“Grandchildren restore our zest for life and our faith in humanity.” Anon
In the midst of turmoil,
our Mother Earth besieged
by bloody conflict,
in a world beleaguered
by well healed negligence,
humanity is laced
with latent evil …
its one great flaw.
Children are dying
We are dying with you.
I am crying for you.
Yet, whilst this goes on,
you walk the woods,
harvesting your pine cones
and put them in your wishing well,
your unconscious prayer
for a better world,
for love, for life,
that sow the seeds
of perfect purity
in heart and mind,
that will not fade with time.
This is the magnificence,
the magic of your spirit
that is untouched
by a tainted world.
Then, in one gesture,
one single act of generosity,
of utterly moving faith,
you beckoned me
come close to you.
You looked me in the eyes;
and I was hypnotised.
Then, you gave it to me,
one single piece of magic,
a piece of nature’s bounty,
and bade me keep its secret
as covert as a spy.
Each time I hold your gift,
when we are far apart,
I’ll think of you and
remember this moment,
by which you have renewed
my faith in all our futures.
You could melt the heart,
like chocolate on a Summer’s day.
You could soften steel
in hardened minds.
You and your magic
are our future.
“Five years ago, my then 4-year old granddaughter gave me a pine cone. She had found it as we walked in the woods and called me to her, very secretively, and put it in my hand, confiding in me that it was magic secret and that I should tell no one. She bade me keep the secret, which I have done for five full years. Today, 29th September, is the annual celebration of the campaign that calls itself “100,000 Poets for Change” (100TPC), one of whose initiatives for 2018 is to read a poem to a child … finally I feel today is the day that I should share that magic moment with the world for the sake of the mission of Michael Rothenberg and Terri Carrion, who established the 100TPC and its mission of peace and sustainability; and for the BeZine and its founder and Chief Editor, Jamie Dedes, whose mission is to promote peace, sustainability and social justice. Let us appreciate, value and respect our more …
… thank you Jessica.”
AN INVITATION
COME OUT AND STAND FOR PEACE, SUSTAINABILITY and SOCIAL JUSTICE: This is just one sample of the work being shared by poets and writers for 100,000 Poets (and Friends) for Change (100TPC) Global 2018. Join us at The BeZine Virtual 100TPC to read and to share. Support this extraordinary Global push for peace, sustainability and social justice.
John Anstie
JOHN ANSTIE (My Poetry Library and 42) ~ is a British writer, poet and musician – a multi-talented gentleman self-described as a “Family man, Grandfather, Occasional Musician, Singer, Amateur photographer and Film-maker, Apple-MAC user, Implementation Manager, and Engineer”. He has participated in d’Verse Poet’s Pub and is a player in New World Creative Union as well as a being a ‘spoken-voice’ participant in Roger Allen Baut’s excellent ‘Blue Sky Highway‘ radio broadcasts. He’s been blogging since the beginning of 2011. He is also a member of The Poetry Society (UK).
Recent publications are anthologies resulting from online collaborations among two international groups of amateur and professional poets. One of these is The Grass Roots Poetry Group (Petrichor* Rising. The other group is d’Verse Poet Pub, in which John’s poetry also appears The d’Verse Anthology: Voices of Contemporary World Poetry, produced and edited by Frank Watson.
* Petrichor – from the Greek pɛtrɨkər, the scent of rain on the dry earth.
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.
Thank you for sharing your love of words. Comments will appear after moderation.
“Poetry. It’s better than war!”Michael Rothenberg, cofounder of 100,000 Poets (and friends) for Change
Introduction for grownups
This year, 100,000 Poets for Change promoted its newest initiative, Read a Poem to a Child! Poets all over the world have visited schools, community centers, libraries, and living rooms to read poetry to children.
As a supplement to this amazing sharing of poetry (and stories, music, art), I am sharing this updated and revised exercise. In 2013, I originally developed this exercise for some poetry workshops geared to upper-elementary school children in English language classes at The Jerusalem School of Beit Hanina, in East Jerusalem. The school’s motto is “Peace begins with me,” also the name of a poetry anthology for children. My workshops coincided with Peace Days at the school. This version is modified here for the blog and a different audience.
