 10th latest.  Publication date is May 15th. Poetry, essays,fiction and creative nonfiction, art and photography, music (videos), and whatever lends itself to online presentation is welcome for consideration. Please check out a few issues first and the Intro./Mission Statement and Submission Guidelines. No demographic restrictions.

HERMENEUTIC CHAOS LITERARY JOURNAL is published six times a year. “We welcome submissions by authors from diverse backgrounds and literary preferences. We admire all forms of experimental, hybrid and avant-garde literature, collaborative writings, visual and graphic outpourings – anything that literature is capable of. Our primary interest lies in works which inspire an active cathartic response, and not a sentimental passivity. To achieve this end, we seek poetry and prose where imagination, symbolism, metaphors, lexical ingenuity and a strong imagery guide reality to examine the creative chaos beyond its straitjacket cliff.” This journal is interested in poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Details HERE. No demographic restrictions.

APOGEE JOURNAL features literature and art “that engages with identity politics, incuding but not limited to: race, gender, asexuality, class, ability and intersectional identity.” The journal is published in print biannually and welcomes fiction, nonfiction, poetry and visual art. Details HERE. No demographic restrictions.

UP THE STAIRCASE QUARTERLY is an online lit publication featuring poetry, art, interviews and reviews. The deadline for the summer issue (themed AudioVisual) is June 15th. Details HERE. No demographic restrictions.

PERMAFROST MAGAZINE, a publication of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks is “Located at 64° 50′ N (198 miles from the Arctic Circle), Permafrost Magazine is the farthest north literary journal for writing and the arts. We’re proud of Permafrost’s thirty-five years as interior Alaska’s foremost literary magazine . . .  Permafrost seeks original voices from all over the world.” The reading period for the print edition is May 1 – November 30. There is a $3 submission fee. Fiction, poetry, hybrid and artwork are welcome. Details HERE. This publication sponsors contests. All are closed now but watch for upcoming.

COMPETITIONS/AWARDS

  • 2040AWARDS PROGRAM is open to minorities – “ethnic authors or those from an ethnic background over the age of 18” – and entries of translations and from the International Community are welcome as well. 2040 is seeks fiction, creative nonfiction, collections, essays.  The grand prize is $1,000. The runner-up award is $500.  There is a $25 reading fee. Details HERE. Deadline is July 7.
  • ELEANOR TAYLOR BLAND CRIME FICTION WRITERS OF COLOR AWARD for 2017 is accepting application through June 15, 2017 this annual awards $1,500 or the winner. Details HERE.
  • WUNDOR POETRY CONTEST, an inaugural contest, is themed “Spring” and the deadline is 31 May 2017. There are entrance fees.  There is no indication of a financial award but there is pubication for the winner.  Details HERE.
  • THE SECOND ANNUAL LOUISE MERIWETHER FIRST BOOK PRIZE is now through July 31 for works by women or nonbinary author of color. The award is $5,000 and publication by Feminist Press. Details HERE.

EVENTS

  • WRITING RESISTANCE: INVESTIGATING/SUBVERTING FORM & NARRATIVE, A Writing Worksop Series of Apogee Journal with the NY Writers Coalition and funding from the Brooklyn Arts Council. “Apogee editors and contributors will lead nine craft based writing and editing workshops. True to our mission of creating accessible and socially engaged programming, this workshop will be affordable, inclusive, and attentive to the ways identity informs reading and writing practices.” The cost is $25 per class. The series started in April.  Remaining classes are: Flash Fiction with Robert Lopez (May 17); What Song Told Me with Stacy Parker Le Melle (May 20); Radicalizing the Personal Essay or Narrative Poem with Lorde and Baldwin at the Helm with JP Howard (May 20).  Workshops are in Brooklyn, NY. Details HERE.
  • SISTERS IN CRIME is a thirty-year-old professional association founded “to promote the ongoing advancement, recognition and professional development of women crime writers. Today the Triangle area (North Carolina) hosts a thirty-year celebration – an Ice Cream Social – for writers, publishers an readers at Page-Walker House, Cary, North Carolina.  Admission is free; tickets for ice cream are $7 for Adults, $5 Ages 4 – 12; children 3 and under are free. Details are HERE at Triangle area chapter’s site.
  • SISTERS IN CRIME list of conferences, events and trade shows scheduled around the country is HERE.
  • EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (open-air cinema) Edinburgh International Film Festival’s hugely popular open-air cinema runs through June 16-June 18 at St. Andrew Square Garden. Details HERE..

NEWS and INFORMATION

The recommended read: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder. Left, right or center – American or not – it’s a must read.

THE WORDPLAY SHOP: books, tools and supplies for poets, writers and readers

ABOUT THE POET BY DAY