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Thousands and Millions, a poem by John Anstie

This is our (The BeZine) new poster for 100TPC 2018. It was designed by Corina Ravenscraft (Dragon’s Dreams)

One hundred thousand
Poets for change,
so many voices and
carefully chosen words,
at times decay into a void
of the anechoic chamber.

Earthly Fathers praying
for the Establishment,
that sets our stage,
and casts our values
in concrete, steel,
plastic … and carbon.

Leaders of the World,
whose balance sheets and
logical, numerate intellect
measure only a notion
of success. What is that?
Temper your ambition.

For aren’t we just that,
a wealth of rich and
creative intelligence,
maybe the only hope
for our universe
to understand itself?

Heavenly Mothers ask us
why digitise and monetise
and worship at the alter
of the great god, Thworg,
when we are in the face of
richness beyond measure.

Escape to the stars, if you will,
but answers will be found not
in the vanity of space-time travel,
but here, with this unaided vision
they lie in the green and blue,
right before your disbelieving eyes.

Permit your heart to rule
even if only one day a week, when
the visceral, and the common sense
will sit above logic and intellect, and
that subliminal noise in our head
will slowly rise to the conscious.

Maybe, one day we’ll be
Seven Thousand Million
Poets for Change!
Our time will come. Atonement beckons.
It’s in the wind, this beating heart,
a movement beyond the gaze of mortals …

© 2017 John Anstie, All rights reserved; posted here with John’s permission.  You can visit John at My Poetry Library.

This is John’s tribute to the 100,000 Poets for Change – 100TPC 2017 – movement, which had its annual celebration on 30th September.

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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

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“the moses manifest” … and other poems in response the last Wednesday Writing Prompt

The variety of responses to the last Wednesday Writing Prompt “Archaic Torso of Apollo,” September 27 are a pleasure to read. Thanks to Renee Espiru, Sonja Benskin Meshery, Gary Bowers and Paul Brookes for coming out to play and sharing their fine work.

Join us tomorrow for the next Wednesday Writing Prompt. All are welcome to take part no matter the status of career. Beginners and experienced are welcome to come, be inspired, share their poems and get to know other poets.

A Life Betrayed

She lives the only life
she has ever known
inside someone else’s home

she wonders how she came to this
miles of fields and distance
a breeze touching her
now frail being

did someone leave her here
without her knowing and
will she wake one day
to find she’s dreaming

for she loved him so in her way
but was he a mirage or
just a ruse she wrote of
in her own knowing

before her body did betray
and stole her life
and youth

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

..the flight to egypt..

Edwin Longsden Long RA was an English genre, history, and portrait painter.

**

there are many pictures at this house, two dimensional and more. how can I love one

child above another?

I had only one, so that was easy, then questioned if I loved the late arrival more, I said no just different.

so I talk out loud instead of writing .

a new prose. I talk of formative years, the safe place.

russell coates museum. have you been there? it was free on thursdays a haven from the rain,

the

pain.

indoor fish pond, quiet on the stairs, to the edwin long gallery. the flight to egypt. looking

back now, I never thought of it religious. immense it covered the wall.

I use the past tense, yet it is still in place.

on googling I see the topic is biblical, I remember the procession, the faces, the space as

if his meaning was hidden to me.

now by choice it is.

do I make such pictures? no.

weird stuff as if installed in a museum.

crying.

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

The Specificity of the Ordinary by Colin Blundell

in Iris Murdoch

the characters for the most part
get themselves into such a muddle
usually intent on mirroring
the messes & muddles of others
closely observed by scheming clowns
with special peculiar insights

how will they get out of the muddle?
a question which keeps you entranced
turning the pages rapidly
never really wanting an unravelling

no linearity just sets of closed circles
of rather bizarre impossibility

occasionally a character will experience
a bright moment of illumination
or clarity which I have come to call
the specificity of the ordinary:
the cat on the terrace dust particles
lizard on a sunny bank
bare gritty floorboards leaves in the wind
ivy climbing on a rock as it might be
to refer it all to myself measuring
the impact of the ordinary

if only the characters had listened
to their author’s commentary
more carefully they might all have been
able to rescue themselves