Please feel free to use this exercise with children you know or work with, and to modify it to your needs. I ask only that you give me credit for it and include the credits for the poems, if you use them.
There are some words a poet might call “big.” They are not long words, with lots of letters. However, they are “big” because when you say them or when you read them, they hold a lot of things in them or a large, important meaning.
Now, if a word is very big, a poet may not want to use it in the poem at all. The whole poem may be about this very big word. If I put the word in my poem, though, it could break the poem. A person reading it would not know exactly what I meant by it. Or a person may mean one of the other things the word could mean.
Peace can be a very big word like that. We can all say we want peace. Every person might make a wish like this: “May Peace prevail on Earth.” (When something “prevails,” it wins, it is everywhere and leads everything.) Yet, the poet asks, “What do I mean by peace? What exactly is this peace I want?”
Poets can write about a big word like peace though, if they ask questions about it. They write about the answers they find. They do not always use the word “peace” when they do.
Let’s try to write a poem now, about peace. But don’t use the word peace!
Instead, ask some questions about peace, and write your answers down.
What kind of questions do poets ask?
Some of the questions poets ask have to do with the senses. Others have to do with places, or people, or things.
Below are some questions a poet might ask. They are here to help you write a poem about peace. You can ask your own questions, too.
Write down some answers to these questions (or your own, or both). You can make a list of words or phrases, write a sentence, a paragraph, a story, or a piece of a poem…
But you don’t have to write the whole poem. You will do that after answering the questions.
Some questions to help you start:
1. What does peace look like? Is there a place that you go to or have gone to where you can see peace? Where the view looks like peace?
2. What would peace feel like, if you could touch it? Is there something you touch that feels like peace to you?
3. What does peace sound like? Is there a sound you hear every day or just sometimes that sounds like peace for you?
4 What about a taste? What would peace taste like ? Do you eat anything that tastes like peace?
5. What would peace smell like? Do you ever smell peace? What other things might smell like peace?
Some more questions
Your answers from the questions you just answered can help you answer some of these questions. Or, write new answers.
Imagine someone who doesn’t know what peace is. Try to describe peace to this person as though it is an object in the world.
What does it look like?
What does it sound like?
What does it smell like?
What does it taste like?
And, what does it feel like?
Imagine someone else who doesn’t know what peace is. Try to describe peace as something people do.
Who does it?
What do they do?
Where do they do it?
When do they do it?
Why do they do it?
How do they do it?
What do they look like doing it?
What do they sound like?
Write your own poem
Look over all of your answers. Can you think of other things to write to say more about your answers? Do you have other questions that you want to ask about peace?
Do some of your answers help you think of a poem to write?
Are some of your answers fun? Funny?
Do some excite you?
Do some seem very true to you?
Do the answers to one question seem connected to the answers to another one?
Now write down a poem. You can change it as you go. You can change it after it is all written down the first time, too.
Your poem can rhyme, but it doesn’t have to. The lines of a poem are usually short, but you can also write them longer. Usually, they are not really, really long.
Michael Dickel (c) 2018, Photo credit Zaki Qutteineh
MICHAEL DICKEL a poet, fiction writer, and photographer, has taught at various colleges and universities in Israel and the United States. Dickel’s writing, art, and photographs appear in print and online. His poetry has won international awards and been translated into several languages. His chapbook, Breakfast at the End of Capitalism came out from Locofo Chaps in 2017. Is a Rose Press released his most recent full-length book (flash fiction), The Palm Reading after The Toad’s Garden, in 2016. Previous books: War Surrounds Us, Midwest / Mid-East, and The World Behind It, Chaos…He co-edited Voices Israel Volume 36(2010). He was managing editor for arc-23 and arc-24. With producer / director David Fisher, he received an NEH grant to write a film script about Yiddish theatre. He is the former chair of the Israel Association of Writers in English. Meta/ Phor(e) /Play is Michael’s blogZine. Michael on Social Media: Twitter | FaceBook Page | Instagram | Academia
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.
Thank you for sharing your love of words. Comments will appear after moderation.
