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Conversations on Poverty and Homelessness (Part 1) – The BeZine, 100,000 Poets for Change

On our 2015 Facebook Page for 100,000 Poets for Change, we’ve been discussing poverty and homelessness.  I’m sharing some of the conversation here.  If you’d like to join us on Facebook, please let us know.  All are welcome. For the September 2015 issue of The BeZine, we’ll be exploring poverty and on September 26, we’ll hold our virtual event and we invite reader participation.  Instructions will be in our blog that day.  Links to everyone’s work will be collected and posted as a Page and also incorporated into a PDF that will be archived at 100,000 Poets (writers, artists, photographers, musicians and friends) for Change; i.e., peace and sustainability. 

This portion of the discussion was begun by Terri Stewart (Beguine Again) with this video:

https://youtu.be/0BXxxfc4aYc

Among the responses:

Michael Dickel (Fragments of Michael Dickel):

“If you want change, let me throw it at you as hard as I can at your dirty face…”

Let me throw justice at you, let it hit your face
and wake us up. Let me throw opportunity at you,
let it hit your face and give you a chance.
Let me throw change at you, changing the world,
creating just, creative freedom, creating opportunity
for all. Let me throw democracy at you, let it
hit you in the face so hard that it cracks open
and spills out into the land, everywhere,
real democracy, real hope, real opportunity.
Let me throw the stinking, rotten carcass
of consumer capitalism and greed at those
so privileged and shallow as to think white
teeth more important than your humanity.
And then, god help me, let me find love
and compassion to throw as hard as I can
into your face, into your lives, into the hearts
of us all, of us all standing here watching
in voyeuristic pleasures of despair.”

– Michael Dickel

Corina Ravenscraft (Dragon’s Dreams):

“I want to shake all of those people who wrote those mean things and ask them what happened to their compassion? I want to ask them if their judgment makes them feel better about themselves and what they would do if they ever found themselves in such dire circumstances.”

John Anstie (My Poetry Library):

“Yes indeed, Corina, maybe no compassion, but where also is their insight?”

Please share YOUR thoughts below. Thank you!

The August issue of The BeZine will be published online on August 15. The theme for August is music.

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Year 5 of 100,000 Poets & Friends for Change: 400 events scheduled.

IMG_1250I just realized that I haven’t published an update for some time.  All the news is good.

Michael Rothenberg, co-founder of 100,000 Poets, Artists, Photographers, Musicians and Friends for Change [100TPC] – change being all that is peaceful and sustainable – reported yesterday that there are over 400 events scheduled in various places around the world to celebrate the fifth year of 100TPC.

Michael’s message:

“Don’t forget September 26 is the 5th Anniversary of 100 Thousand Poets for Change! So far over 400 events are confirmed for that day. If you believe that poetry, music, and all of the arts are capable of making a more peaceful and sustainable world then 100 Thousand Poets for Change is for you! Contact me with your name, city, country and email if you would like to organize an event in your town to celebrate this important day. I will sign you up!”

Meanwhile, we have over seventy people united with us on our Facebook discussion page, The BeZine 100TPC, 2015.  You are encouraged to join with us. Leave me a message in the comments area below if you want to be included. The more the better … we welcome diverse participation.  This year we are addressing “poverty.”

For Discussion Here:

 

Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993), American Actress
Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993), American Actress

I took this photo outside a church theater. It reminded me of Actress Audrey Hepburn’s service as a UNICEF ambassador. She traveled widely as she worked on behalf of the poor and the hungry. She said, “I don’t believe in collective guilt, but I do believe in collective responsibility.” Your thoughts????

The Plan:

The tentative plan: On the 15th of September we will publish The BeZine as usual.  The theme is poverty.  We are reviewing submissions now.  Send them to bardogroup@gmail.com and put “poverty” in the subject line.  Nothing over 1,000 words please and nothing that is unkind. Thank you!