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

the moses manifest

he grips the tablets in his charge, this
courier of commandmenta, and takes umbrage or looks
askance at some person or
persons on
his left. on his head
are zigguratish lumps,
horns, that should have been
unsculptable rays of
light. julius the pope, the vicar
of christ, has left
his mortal remains entombed
here, and moses to guard
them. the likeness
of julius was to be
the capstone of the tomb
but it was never
done. the militant pope
had need of his hireling
visionary elsewhere,
as plasterer and muralist
for a now-renowned chapel.
the tomb was finished in 1545,
decades after julius’s promotion
to resident of Heaven.

© 2017, Gary W. Bowers (One with Clay, Image & Text)

 

The Hay Wain (1821), by John Constable (UK), (1776-1837)

Haywain

Her milkman Grandad often takes
her, his horse, cart and churns on his rounds
gifts her a small pony trap and horse.

Older she hangs a copy of “The Haywain”
above a dark brown oak dining table
with its curved back oak chairs

lit by white light French windows
on to a grey concrete slabbed patio.

She knows the smell of worked horse,
creak of cart and water’s rhythm,
much like milk slap and hooves on cobbles.

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

Photograph by Paul Brookes

My Dali

A teenager, I was a poster
Christ crucified in a sky
above a cove
and dried blue tac
on my bedroom wall
lets Christ
lets me
fall at one edge.

I was a swan reflecting elephants
the need for it to be other
my fingers mirrored rocks.

I was a spoon on crutches,
anything but me.
​
© 2017, Paul Brookes (The Wombwell Rainbow, Inspiration, History, Imagination)

Golconde (1953), by Rene Magritte (Belgium), (1898-1967)

These Shapes

are not symbols.
Do not attach meaning.

Bowler hats and gentlemen
may fall on the page

in this frame. The words
do not mean the thing.

Magritte is a mark only.
All that attaches to it

is irrelevant. It does not help.
A birdcage is not a rib cage.

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

The Blood Serape and other ekphrastic poems by Paul Brookes

ABOUT THE POET BY DAY

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

CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

Opportunity Knocks

TETHERED BY LETTERS (TBL), a nonprofit literary publisher and writer’s resource, describes itself as “passionate about educating budding authors and increasing literacy rates across the globe. We run several FREE programs to help cultivate the next generation of great literature: For more, visit our Education or Writing Resource Center.”  Open year-round for submissions of short fiction and creative nonfiction, poetry, and graphic stories or comics to f(r)online. Details HERE.

GRAVEL publishes fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, photo essays, book reviews, author interviews, artwork, comics, video, and hybrid. Details HERE.

THE BeZINE submissions for the October 2017 issue – themed Music – are open and the deadline is October 10th. Send submissions to me [Jamie] at bardogroup@gmail.com. Publication is October 15th. Poetry, essays, fiction and creative nonfiction, art and photography, music (videos or essays), and whatever lends itself to online presentation is welcome for consideration. No demographic restrictions and submissions of work on your country and its history and culture are welcome. The more diverse the representation, the better. English only or accompanied by translation into English. Please check out a few issues first and the Intro/Mission Statement and Submission Guidelines. We do not publish anything that promotes hate or violence.  The lead for the October issue is Sheffield poet and musician, John Anstie (My Poetry Library and 42).

Note: I will consider previously published work as long as you hold the copyright. / Jamie Dedes

THE ATLANTIC “is always interested in great nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. A general familiarity with what we have published in the past is the best guide to what we’re looking for. All manuscripts should be submitted as a Word document or PDF. Succinct pitches may be submitted in the body of an e-mail. To submit nonfiction, send your manuscript or pitch to: submissions@theatlantic.com. To submit fiction, send your manuscript to: fiction@theatlantic.com. To submit poetry, send your manuscript to: poetry@theatlantic.com.” The Atlantic (You’ll have to scroll down in the FAQ’s to find the guidelines.)

