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“Thoughts” by Myra Viola Wilds; the Internet Archive; Public Domain Day, January 30, 2020

Myra Viola Wilds / Public Domain


“A copy of each verse I retain in my own handwriting, after this, they are copied in a book by my husband. I beg your kind consideration of the plain, simple verses herein: I do not seek Wealth, Fame or Place, ‘among the great ones of my race.’ ” Myra Viola Wilds in her Preface to Thoughts in Idle Hours, 1915

What kind of thoughts now, do you carry
In your travels day by day
Are they bright and lofty visions,
Or neglected, gone astray?

Matters not how great in fancy,
Or what deeds of skill you’ve wrought;
Man, though high may be his station,
Is no better than his thoughts.

Catch your thoughts and hold them tightly,
Let each one an honor be;
Purge them, scourge them, burnish brightly,
Then in love set each one free.

– Myra Viola Wilds

Poem-a-Day (Academy of American Poets) published this poem, which is in the public domain. I’d never heard of the poet so I went on a hunt. She’s a folksy poet and there’s nothing significant to be found online. Her book is not included in the Gutenberg Project, but it is included HERE in the Internet Archive.  If you haven’t explored this wonderful site, you must.

Good resource for poets, writers, researchers.

The Internet Archive “is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, the print disabled, and the general public. Our mission is to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge.

“We began in 1996 by archiving the Internet itself, a medium that was just beginning to grow in use. Like newspapers, the content published on the web was ephemeral – but unlike newspapers, no one was saving it. Today we have 20+ years of web history accessible through the Wayback Machine and we work with 625+ library and other partners through our Archive-It program to identify important web pages.” MORE

RELATED:

Details on Public Domain Day HERE / Courtesy of the Internet Archive
Poetry Rocks the World!

Jamie Dedes. About /Testimonials / Disclosure / Facebook / Medium / Ko-fi

Your donation HERE helps to fund the ongoing mission of The Poet by Day in support of poets and writers, freedom of artistic expression, and human rights.

 

FEEL THE BERN

For Peace, Sustainability, Social Justice

The Poet by Day officially endorses Bernie Sanders for President.

The New New Deal

Link HERE for Bernie’s schedule of events around the country.

“Democracy is not a spectator sport.” Bernie Sanders

“Every pair of eyes facing you has probably experienced something you could not endure.”  Lucille Clifton

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In the Face of Deception, a poem . . . and your next Wednesday Writing Prompt

if your heart is broken make art with the pieces.” Shane Koyczan, Blueprint for a Breakthrough

The fetus floating in the amniotic sac
Is a bridge from the land of dreams to
The world of fate, as love might say,
In its single-eyed devotion to trust
Days and nights pass, smiles and tears
And faith, as easy to deliver as berries
To a child, a wedding ring to a husband,
Belief in your country’s flag floating on
The winds of time and place, or to parents
Ever at the ready with generous hearts
Only awaken one day to find the berries are
Dusted with Roundup, the wedding ring
Emptied of its symbol, the flag torn by
A few bad players, and mom and dad
Not always the gifts of grace hoped for
Onward you go, escape by night and the
Yellow glow of lamplight, the book of
Poetry, stories shared, music played,
The color-play of arts and crafts, sweet
To savor in the face of deception,
Practiced with intent or not, but there it is
We live with it, and live is central
Reinventing ourselves, ever resilient

© 2020, Jamie Dedes

WEDNESDAY WRITING PROMPT

This week’s prompt is “deception” and it is the suggestion of Anjum Wasim Dar (Poetic Oceans). You are welcome to approach this theme from any direction: relationships, self-deception, politics, religion … it’s up to you.  Share you poem or poems and …

  • please submit your poem/s by pasting them into the comments section and not by sharing a link
  • please submit poems only, no photos, illustrations, essays, stories, or other prose

PLEASE NOTE:

Poems submitted through email or Facebook will not be published.

IF this is your first time joining us for The Poet by Day, Wednesday Writing Prompt, please send a brief bio and photo to me at thepoetbyday@gmail.com to introduce yourself to the community … and to me :-). These are partnered with your poem/s on first publication.

PLEASE send the bio ONLY if you are with us on this for the first time AND only if you have posted a poem (or a link to one of yours) on theme in the comments section below.  

Deadline:  Monday, January by 20 pm Pacific Time. If you are unsure when that would be in your time zone, check The Time Zone Converter.