On 26 September we will publish a blog post. Readers are invited to join with us by putting the links to their own relevant work in the comment section or to connect via Mr. Linky (directions will be provided).  We encourage you to read everyone’s work and to comment. We will then collect everything into one Page and publish that on The Bardo Group site.  Michael Rothenberg will include a PDF of the Page in 100TPC archives.

American-Israeli poet, writer and educator, Michael Dickel (War Surrounds Us) will take the lead for the September issue. Michael has hosted live 100TPC events in Israel for the past two years, has a third event scheduled for this October, and attended The First World Conference on the Future of 100TPC.  You can read his article on that event: Salerno, il mio amore.

The next issue of The BeZine is scheduled for 15 August 2015. The theme is music. The July 2015 issue is up for your reading pleasure. The theme is imagination and the critical spirit.  Link HERE.

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The BeZine, May 2015, Vol. 1, Issue 7, Table of Contents with Links

640px-The_Historian_(The_How_and_Why_Library)Storytelling: It’s a means by which we are entertained but also by which we explore meaning and develop our internal fortitude, our moral fiber, values and identity … At least that was the purpose before storytelling was so grossly co-opted by marketing and its push toward accumulation and self-aggrandizement.  This month in our lead feature, Healing Stories, Michael Watson, therapist and Native American shaman, explores the power of storytelling to heal in the context of tradition and of therapy.

Our resident professional storyteller, Naomi Baltuck, gifts us with four photo stories, small gems that will make you smile and laugh and remind you of what really matters in life.

The poem, Mourning Brooch, reflects on the power of memory when it evolves into story. John Anstie‘s poem is a love story for his grandson. How many of us have told our children or grandchildren stories about their birth, it’s meaning to us, and what we want to leave them as legacy? Turtle Speaks explores meaning in Native American stories about Turtle. Charlie Martin, Joe Hesch and Myra Schneider use poetry to tell their stories or those of others. For Charlie it’s all about social conscience, compassion and justice. For Joe Hesch it’s often about nature and history. For Myra it’s about the different ways that both fine art and everyday things move her … and by extension, us.

Señora Ortega’s Frijoles is a short story about dichos (sayings), which are used to pass tradition and values from one generation to the next … just like storytelling.

Silva Merjanian shares four poems from her second collection, Rumor (Cold River Press).  We introduced Silva here last month.  Silva’s poems tell us the stories of war – not simply a reaction to the news of war as in my own The Doves Have Flown – but her experience of war.

We shared in the last issue that Silva and her publisher are donating all profits from the sale of Rumor to the Syrian Armenian Relief Fund.  As I was preparing this intro I learned that thus far they have raised $1,397.73.  Well and kindly done, Silva.

The use of poetry to raise funds for worthy causes is not new to our contributors and readers.  John Anstie and the Grass Roots Poetry Group donate the funds from Petrichor Rising to UNICEF.  Therein lies another story featured this month: “Petrichor Rising” … or how the Twitterverse birthed friendships that in turn birthed a poetry collection …

With a nod toward spring in the Western Hemisphere, Corina Ravenscraft serves up a charming soupçon of gardening advice, a small treasury of hints to help you garden with simplicity, patience, and compassion.  It’s all about balance, whether you are caring for plants or for your own spirit.

Millais_Boyhood_of_RaleighAs you go through your days, do your work and practice your art, we hope you keep in mind the meaning and value of the stories you hear and read and of your own story as it unfolds. We hope you’ll share your stories in the comment sections here or via books or blogs or at gatherings of family and friends.

Enjoy this issue.  Be sure to “like” and comment to let contributors know what you think and that you value their hard work and their contributions. The BeZine is entirely a volunteer effort, a gift of love. (Our mission statement is HERE.) Any ads you see are not our own.  They are WordPress ads used to defray their cost of hosting blogs and websites.

Be the peace.