MASON JAR PRESS has an open call for submission for an anthology scheduled for publication sometime in July 2018.  “Metropolitan tales of city-focused fantasy with queer perspectives.” Details HERE. 

From Evelyn Augusto: GUNS DON’T SAVE PEOPLE, POETS DO … Calling all Hudson Valley and Catskill Region Poets…Would you like to be a featured poet at GUNS DON’T SAVE PEOPLE, POETS DO?…Dueling with words to stop Gun Violence. Oct 6th at 8pm, The Glen Falls House, Round Top, NY? Send 3 poems to evelynaugusto2012@gmail.com and your contact information. Limited space.

PSKI’S PORCH PUBLISHING, Books for People Who Like People That Like Books has an open call for submissions of poems, short stories, book reviews, short essays … Details HERE.

THE SUN, Personal. Political. Provocative. Ad-free. Invites submissions of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. Details HERE. Special call for poems for a special section themed of Love and Justice to be guest edited by Crystal Williams.  Deadline November 1. Details HERE.

CONTESTS

Opportunity Knocks

TETHERED BY LETTERS (TBL), a nonprofit literary publisher and writer’s resource has open calls or submission for its annual literary contests: short story, flash fiction and poetry. Cash award. Submission fee. Cash awards. Deadline is November 1. Details HERE.

WRITER’S DIGEST POETRY AWARDS, last call. Submission is electronic, so you can still make the deadline October 2 if you have something ready. Submission fee. Cash awards. Details HERE.

BLUE MOUNTAIN ARTS Thirty-first Biannual Poetry Card Contest. Cash prizes. Deadline December 31. Details HERE.

EVENTS

The Poet by Day, Wednesday Writing Prompt, online and all are invited to take part no matter the stage of career (emerging or established) or status (amateur or professional) Poems related to the challenge of the week will be published here on the following Tuesday.

  • 2018 Saints and Sinners Literary Festival, a project of the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival. March 23 – 25.  Details HERE.
  • 38 Metaphors for Translation, Jessie Chaffee, Words Without Borders
  • A Multilingual Most Exquisite Corpse at Lit Crawl Brooklyn, October 7 at 8 p.m. Free and open to the public. Details HERE. The Greene Grape Annex, 753 Fulton St., Brooklyn, New York 11217
  • The 2018 Pen World Voices Festival, April 16-22, 2018 Details to come. Watch HERE.
  • Reading Philip Whalen, October 23, 7 pm – 8 pm, Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley, CA
  • Poets Maxine Chernoff and Gillian Conoley, November 8, 7 pm – 8 pm, Moe”s Books, 2476 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley, CA

KUDOS

  • to Michael Dickel for his gracious and graceful hosting of The BeZine 100TPC 2017.
  • to Debasis Mukhopadhyay for the arrival of his books on shelfs and through online venues.
  • to Aprillia Zank for a photographic award – The Best of Minimalism
  • to P.C. Vandall for the acceptance of her poem for an upcoming issue of the Irish journal, The Stinging Fly.
  • to Toni Morrison for her banned books: The Bluest Eye, 4th most banned book, 2014; Beloved, 10th most banned book, 2012.

OTHER NEWS AND INFORMATION

YOUR SUNDAY ANNOUNCEMENTS may be emailed to thepoetbyday@gmail.com. Please do so at least a week in advance.

If you would like me to consider reviewing your book, chapbook, magazine or film, here are some general guidelines:

  • nothing that foments hate or misunderstanding
  • nothing violent or encouraging of violence
  • English only, though Spanish is okay if accompanied by translation
  • though your book or other product doesn’t have to be available through Amazon for review here, it should be easy for readers to find through your site or other venues.

DISCLAIMER

Often information is just that – information – and not necessarily recommendation. I haven’t worked with all the publications featured in Sunday Announcements or elsewhere on this site. Awards and contests are often a means to generate income and publicity for the host organizations, some of which are more reputable than others. I am homebound due to disability and no longer attend events. Please be sure to verify information for yourself before submitting work, buying products, paying fees or attending events et al.

ABOUT THE POET BY DAY