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“Stories of Hope” …. and other poems in response to the last Wednesday Writing Prompt

Such beautiful and uplifting responses to the last Wednesday Writing Prompt, l’chaim, October 4, 2017. Together, these are a small gift of antidote to news reports. Grab a cup of tea. Take a breath. Read. Ponder. Smile! These are as Paul Brookes says, “happy poems.”

Thanks to Paul, Lady Nimue, Renee Espiru, Sonja Benskin Mesher, Colin Blundell and Kakali Das Gosh for coming out to play.

Please join us for tomorrow’s Wednesday Writing Prompt, always theme – not form – based. You are welcome no matter the stage of your career – beginner, emerging, professional. It’s all about getting to know other poets and having your say.

Stories of Hope

The world thrives on stories of hope,

Little cracked,but surviving homes;

I live each moment in awe

From when life picked me first

So out of line, yet so full of want;

You are home to me,my world,

The only constant reminder,

My prayers and wishes answered;

No matter what changes around,

Am blessed;love can be found

If you raise a toast for the gifts

That equally to strangers, you receive to give.

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

Lady Nimue is new to our pages but has been blogging and posting her poems and other works for years. She says in her “I, Me, Myself” – “I love to experiment in reading, watching and listening to all that suggested to Me by close friends and trusted sources; and then i maintain a record here of my reactions and impressions – what i hear myself say in my head and heart about all the living and non !

“Hope you find something of your liking too !! And  if you don’t let me know about that too ..”

We welcome Lady Nimue to The Poet by Day, Wednesday Writing Prompt.

there was a time

when one bottle of wine
seemed as if it was going to last forever;
the one I’m thinking of (purchased
one dinnertime in summer at 7/6d)
occupied a space in my life
a mile high and spanned the gap
all the way to Tibet; as you drank a glass
that dinnertime it seemed to refill itself
from the dregs of love

when one kiss would last
as long as the Rachmaninov cello sonata
whenever you put the record
on the turntable and let the needle fall –
obliterated in the so well-known cadences
which I could have been whistling
had my lips not been squashed against hers

when a bicycle ride would construct a day
down to the sea and back
across the long valley and over the downs –
magic ride often repeated –
I fill it from these dregs of memory

© 2017, Colin Blundell (Colin Blundell, All and Everything)

From a forthcoming book of poems by Colin Blundell

NOTE: 7/6d old money in 1964 = what would be 36p now
= after inflation in 2017 £6.80 = US$ 8.80

.the year.

gently go forward, then gently back
recreating past deeds and misdemenours
you thought forgotten.

gently go forward knowing we are mostly
all the same, with motes not spoken of,
except disorder.

gently it passed behind you, seen
clearly while looking for god.

gently gather winter leaves to keep
in paper bags. these are the golden
days .

my friend.

© 2017, Sonja Benskin Mesher  (Sonja Benskin Mesher, RCA and Sonja’s Drawings)

..earth & heaven..

I have been away, this is the first day back.

not floods, yet death, and roofs flying, to produce home less ness.

I understand nothing of your situation, yet I know some stuff, and mostly i can only listen.

I guess we have to help ourselves. I met some good people away.

© 2017, Sonja Benskin Mesher (Sonja Benskin Mesher, RCA and Sonja’s Drawings)

Every New Beginning

To every newborn baby born
to those that overcome
to family diverse and all

for every new sunrise bright
for every moonlit night

the seasons that bring change
mother nature nurturing growth
remains

as seen in fields of flowers
kaleidoscope colors
in seeding fields & in
fields laid fallow

to harvesting and being thankful
for the celebration of life
& living

within each beginning
lies peace
Meta

© 2017, Renee Espriu (Renee Just Turtle Flight and Inspiration, Imagination & Creativity with Wings, Haibun, AR, Haiku & Haiga)

#An appeal to endure #

A dark tunnel
A murky avenue
A lunatic   storm
Puzzled looks
Embarrassed scenes
Pixilated hearts
A giggling child
A lotus pond
A blooming daffodil
Vanished agony
Annihilated pain
An appeal to endure …

© 2017, Kakali Das Ghosh

A Little Girl

places an autumn oak leaf
in all its yellow and red on my conveyor belt.

I consider my potential responses:

Sorry love you can’t buy that here.

Sorry love it has no barcode, so won’t go through.

That’s a free gift from nature, love.

At the finish I advise

Sorry you can’t put that through, love

and she removes the leaf from the belt.

At the finish it is all child’s play
in the adult buy and sell.

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

A Grandkid’s Hug

1.

You’re such a klutz!
as I pull out my wallet
and silver coin falls out

I hold your warm hand
after all these years
and something passes
something does not fall

2.

Magic a grandkids hug
Round the middle
Softens sharp nails
Smooths frayed edges

Unaware hug anyway
any how whatever any why
all hammering
all awkward shaving down.

Gone in an instant.
Grandkids hugs should be
ever prescribed
On NHS

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

In A Hush

of winter
from bare limbs silhouetted

against a grey sky
a sudden voice
from tiny lungs

your full heart lifts
as if the tree had blossomed
unexpectedly.

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

A Breathless

small boy in an angry bird t shirt,
mock flight jacket,
Hawaiian shorts and trainers
bursts into the shop shouting

“What-What-time-is-it?
When-do-you-close?
I’ve got fifty pee.”

