A Bewitching Poem and three news items

 

By chance I discovered a stunning poem by a poet I had never before heard of. Toe Good Poetry which published one of my poems, “Parable of the Stupid Man,” not long ago, has featured Michaela A. Gabriel. Read the poem, listen to her reading. She’ll make you gasp for air!

NEWS ITEMS: Edward Snowden, Bradley Manning, and Stop Prawer Plan – the first two have been covered by various mainstream and independent media while the last one should be. 

I hope to write a poem for each item. Some day. Perhaps they won’t be as good as what Michaela A. Gabriel might write, but I’ll try anyway. 🙂

It isn’t true that history will teach us nothing

This article is worth reading. Not for the revisionists.

Chronology of the Marcos plunder

A stray kitty

One day I’ll write about Caspian, the kitten who strayed into our property close to Christmas.

For now, here’s a very early photo of him. Not sure if he was trying to say THANK YOU for saving him from being stuck on a wire gate. But I’m using the photo to say THANK YOU to those who read my poem and maybe even voted HERE. See yesterday’s post if you have no idea what I’m talking about.

I’m not sure when voting ends. If you can still vote, then great. 🙂

Maraming salamat.

Someone thought this baby has something special

In an earlier post I mentioned a poem that I didn’t expect would get noticed. Got a nice surprise this morning.

The current judges of the Goodreads.com Monthly Poetry! competition thought my poem has something special enough to be chosen as a finalist for the August Newsletter. It isn’t the biggest charmer among those chosen, but it’s got a lot going for it.

Donning my salesman’s hat here – all ragged and out of shape. 🙂

First, this poem has an unusual title: End of 2010: Another Science Fiction Year has Come and Gone. Now, how many poems do you know can pull off that kind of title and still expect to be liked? hahahaha… almost falling off my chair here.

I’m not going to tell you that the other poems are not as good. Much of poetry comes down to taste. But if you want more than just a passing oooh and aaah, something that deals with more than just the pretty and easy, something that will make you stop for a moment and won’t let you slide back into the groove of the day, maybe you want to give this poem a chance.

If you do like it – odd as that may sound – please sign up with Goodreads.com and the Poetry! group in order to vote for it. And tell others. Or at least tell me here. One day the poem might end up in a future collection tentatively titled SKY FOR SILENT WINGS.

Had my fun. Thanks for reading this. Oh, that cat is our stray Caspian. He has nothing to do with the poem. He’s there to attract readers.   😛  Or scare them.

An Updated Entry and a Ramble

The five poems of mine which appeared in the online Middle East Monitor needed links updates, so I might as well mention it here.  I hope the poems are still worth reading, years after they were written.

Now the ramble…

When I arrived here in Cape Town I worked briefly for a small company (mother and daughter owners) teaching little kids how to use the computer. It was an odd experience, but one of the many things I clearly remember was this strange sensation when I was referred to as someone who had come from “the Far East” – a phrase I’d never thought of.

For me, “the East” was not far at all. It’s home! And then if you really think about it, there is no East or West or North or South when you look at the globe. It’s a sphere and wherever you turn and keep going, you’ll end up just going round and round without reaching East, West, North, or South!

End of ramble. End of silly ramble.

A poem that took years

It used to take me a few minutes to write a poem. More recently I find myself going back to a poem from many years ago and reworking it until I find a point of satisfaction… or is that exhaustion? The monthly poetry contest at Goodreads.com has picked my work a number of times, one of them even won (AUDIO RECORDING LINK).

This month I entered something which I started writing in December 2010 but just “finished” a few weeks ago. It is post 296 near the end of page 6 on THIS LINK. Apparently it has a “local” flavor… meaning what, I wonder. hahaha. I appreciate any feedback or critique – as always. Maybe it needs more mending.

Thanks.

Port Jackson willow. photo from wikipedia.org

My poem is called “End of 2010: Another Science Fiction Year has Come and Gone“

How to Orchestrate Madness

When violence is the only way to stay in power, it reflects utter weakness.

More disturbing news regarding Egypt, Israel and Gaza.

Article from MIDDLE EAST MONITOR

Another poem finds a home

Here’s some good news. Often when one sends out a poem to a publication there is a huge chance it will get lost if not outright rejected. Well sometimes one gets lucky. I wrote about such an event – small as it may be – in my blog for Alien to Any Skin.

HERE IS THE LINK.

Do Something

I am copy-pasting the following from Avaaz’s call for action. Please do read it and sign – and do more if you can.

-o-

Most people didn’t know who the Rwandans were until it was too late, and 800,000 of them were dead. Right now, the fate of Burma’s Rohingya people is hanging by a thread. Racist thugs have distributed leaflets threatening to wipe out this small Burmese minority. Already children have been hacked to death and unspeakable murders committed. All signs are pointing to a coming horror, unless we act.

Genocides happen because we don’t get concerned enough until the crime is committed. The Rohingya are a peaceful and very poor people. They’re hated because their skin is darker and the majority fear they’re ‘taking jobs away’. There are 800,000 of them, and they could be gone if we don’t act. We’ve failed too many peoples, let’s not fail the Rohingya.

Burmese President Thein Sein has the power, personnel and resources to protect the Rohingya, all he has to do is give the word to make it happen. In days, he’ll arrive in Europe to sell his country’s new openness to trade. If EU leaders greet him with a strong request to protect the Rohingya, he’s likely to do it. Let’s get 1 million voices and plaster images of what’s happening in Burma outside his meetings with key EU heads of state.