Anyone may take part Wednesday Writing Prompt, no matter the status of your career: novice, emerging or pro.  It’s about exercising the poetic muscle, showcasing your work, and getting to know other poets who might be new to you.

You are welcome – encouraged – to share your poems in a language other than English but please accompany it with a translation into English.

Poetry Rocks the World!

Jamie Dedes. About /Testimonials / Disclosure / Facebook / Medium / Ko-fi

Your donation HERE helps to fund the ongoing mission of The Poet by Day in support of poets and writers, freedom of artistic expression, and human rights.

Link HERE for Free Human Rights eCourse designed and delivered by United For Human Rights, Making Human Rights a Fact

FEEL THE BERN

For Peace, Sustainability, Social Justice

The Poet by Day officially endorses Bernie Sanders for President.

The New New Deal

Link HERE for Bernie’s schedule of events around the country.

“Democracy is not a spectator sport.” Bernie Sanders

“Every pair of eyes facing you has probably experienced something you could not endure.”  Lucille Clifton

Posted on

“A Plague on Both Your Houses” . . . and other poems in response to the last Wednesday Writing Prompt

“There will come a time when it isn’t ‘They’re spying on me through my phone’ anymore. Eventually, it will be ‘My phone is spying on me’.”
Philip K. Dick

[Loneliness is your only friend]

In the face of algorithms, surveillance capitalism,
Political hacking, be in the world, not of it, the plague
Of lies and distortions, amoral predict-and-control,
Trust you to be the Truth and the Mercy, you are
The lived ethic  . . .
Jamie Dedes

Here we are at our first Tuesday in 2020 with responses to the last Wednesday Writing Prompt, The Plague, January 7, which asked poets to write about living in a hacked world that is driving our consumption one our politics and policies

Today’s thoughtful collection is collection is courtesy of  Anjum Wasim Dar, Irma Do, Kakali Das Ghosh, Sonja Benskin Mesher, Mike Stone, and Clarissa Simmens.

Enjoy! and do join us for the next Wednesday Writing Prompt, which will post tomorrow morning. All are welcome to come out and play, beginning poets, emerging and pro.

E- Plague Massacre

No hack ride nor tool
a horse would pass through rush hour
masked rider, no fool.

No Pied Piper to kill
wired theft e-connect exposed
bankrupt, ethics raped.

hotmail then Yahoo
info data all gone, lost
paper pen, safer?

No! Black or White Hat
safe, not kidnapped to Kenya
e-mail hit by hack,

This plague will not die
communications may fly
mouse lives in wi-fi

© 2020, Anjum Wasim Dar

Anjum-ji’s sites are:

“POETRY PEACE and REFORM Go Together -Let Us All Strive for PEACE on EARTH for ALL -Let Us Make a Better World -WRITE To Make PEACE PREVAIL.” Anjum Wasim Dar

Liar, Liar

Cough, cough, ahem,
Excuse me,
You’re on fire
Yes, you, holding the cell phone
And scrolling
Scrolling
Is it Facebook? Instagram?
Twitter? Tiktok?
Or maybe just the news?
Oh, you don’t notice the smell?
The smoke coming from your pants?
Those pants twisted from all the gymnastics you do –
Well, not actual gymnastics
But the mental gymnastics you do
So you can sleep at night
Oh wait, that’s right
You don’t sleep
You’re scrolling
At 2 AM
Your body, your mind
Your life
Hacked
Into believing
You’re the only one entitled to the American Dream

© 2020, Irma Do

©️2019, Irma Do (I Do Run, And I do a few other things too …)

Light in the darkness

A hot smoke is emitting from our land
Smoke of the volcano is terrible – its natural
But fumes of pseudo politics-jelousy and diplomacy is more deadly
The sun in the sky is the source of energy
But today we need a sun on the ground
A real politician
A true leader
Who can shine light in the darkness of despair
He may the one who can bring a strong cool shower on the hot smoke
From the wound of earthly heart .

© 2020, Kakali Das Ghosh

:: hack ::

although

twitter account,

hotmail hacked,

hacked me off,

will continue to write

low-quality, quickly

put-together articles,

hack llanelltyd

© 2020, Sonja Benskin Mesher

Sonja’s sites are:

The Good Old Days

A dry wind rushes the fallen leaves along
Like a desiccated school marm hurrying
Her children in from recess or maybe
A frightened father calling his kids to the shelter
During the insane oscillations of the incoming sirens:
Choose your metaphor based on where you live,
And I think about our politicians calling us
To return to the good old days
When people were nicer
When they listened to each other before talking
When they all knew what was right
And it was pretty much the same for all folks
But nobody tells them how to return,
That to return to those good old days
You have to be those good old people
Instead of what you’ve somehow become
Today.