I reply that we close at eight,
so he has an hour.

“Just ran all way here.
What can I buy? he asks
mouth open before a wall of sweets.

I show him in one corner trays full
of small chocolate eggs at 49p.
“Yes. Yes one of these.”

His delight makes me smile.

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

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from the wind-whipped edges of the Earth, a poem

tawny moon, an evening grace,
a calm, drapes itself on the dwindling day,
mystic mountains, pristine, high above
an earthy base, the wizard Merlin’s realm
with memories of a green and primal past …
…….of rootedness
…………..essential things

and Peace!
a lively Peace …

visits on the briny spray, delights
at the meeting of land and sea
at rhythms of ocean against the shore
as waves drift in and out, fling and toss
stop, start, begin again and then again
splashing, salt of a mother’s tears

moonlight wanes,
a liminal hour

and Peace!
capricious Peace …

see the moon incised, a holograph
from the wind-whipped edges of the Earth,
read reports of valour and cowardice
…….the blight of insanity
…………..the naked lives
jarring, the morning dispatch
tragedies, under the heel of depravity

. . .fist, knife, gun

………..psychopaths, forever with us

people fleeing the lacerations of their plight
Oh! the crushing horror of their fright

“In a world gushing blood day and night, you never stop mopping up pain.” Aberjhani, The River of Winged Dreams

© 2017, poem, Jamie Dedes, All rights reserved

ABOUT THE POET BY DAY

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LATE BREAKING NEWS: The National Beat Poetry Foundation partners with Guns Don’t Save People, Poets Do

The National Beat Poetry Foundation (NBPF) has asked to partner with GUNS DON’T SAVE PEOPLE, POETS DO: Dueling with words to stop gun violence. Evelyn Agusto will be featured as a guest poet at Kerouac Cafe on Saturday, October 7, 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm EST. NBPF has dedicated the event, since the Las Vegas holocaust, to the work of stopping gun violence.

If you are in the area (Hartford, Connecticut), please go to this event and support this cause. 

U R Not Your Gun

(For Shaun)

You are: The sound of your mother’s voice calling your name and your father’s
chance for a better life–not his,
but yours, because it’s too late for him,
but not for you…not yet, unless you forget

U R Not Your Gun.

You are your greatest fantasy and
someone’s best friend and another’s
first love. You are shelter
from the storm.
You are memory and risk and reward.
You are tougher han your
disappointments, you are kinder
than you imagine, you are everything
that child you once were
wanted to be and more. But

U R Not Your Gun–

not grey and cold and lifeless.
Not unforgiving like that. Not hollow or predictable. Not dangerous.

U R Not Your Gun. You are someone
I can love.

© 2017, Evelyn Augusto for GUNS DON’T SAVE PEOPLE, POETS DO…

Evelyn Augusto of Guns Don’t Save People, Poets Do and Glen Falls House are coming together to host the even POET OUT: Dueling With Words To Stop Gun Violence on Friday, October 6th at 8pm EST at The Glens Falls House in Round Top. Tell others about the legacy of gun violence and share your experiences with gun violence through poetry.

IN HONOR OF NATIONAL POETRY DAY, 2017

Poetry at Waterloo Station for National Poetry Day 1994 courtesy of Daisyheadmaisie under CC BY-SA 4.0

While I was so taken up with chores related to the September and October issues of The BeZine and 100TPC 2017, I completely missed National Poetry Day (UK and Ireland), so here’s a little something in its honor courtesy of Wikipedia. The theme for 2017 was Freedom.

National Poetry Day is a British campaign to promote poetry, including public performances. National Poetry Day was founded in 1994 by William Sieghart. It takes place annually in the UK and Ireland on a Thursday in late September/early October. Since its inception, it has engaged millions of people across the country with live events, classroom activities and broadcasts. National Poetry Day is coordinated by the charity Forward Arts Foundation, whose mission is to celebrate excellence in poetry and increase its audience. Its other projects include the Forward Prizes for Poetry. The day is run in collaboration with partners including Arts Council England, Literature Wales, Poet in the City, Southbank Centre, The Poetry Book Society, The Poetry Society, The Scottish Poetry Library, Poetry By Heart and The Poetry School.

Prince Charles performed in the 2016 National Poetry Day, reading Seamus Heaney’ The Shipping Forecast. On 2015 National Poetry Day poems were included on Blackpool Illuminations.

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l’chaim, a poem … and your Wednesday Writing Prompt

to the sweet past
to the savory present
to the hopeful future

l’chaim

According to Wikipedia, among Argentine Jews, the Spanish name Jaime (xajme, a Spanish cognate of James) is often chosen for its phonetic similarity to Haim (life). I should change my name from Jamie to Jaime!

I believe “l’chaim” is generally used at weddings though it appears to have a complex history. At any rate, I have taken some liberty here.

© 2017, poem, Jamie Dedes; photograph courtesy of morgueFile

WEDNESDAY WRITING PROMPT

To Life and To Blessings

With all the horrors in the news these days, there are still moments of peace, hearts at peace, sweet and savory pleasures and we haven’t lost our hope for the future.  This week write a poetic toast to Life, to all that is good and blessed and persists even in the face of tragedy. If you are comfortable, please share your work on theme or a link to it in the comments section below. All work shared will be published here next Tuesday.

ABOUT THE POET BY DAY