Thanks for visiting us.
Jamie Dedes

Illustrations: Header via Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 2.0 license, A very fine par dated 1938 A.D. The epic of Pabuji is an oral epic in the Rajasthani language that tells of the deeds of the folk hero-deity Pabuji, who lived in the 14th century.; photo #1 (public domain) via The How and Why Library, E. Irving Couse, A. N. A.; The Historian; The Indian Artist is painting in sign language, on buckskin, the story of a battle with American Soldiers;  photo #2 (public domain) via Wikipedia, The Boyhood of Raleigh by Sir John Everett Millais, oil on canvas, 1870. A seafarer tells the young Sir Walter Raleigh and his brother the story of what happened out at sea.

Core Team and Guest Contributor Biographies

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Lead Feature

Healing Stories by Michael Watson, M.A., Ph.D., LCMHC

Photo Stories

Survival Stories by Naomi Baltuck
The Inside Story by Naomi Baltuck
To See the World by Naomi Baltuck
Rather Than Curse the Darkness by Naomi Baltuck

Fiction

 Señora Ortega’s Frijoles by Jamie Dedes

Poetry

An Apology from Your Grandfather by John Anstie

The Mourning Brooch by Jamie Dedes
Turtle Speaks by Jamie Dedes
The Doves Have Flown by Jamie Dedes

The Discovery of Grass by Joseph Hesch
In Audience with the Queen by Joseph Hesch

dance to life’s music by Charles W. Martin
no translation necessary by Charles W. Martin
honey … I swear this is for the birds … by Charles W. Martin

Beirut by Silva Merjanian
Collateral Damage by Silva Merjanian
Doves of Beirut by Silva Merjanian
Rooftop by Silva Merjanian

Bird by Myra Schneider
Milk Bottle by Myra Schneider

Feature Articles

Being a More Compassionate Gardener by Corina Ravenscraft

“Petrichor Rising” … or how the Twitterverse birthed friendships that in turn birthed a poetry collection … by John Anstie and Jamie Dedes

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Rest in Natural Great Peace This Exhausted Mind

As we honor the closure of 2014 with celebrations both spiritual and secular, may our spirits rest in “Natural Great Peace” and may that peace perfume the greater world around us.

We usher in this season with one of The Bardo Group’s most popular posts as both a gift and an inspiration.

Meanwhile, on behalf of newly birthed The Bardo Group/Beguine Again collaborative, best wishes for a rich life of mind and spirit in 2015.

Volume 1, Issue 3 of our arts and spirit eZine, The B Zine, will publish on January 6.

Many blessings,
Jamie Dedes

“Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags are a common sight in Sikkim. The concept is truly beautiful. Prayers are written on flags and put up. The wind plays its part in letting the flags flutter and the symbolic reciting of the prayers.

I made this painting of prayer flags across a frozen Tsomgo (Changu) Lake on 22 June 2005.” Painting and text belong to: Naresh Kumar Agarwal, a gentleman talented in both arts and technology and committed to using his skills and wisdom in the service of humanity. 

♥ ♥ ♥

MEDITATION

Rest in natural great peace this exhausted mind,
Beaten helpless by karma and neurotic thoughts
Like the relentless fury of the pounding waves
In the infinite ocean of samsara.
Rest in natural great peace.

Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche

You’ll have to link through to YouTube to view this beautiful and healing meditation.

♥ ♥ 
♥
Photograph of Nyochul Khen Rinpoche courtesy of Rigpa Wiki.
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Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche or Nyoshul Khenpo Jamyang Dorje (Wyl. smyo shul mkhan po ‘jam dbyangs rdo rje) (1932-1999) was such a consummate master of Dzogpachenpo, and such an authority on the teachings of Longchenpa, that his disciples regarded him as Longchenpa in the flesh. He was the teacher of many of the younger generation of lamas, as well as a number of western Buddhist teachers. He became one of Sogyal Rinpoche‘s most beloved masters. MORE