Bob Seger Dedes I just adopted Bob from Muttville (recommended), a senior dog rescue in San Francisco. Bob weighs 4.74 pounds. He is thirteen years old. 91 years is the human equivalent. He is blind, deaf, has heart disease, a tad bit of incontinence, arthritis, and is missing almost all his teeth. The remaining teeth are to be pulled soon. He loves gumming chicken giblets. Bob fits in well with the rest of the senior community here where I live. 🙂 His care is slowing down The Poet by Day production, but I hope you’ll understand and bare with me. I’m buying him some time, comfort and love. I support and adopt from Muttville because they keep elder dogs from being euthanized prematurely. They rock big time.
“Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.”Orhan Pamuk,My Name is Red … Bob speaks to us of patience, acceptance, trust and unconditional love. / J.D.
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CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS
Opportunity Knocks
CYBERWIT.NET is a collaborative effort that is the host of: Taj Mahal Review, Harvests of the New Millennium, Anthologies, and Stories. Based in India it also has a team in the U.S. and is interested in poets and writers writing in English. It’s new to me but looks like a rich resource for writers and readers. Check it out cyberwit.net.
Little Patuxent Review, Exploring Literature and the Arts will close for submissions on October 24, 2018. The next issue is unthemed, but “half the issue is dedicated to LGBTQI= writers in Maryland. This is a “community-based publication focused on writers and artists from the Mid-Atlantic region, but all excellent work originating in the United States will be considered.” No submission fees. No payment except for a copy of the issue in which your work is featured. Publishes poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and essays. Details HERE.
LIVE NUDE POEMS is an online journal. The editors say, “In trying to sum up what our aesthetic at Live Nude Poems will be, we are drawn to the idea and function of poetry. In our opinion, we’ve always believed that poetry must serve a purpose – to enlighten, to explain and by doing so, bring a greater understanding of self. We have a job to do as poets, even if only to better know our own humanity. We’re certainly not here to argue what art is or why we write. We write because we have to, and the work is unique to each of us. Knowing that, we would like to showcase poetry that breathes and presents moments in time, work that helps us understand you, tells a story, changes the reader–if only for a second.” Details HERE and HERE
MAGNUM OPUS: An International Poetry Anthology is expected to be published in 2019 and the deadline for submissions is 31 December 2018. Editor: Dr. Vivekanand Jha Details HERE.
RATTLE publishes poetry and translations of poetry and is open for submissions year round. Does not accept previously published work. There is no submission fee. Rattle is currently seeking submissions from Persona Poems (i.e., the speaker is someone other than the poet) for the Spring 2019 issue. Deadline: October 15. Details HERE.
SARANAC REVIEW is open for submissions to a special section of its 15th Anniversary issue. The section is titled “The Wild” and the deadline is December 31, 2018. Submissions of drama, fiction, nonfiction and poetry are open through May 31, 2019. Submissions: $3 each. Details HERE and HERE.
WEST TRADE REVIEW is open for submissions of poetry and prose for its Spring 2019 issue through January 1, 2019. Details HERE.
THE BeZINE, Be Inspired, Be Creative, Be Peace, Be. Submissions for the December issue – themed A Life of the Spirit – close on November 10 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific .
Please send text in the body of the email not as an attachment. Send photographs or illustrations as attachments. No google docs or Dropbox or other such. No rich text. Send submissions to bardogroup@gmail.com.
Publication is December 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.
Please read at least one issue. We DO NOT publish anything that promotes hate, divisiveness or violence or that is scornful or in any way dismissive of “other” peoples.
December 2018 issue, Deadline November 10th, Theme: A Life of the Spirit
The BeZine is an entirely volunteer effort, a mission. It is not a paying market but neither does it charge submission or subscription fees.
Previously published work may be submitted IF you hold the copyright. Submissions from beginning and emerging artists as well as pro are encouraged and we have a special interest in getting more submissions of short stores, feature articles, music videos and art for consideration.
COMPETITIONS
Opportunity Knocks
I have no new competitions to report this week; however, if you check some recent Sunday Announcements, I think you’ll find some shared in the last few weeks are still open.
REMINDERS
The Poet by Day
WEDNESDAY WRITING PROMPT
Response deadline is Monday, September 24, at 8 p.m. Pacific. Poems are on theme are published on this site on Tuesday, the September 25. Details HERE.