© 2020, Mike Stone, Raanana Israel

Find more of Mike’s poetry at his website HERE. His Amazon page is  HERE.

A Plague on Both Your Houses!

*Mercutio, “Romeo and Juliet” by Shakespeare

Email bloated with accusing words
My own house, party,
Insisting on money
Issues like wet tissues
Disintegrating like my love of democracy
The issue is money to win
Worse, the other house
Opposing party
Tweets full of hatred
From a man I do not follow
Yet due to dictatorial rules
He raids my daily reading
With pictures and vitriol
Bacterial words of disease
Slamming the republic
Mocking my once-great land

I will vote
I will vote my house
Though plagued
Yet there is still a chance
For healing
Despite the unfeeling
Of those we put in power…

“We better stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?”**

**Buffalo Springfield, For What It’s Worth“

© 2020, Clarissa Simmens

Find Clarissa on her Amazon’s Author Page, on her blog, and on Facebook HERE;

Poetry Rocks the World!

Jamie Dedes. About /Testimonials / Disclosure / Facebook / Medium / Ko-fi

Your donation HERE helps to fund the ongoing mission of The Poet by Day in support of poets and writers, freedom of artistic expression, and human rights.

Link HERE for Free Human Rights eCourse designed and delivered by United For Human Rights, Making Human Rights a Fact

FEEL THE BERN

For Peace, Sustainability, Social Justice

The Poet by Day officially endorses Bernie Sanders for President.

The New New Deal

Link HERE for Bernie’s schedule of events around the country.

“Democracy is not a spectator sport.” Bernie Sanders

“Every pair of eyes facing you has probably experienced something you could not endure.”  Lucille Clifton

 

Posted on

Hanged Man, a poem by Clarissa Simmens

Ryder Waite Tarot XII, U.S. Public Domain

“’Christ! You know it ain’t easy
You know how hard it can be
The way things are going
They’re going to crucify me'” *

Crow cawing in early morning clouds
Tallest tree invisible in fog
Tarot’s Hanged Man
Initiation into a mysterious world
Odin hung for 9 days
Euhemerizationally** sacrificing his eye
Think of other mythical and biblical
Heroes hung over the centuries
All in the name of knowledge
Ah, but John Lennon
Knew he was a sacrifice
No worse than others
Yet, in his quest for wisdom
He cried out to us:
“Christ! You know it ain’t easy
You know how hard it can be
The way things are going
They’re going to crucify me” *
He knew, he knew
But tell me who
Would assassinate a rocker?
So many of us
Hanging in silence
Smoke and steam
Muffling our dreams
Then thinking we’ve learned
Slip off the slip knot
Abrading the ankle’s skin
Moving into the Earth’s valley
Carrying new knowledge
But never satisfied
And in time
Wake up to find
We’re back on the tree
Dangling in space
Another lesson to memorize
A path to retrace…

.
(c) 2018 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)

.
This is poem is an excerpt from Clarissa’s collection Cording the Cards and shared here with Clarissa’s permissions.

,
* The Ballad of John and Yoko

CLARISSA SIMMENS (Poeturja) is an independent poet; Romani drabarni (herbalist/advisor); ukulele and guitar player; wannabe song writer; and music addict. Favorite music genres include Classic Rock, Folk, Romani (Gypsy), and Cajun with an emphasis on guitar and violin music mainly in a Minor key. Find her onAmazon’s Author Page, on her blog, and on Facebook HERE.

Clarissa’s books include: Chording the Cards & Other Poems, Plastic Lawn Flamingos & Other Poems, and Blogetressa, Shambolic Poetry.

Poetry Rocks the World!

Jamie Dedes. About / Testimonials / Disclosure / Facebook / Medium / Ko-fi

Your donation HERE helps to fund the ongoing mission of The Poet by Day in support of poets and writers, freedom of artistic expression, and human rights.

Link HERE for Free Human Rights eCourse designed and delivered by United For Human Rights, Making Human Rights a Fact

FEEL THE BERN

For Peace, Sustainability, Social Justice

The Poet by Day officially endorses Bernie Sanders for President.

The New New Deal

Link HERE for Bernie’s schedule of events around the country.

“Democracy is not a spectator sport.” Bernie Sanders

“Every pair of eyes facing you has probably experienced something you could not endure.”  Lucille Clifton