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your darkness, my light, a poem . . . and your Wednesday Writing Prompt

“Come sleep with me: We won’t make Love, Love will make us.” Julio Cortázar (1914-1984), Argentine novelist, short story writer, and essayist.

One summer night
you stood on the beach
where the sky touched the sand
and spoke in midnight blue.

A thousand twinkling eyes
watched and winked.

You were a handsome boy,
as straight and serious as a sigh.

The other girls giggled,
thinking you too stodgy, too old,
but I stepped back,
looked at your heart
and lost my breath.

Your winter gave birth
to my spring, your
darkness my light and
we’ve never been the same.

© 2018, Jamie Dedes

WEDNESDAY WRITING PROMPT

How does it happen that love transforms us? Tell us in a poem or poems.

Share your poem/s on theme or a link to it/them in the comments section below.

All poems on theme will be published next Tuesday. Please do NOT email your poem to me or leave it on Facebook. If you do it’s likely I’ll miss it or not see it in time.

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 will be 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, October 8 by 8 p.m. Pacific.

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. This is a discerning non-judgemental place to connect.

ABOUT

Poet and writer, I was once columnist and associate editor of a regional employment publication. Currently I run this site, The Poet by Day, an information hub for poets and writers. I am the managing editor of The BeZine published by The Bardo Group Beguines (originally The Bardo Group), a virtual arts collective I founded.  I am a weekly contributor to Beguine Again, a site showcasing spiritual writers.

My work is featured in a variety of publications and on sites, including: Levure littéraure, Ramingo’s Porch, Vita Brevis Literature,Compass Rose, Connotation Press, The Bar None Group, Salamander Cove, Second Light, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Meta / Phor(e) /Play, and California Woman.

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::i too shall die:: . . . and other responses to the last Wednesday Writing Prompt

“And anyway, it’s not as though I’ll never see Mum again, is it?” J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

A modest but rather fabulous collection garnered from the last Wednesday Writing Prompt, near death experience, September 26. Sonja Benskin Mesher, Carol Mikada and Bozhidar Pangelov (bogpan) rose to the occasion with insight, passion and even a certain verve. Read on … Enjoy! … and do join in tomorrow for the next Wednesday Writing Prompt.

. that feeling, that .

arrives unexpected from darkness, some winters’ mornings,

opening the door to the sound of one black bran bird calling.

track four repeated. that

comes on waking finding peace and comfort bound in clean
linen.

arises with perfume, an uncertain memory.

it may be chemicals, peptides in the brain as love, what
ever the germ or warfare

I find no word to describe, no random feather nor dust on
my plate. pass a finger.

that feeling of trimmed nails upon the keys pounding
words and silences.

while music plays. that feeling. that.

© 2018, Sonja Benskin Mesher

:: i too shall die ::

we have a memory or two. the world goes dark, we teach and learn, wait for light to appear

it is the way of things, while there are birds. while you read, you will not understand all words, that is the way of things.

it is natural, it is what they do, they live in the wild. . we have no power, they, no disgust that reels and kicks. yet while small birds live, they too will die. like us.

drift. in air, in words. symbols of poetry, cut and pasted. literally. naturally .

everyday tiny things sing.

when some small birds have failed and gone others sound just the same.

touched by the small things, softly, we drew

we cannot delete things we do not like

© 2018, Sonja Benskin Mesher

Last Words

In the style of Dali and Zappa,
fittingly obtuse, I say to you:
We exist only collectively.
We are all one force,
one consciousness.
It is all Love.
There is no I.
I will enter nothingness
so as worldly experiences are concerned.
I will move on to pure energy.
This is all a dream, graded gold,
burst in black light,
thinking of God, as God with God.
Nothingness and omnipresence
are one and the same.

Take my art. Take my writing.
It is all yours now.
Love my son, the best,
the best of all I have done.

In the end, there are no words.
Be grateful, as I am, for our time together.
Be grateful, each day, for life.
Be present, in each day, each hour, each moment
as if you were sure that
the present moment is all that’s certain.

© 2018, Carol Mikoda (At the Yellow Table)

Exploring the Memory

A light day…

My granny was a little
woman.
She loved to speak in other
languages:
Italian, French and
German.

And in the Grannies language for their grandchildren:
“my pretty”.
She didn’t get pension (that was
the time) and
our home was thronged with pupils. Surely because of this I learnt
neither one. Or with the guests who
dropped in
often (we lived in the downtown by the tail
of the horse* – they used
to say so), for having a cup of black coffee.
The coffee
was special – for fortune-telling. She
“was telling fortune” and they
were telling us. A lot of stories. Surely
because of this I
know neither one.
Then she started getting less and less and
slender.
One night my mother told me,
“Go to see her…”
A thin, transparent leaf.

Now surely she’s telling the fortune and
is speaking only in the Grannies language
for their grandchildren:
“my pretty”.
……………………………………………
*”the tail of the horse” is slang for the Historical Monument Tsar Osvoboditel (tsar liberator) that indicates the downtown of Sofia; more on the monument can be read here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_to_the_Tsar_Liberator

© 2018, Bozhidar Pangelov (bogpan – блог за авторска поезия  блог за авторска поезия )

ABOUT

Poet and writer, I was once columnist and associate editor of a regional employment publication. Currently I run this site, The Poet by Day, an information hub for poets and writers. I am the managing editor of The BeZine published by The Bardo Group Beguines (originally The Bardo Group), a virtual arts collective I founded.  I am a weekly contributor to Beguine Again, a site showcasing spiritual writers.

My work is featured in a variety of publications and on sites, including: Levure littéraure, Ramingo’s Porch, Vita Brevis Literature,Compass Rose, Connotation Press, The Bar None Group, Salamander Cove, Second Light, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Meta / Phor(e) /Play, and California Woman.

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Here … Now … There Is Peace, a poem by Gayle Walters Rose in honor of 100,000 Poets for Change

 

“I am content; that is a blessing greater than riches; and he to whom that is given need ask no more.” Henry Fielding (1707-1754), English novelist and playwright perhaps best know for Tom Jones

All is quiet here on this street.
The birds are coming and going
from the several birdfeeders
in the yard. They are not alarmed.
Their differences in feather
coloration do not cause discord.
They all take turns feeding and
bathing in the birdbath.

Our neighbors are on friendly terms.
I hear no loud shouts.
It’s an undisturbed Saturday afternoon.
I offer a friendly wave to our next-door
neighbor as I get into my car.
A group of children are playing ball
down the way…laughter carries on the wind.

The sky is composed.
It is blue but filled with
billowing clouds without
darkness or strife.

The trees stand untroubled
in silent repose harboring
multitude of species that
look to them for sanctuary.
They welcome all.

My granddaughters feel safe
and secure as they play
in their room. They know
they are loved and protected.
They feel at ease.

Our household is tranquil.
We live in harmony.
Stillness surrounds us.
Quietude permeates our life.

Here…now…there is peace.

© 2018, Gayle Walter Rose (bodhirose)

Gayle is a mom and grandmom and a world-class poet. We’re delighted that she shared this poem with us for 100,000 Poets (and Friends) for Change.

RELATED:

* The BeZine: Waging the Peace, An Interfaith Exploration featuring Fr. Daniel Sormani, Rev. Benjamin Meyers, and the Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi among others

ALERT

We are leaving 100TPC Virtual up through end-of-day October 6th so that those who weren’t able to share their work – or even fave pieces on theme (Peace, Sustainability, Social Justice) by other authors – still have time to do so. Instructions in the post explain how to share your poems or other art … check it out …

REMINDER

The Poet by Day

WEDNESDAY WRITING PROMPT

Response deadline is Monday, October 1 (today), at 8 p.m. Pacific. Poems on theme are published on this site on Tuesday, the October 2. Details HERE.

ABOUT

Testimonials

Disclosure

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Poet and writer, I was once columnist and associate editor of a regional employment publication. I currently run this site, The Poet by Day, an information hub for poets and writers. I am the managing editor of The BeZine published by The Bardo Group Beguines (originally The Bardo Group), a virtual arts collective I founded.  I am a weekly contributor to Beguine Again, a site showcasing spiritual writers. My work is featured in a variety of publications and on sites, including: Levure littéraure, Ramingo’s Porch, Vita Brevis Literature,Compass Rose, Connotation Press, The Bar None Group, Salamander Cove, Second Light, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Meta / Phor(e) /Play, and California Woman. My poetry was recently read by Northern California actor Richard Lingua for Poetry Woodshed, Belfast Community Radio. I was featured in a lengthy interview on the Creative Nexus Radio Show where I was dubbed “Poetry Champion.”

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Announcing “The BeZine – Best of the Net” Nominations

“Who wants to become a writer? And why? Because it’s the answer to everything … It’s the streaming reason for living.  To note, to pin down, to build up, to create, to be astonished at nothing, to cherish the oddities, to let nothing go down the drain, to make something, to make a gret flower out of life, even if it’s  cactus.” British Author and Playwright, Enid Bagnold (1998-1981), best known for Natonal Velvet (1935)

It was a tough. TOUGH!  If I could I would nominate everyone who has contributed, but there were constraints on the types of submissions, dates of publication, and number of nominations editors can submit. So, here we are … The BeZine Best of Net nominations for June 2017 – July 2018.

POETRY

SHORT STORIES

CREATIVE NONFICTION

I hope you’ll wish all these wonderful poets and writers well and take the time to read their work.

Thank you!

– Jamie Dedes, Managing Editor, The BeZine

ALERT

We are leaving 100TPC Virtual up through end-of-day October 6th so that those who weren’t able to share their work – or even fave pieces on theme (Peace, Sustainability, Social Justice) by other authors – still have time to do so. Instructions in the post explain how to share your poems or other art … check it out …

ABOUT

Testimonials

Disclosure

Facebook

Twitter

Poet and writer, I was once columnist and associate editor of a regional employment publication. I currently run this site, The Poet by Day, an information hub for poets and writers. I am the managing editor of The BeZine published by The Bardo Group Beguines (originally The Bardo Group), a virtual arts collective I founded.  I am a weekly contributor to Beguine Again, a site showcasing spiritual writers. My work is featured in a variety of publications and on sites, including: Levure littéraure, Ramingo’s Porch, Vita Brevis Literature,Compass Rose, Connotation Press, The Bar None Group, Salamander Cove, Second Light, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Meta / Phor(e) /Play, and California Woman. My poetry was recently read by Northern California actor Richard Lingua for Poetry Woodshed, Belfast Community Radio. I was featured in a lengthy interview on the Creative Nexus Radio Show where I was dubbed “Poetry Champion.”