AND DO VISIT US AT THE BeZINE ON SEPTEMBER 29 for our Virtual 100TPC with our world-class Master of Ceremonies, Michael Dickel (Meta / Phor (e) Play). If you are in Israel or going to be there for Sukot, please connect with Michael for 100TPC at Sukot.
KUDOS TO
DeWITT CLINTON for the publication toAt the End of War(Kelsay Books). DeWitt just sent me a copy and it’s stellar. Look or more on DeWitt [and other recently published poets] in upcoming posts. Meanwhile here’s what one reviewer said, “In DeWitt Clinton’s newest volume of poetry, he writes elegies to the past and present, poems that are lovely and compelling, but “always humble, always/ written in memory.” In sometimes long lyric-narratives, he interprets Biblical stories and honors the Holocaust, artists, and other poets, often in poems written in another’s voice, which allows readers another perspective. These are poems of searching and discovery, of consequences and coming-to-terms, of family, friendship, connections – some strong, some tentative. He writers, “Perhaps that’s all we can do – wonder and wonder some more.” Karla Huston, Wisconsin Poet Laureate 2017-2018
The Poet by Day always available online with poems, poets and writers, news and information.
The Poet by Day, Wednesday Writing Prompt, online every week (except for vacation) and all are invited to take part no matter the stage of career or status. Poems related to the challenge of the week (always theme based not form based) will be published here on the following Tuesday.
The Poet by Day, Sunday Announcements. Every week (except for vacation) opportunity knocks for poets and writers. Due to other weekend commitments, this post will often go up late.
THE BeZINE, Be Inspired, Be Creative, Be Peace, Be – always online HERE.
Beguine Again, daily inspiration and spiritual practice – always online HERE. Beguine Again is the sister site to The BeZine.
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:
send PDF to jamiededes@gmail.com (Note: I have a backlog of six or seven months, so at this writing I suggest you wait until June 2018 to forward anything.Thank you!)
nothing that foments hate or misunderstanding
nothing violent or encouraging of violence
English only, though Spanish is okay if accompanied by translation
your book or other product should be easy for readers to find through your site or other venues.
TO CONTACT ME WITH ANNOUNCEMENTS AND OTHER INFORMATION FOR THE POET BY DAY: thepoetbyday@gmail.com
TO CONTACT ME REGARDING SUBMISSIONS FOR THE BeZINE: bardogroup@gmail.com
PLEASE do not mix the communications between the two emails.
Often information is just that–information– and not necessarily recommendation. I haven’t worked with all the publications or other organizations featured in my regular Sunday Announcements or other announcements shared on this site. Awards and contests are often (generally) a means to generate income, publicity and marketing mailing lists for the host organizations, some of which are more reputable than others. I rarely attend events anymore. Caveat Emptor: Please be sure to verify information for yourself before submitting work, buying products, paying fees or attending events et al.
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 byNorthern 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.”
“So, you might ask, “What’s the big deal? Why is poetry so important?” Poetry is essential for children because it is “the best words in the best order.” The rhythm and rhymes can help children develop a love a language—and a love of reading. Once kids begin flexing their writing muscles, poetry can spark their creativity and let their imaginations soar!” Sharing the Power of Poetry with Your Child, J. Patrick Lewis, PBS Parents
Michael Rothenberg, co-founder of 100,000 Poets (and friends) for Change, has created a special initiative this year, “Read a Poem to a Child.”
Readers have asked for suggestions: Toward that end, I’m putting out this call for your recommendations of children’s collections, specific poems or the poems you’ve written for children. I’ll create a post with everything to be shared here and on The Bezine blog and include a link to your website, blog or Amazon page. So, let us know your recommendations and give us your link in the comments section below. Thank you!
Don’t forget to join us at The BeZine for our virtual 100TPC, September 29th.
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.
Thank you for sharing your love of words. Comments will appear after moderation.
Recent publications are anthologies resulting from online collaborations among two international groups of amateur and professional poets. One of these is The Grass Roots Poetry Group (Petrichor* Rising. The other group is d’Verse Poet Pub, in which John’s poetry also appears The d’Verse Anthology: Voices of Contemporary World Poetry, produced and edited by Frank Watson.
Jamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine 