Category Archives: Poetry; Solitude

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Anthology of Poems: THE POETIC BOND VII

“THE POETIC BOND VII”

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Publication 17 NOV 17

Willowdown Books present poetry by

Jane Johann

Layers of Being : The Lone Star :

sometimes dark doesn’t move

Her poems will appear in the international poetry anthology, THE POETIC BOND VII; ISBN-13: 978-1978098039, ISBN-10: 1978098030 

 

Biography, Jane Johann (Wisconsin, USA)

Jane Johann, a Wisconsin native, published in the anthology, “Slices of Life”, and blogger on WordPress: she invites you to read more of her poems at FootprintsofThoughts@wordpress.com.

 

Summary Review of her work included in The Poetic Bond VII

 

“Layers of Being – Indeed a poem of many layers, exploring what it is to be human”

“The Lone Star – This seasonal evocation of autumn places man firmly within nature … a  well-structured and well-written piece.”

“sometimes the dark doesn’t move – Precisely structured, short piece with a big message.  The non-moving dark is a strong metaphor for the social funk many of us find ourselves within.”

 

(Trevor Maynard and the editorial Team, The Poetic Bond Series)

The Poetic Bond VII  

POETRY THAT BINDS, POETRY THAT BONDS   POETRY THAT FREES US

Editors’ Notes

  1.  50 poets from 11 countries were selected through a submission process in which there were no restrictions on form, style, length of subject; instead the choices made were on the basis of emergent themes and congruency in the pool of work; a snapshot of the poetry of new media NOW, seeking to capture the zeitgeist of the moment.

 

  1. FOR A PDF PRESS COPY OF THE POETIC BOND VII, contact Trevor Maynard at poetry@trevormaynard.com on 0 44 7966 079968 or by snail mail at Willowdown Books, 105 Crockford Park Road, Addletone, Surrey, UK, KT15 2LP

 

  1. Trevor Maynard, UK based poet and writer, manager of Poetry, Review and Discuss Group, a major poetry group on LinkedIn.  His new poetry collection is GREY SUN, DARK MOON was published September 14 2015).  He is also the author of several plays.  Further information at http://www.trevormaynard.com

 

  1. The Poets of The POETIC BOND VI (2016) are; Amber Jimenez-Flores (US)/ Annel Bell Martin (US)/ A.D. Fallon (US)/ Belinda DuPret (UK), Betty Bleen (US) / Melissa Bird (UK)/ Diane Burrow (UK) / CE Maynard (UK)/ Christine Anderes (US), Cigeng Zhang (China) / Darrell Wright (US) / Deborah Nyamekye (Ghana/UK) / Denisa Parsons (US) , Elaine Battersby (UK)/ Fiona Sullivan (UK) / Bon (Bonnie) Flach (US) / Flavia Cosma (Canada) ,Gilbert A.Franke (US) / Kelli Gunn (Canada) / Pamela Hope Deluca Price (US) / Jane Johann (US) ,Joseph J.Simmons US) / Karen Henneberry (Canada) / Karen Rothstein (US) / Kayla Matheson (US) Sajida Khan (UK) / Lee Landau (US) / Lexene Burns (Australia) /  Madeline Lipton (US) ,Lizzie La Pool (UK) / Tatjana Lončarec (Croatia) / Low Kwai Chee (Malaysia)/ Marcia Weber (UK)  Mariangela Canzi (Italy) / Marie Youssefirad (US) / Mustofa Munir (US) / Nancy Scott (US) ,Pedro Cunha (Portugal) / Richard Glen Smith (US) / Robin Ouzman Hislop (UK/Spain) / Joseph Sinclair (UK) / Suzanne Askham (UK) / Nana Tokatli (Greece) / Tom Sterner-Howe (US)/ Vensa Arsenic (US) Brian Walker (UK)/ William DiBenedetto (US) / Vi De Vries (Canada) / Lynne Zotalis (US)
  2. The submission for The Poetic Bond VIII opens March 31st, 2018

 

PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE

The Poetic BondTM
The Poetic Bond VII

The Poetic Bond Poets’ Choice Award Winners’ 2017, are Betty Bleen, Flavia Cosma, and Fiona Sullivan

The Poetic Bond VII is now available, $19.99 / £14.99, on Amazon Prime

The Poetic Bond I – VI available for $12.99/£9.99
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Candle in the Window

“Christmas Candle”
Photo Credit©Jane Johann, Dec.2017

My friend, Bette, and her husband Rick, are two very kind people that have blessed my life and I am sure, they have also been a blessing to countless others. Both were teachers, so their giving touched many young lives through the years. This past Christmas, Bette shared a story that happened at their home on Christmas Eve.

As was her custom, Bette had put a lighted candle in the window. It was a tradition she said she had experienced in her past as a young person, and each Christmas, she continued the tradition.  The lit candle served as a sign to passersby, that if they were in need, they could knock on her door and she and Rick would be of help to them.

This particular Christmas Eve did bring a knock to their door.  A young man and his son had veered off the country road and into a ditch that was filled with Wisconsin snow. They asked if they could borrow a shovel.  Of course, Bette and her husband, Rick, gave them a shovel and a flashlight to help them out. While they were outside digging their car out, Bette and Rick prepared a Christmas Box for the two travelers. They had received an abundant supply of grapefruit and oranges from Florida as a Christmas gift and they decided to share the fruit with the father and his son.

How wonderful that the lit candle brought the travelers to a safe place in our weary world. How wonderful that generous and caring people still live among us. How wonderful that a beautiful tradition of being available to help someone in need when a lit candle in the window leads the way!

le Caoimhghín Ó Brolcháin

1. Scuab an t-urlár agus glan an teallach,
‘s coimead na grísaigh beo,
Ar eagla go dtiocfhaidh siad anocht,
Agus an domhan ‘na chodladh go suan!

 Traditional

Brush the floor and clean the hearth,
And set the fire to keep,
For they might visit us tonight
When all the world’s asleep!
2. Ná múch an coinneal ard bán,
Ach fág é lásta go geal .
Go mbeidh siad cinnte ar aon
go bhfuil fáilte is fiche roimh cách
Sa teach ar an Oiche Nollag naofa seo!		 Don’t blow the tall white candle out
But leave it burning bright,
So that they’ll know they’re welcome here
This holy Christmas night!

SOURCE:  http://irishpage.com/noel/Kerynoel.html

The Irish tradition of placing a lit candle by a window at Christmas time seems to have originated in Ireland. Although, it is also a traditional German custom, as well, dating back to the time of  Martin Luther. Historically, it seems to have begun in the 17th Century in Ireland when the Penal Laws of Ireland were in place. Catholics were forbidden to gather in Churches for Mass and the priests had to hide or be killed. As a result, Catholics had to devise a signal for the priest that he would be welcomed into their home to say Mass. The signal was a lit candle in the window. The government became a bit suspicious with all the candlelit windows so the people simply said it was in response to the Christmas Story that tells about Joseph and Mary looking for shelter for themselves and their child that was about to be born, Jesus.  The tradition, even to this day, emphasizes the hospitality of the Irish people, who are known for their welcoming spirit to a friend, to those who pass by or to those in need.

 

Other Interesting Sites about “A Candle in the Window”

http://www.celticchristmasmusic.com/christmas-traditions/candle-in-window-laden-table-in-ireland.htm

http://www.amishnews.com/featurearticles/germanchristmas.htm

http://thewildgeese.irish/profiles/blogs/the-irish-christmas-candle-in-the-window

 

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Wordless Wednesday

Photo Credit
©Jane H. Johann
“Winter Walking along Whatcom Creek in Bellingham, Washington”” 2015

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The Caterpillar said, “We can always begin again!”

“My Gentle Granddaughter Nadia with a Gentle Caterpillar at age 5”
Copyright
©Jane H. Johann, Palmyra, WI 2014

The Caterpillar

I watched the caterpillar move confidently up the length of the stem, up and over and around and down again. She repeated her pattern from stem to stem. Suddenly, it found itself introverted –suspended upside down. As the blade of grass bent with the breeze, the caterpillar’s mind found itself in a spiral whirlwind, moving freshly into a new reality, a new awareness.

Yes, just like the caterpillar, we can never go back to where we once were. There is no back, only a forward movement. Each touch, each experience is similar in some way to what was previous but now with a different nuance, a different perspective. We are forever changed, evolving on the spiral staircase. Like the caterpillar, our life presents to us new opportunities with each step forward. Each encounter brings something new to us, offering us a new choice, a new beginning!

Ever ending is a new beginning…

How beautiful is that! We can always begin again!

Monarch Caterpillar ©Jane H. Johann
Palmyra, WI 2016

 

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Important words to take into our hearts…

I, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations, ask you to understand an Indigenous perspective on what has happened in America, what we call “Turtle Island.” My words seek to unite the global community through a message from our sacred ceremonies to unite spiritually, each in our ways of beliefs in the Creator.

                                                                                                                                                                  We have been warned from ancient prophecies of these times we live in today, but have also been given a vital message about a solution to turn these terrible times.

To understand the depth of this message, you must recognize the importance of Sacred Sites and realize the interconnectedness of what is happening today, in the reflection of the continued massacres that are occurring on other lands and our own Americas.

I have been learning about these important issues since the age of 12 when I received the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle and its teachings. Our people have strived to protect Sacred Sites from the beginning of time. These places have been violated for centuries and have brought us to the predicament that we are in at the global level.

Look around you. Our Mother Earth is very ill from these violations, and we are on the brink of destroying the possibility of a healthy and nurturing survival for generations to come, our children’s children.

Our ancestors have been trying to protect our Sacred Site called the Sacred Black Hills of South Dakota, “Heart of Everything That Is,” from continued violations. Our ancestors never saw a satellite view of this site, but now that those pictures are available, we see that it is in the shape of a heart and, when fast-forwarded, it looks like a heart pumping.

The Diné have been protecting Big Mountain, calling it the liver of the earth, and we are suffering and going to suffer more from the extraction of the coal there and the poisoning processes used in doing so.

The Aborigines have warned of the contaminating effects of global warming on the Coral Reefs, which they see as Mother Earth’s blood purifier.

The indigenous people of the rainforest say that the rainforests are the lungs of the planet and need protection.

The Gwich’in Nation in Alaska has had to face oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, also known to the Gwich’in as “Where life begins.”

The coastal plain is the birthplace of many life forms of the animal nations. The death of these animal nations will destroy indigenous nations in this territory.

As these destructive developments continue all over the world, we will witness much more extinct animal, plant, and human nations, because of humankind’s misuse of power and their lack of understanding of the “balance of life.”

The Indigenous people warn that these negative developments will cause havoc globally. There are many, many more original teachings and knowledge about Mother Earth’s Sacred Sites, her chakras, and connections to our spirit that will surely affect our future generations.

There needs to be a fast move toward other forms of energy that are safe for all Nations upon Mother Earth. We need to understand the types of minds that are continuing to destroy the spirit of our whole global community. Unless we do this, the powers of destruction will overwhelm us.

Our Ancestors foretold that water would someday be for sale. This Prophecy was hard to believe! The water was plentiful, pure,  full of energy, nutrition, and spirit. Today we have to buy clean water, and even then the nutritional minerals have been taken out; it’s just clear liquid. Someday water will be like gold, too expensive to afford.

Not everyone will have the right to drink safe water. We fail to appreciate and honor our Sacred Sites, ripping out the minerals and gifts that lay underneath them as if Mother Earth were simply a resource, instead of the source of life itself.

Attacking nations and using more resources to carry out destruction in the name of peace is not the answer! We need to understand how all these decisions affect the global nation; we will not be immune to its repercussions. Allowing continual contamination of our food and land is affecting the way we think.

A “disease of the mind” has set in world leaders and many members of our global community, with their belief that a solution of retaliation and destruction of peoples will bring peace.

In our Prophecies it is told that we are now at the crossroads: Either unites spiritually as a global nation or faced with chaos, disasters, diseases, and tears from our relatives’ eyes.

We are the only species that is destroying the source of life, meaning Mother Earth, in the name of power, mineral resources, and ownership of land. Using chemicals and methods of warfare that are doing irreversible damage, as Mother Earth is becoming tired and cannot sustain any more impacts of war.

I ask you to join me in this endeavor. Our vision is for the peoples of all continents, regardless of their beliefs in the Creator, to come together as one at their Sacred Sites to pray and meditate and commune with one another, thus promoting an energy shift to heal our Mother Earth and achieve a universal consciousness toward attaining Peace.

As each day passes, I ask all nations to begin a global effort and remember to give thanks for the pure food that has been gifted to us by our Mother Earth, so the nutritional energy of medicine can be guided to heal our minds and spirits.

This new millennium will usher in an age of harmony, or it will bring the end of life as we know it. Starvation, war, and toxic waste have been the hallmark of the vast myth of progress and development that ruled the last millennium.

To us, as caretakers of the heart of Mother Earth falls the responsibility of turning back the powers of destruction. You are the one who must decide.

You alone – and only you – can make this crucial choice, to walk in honor or to dishonor your relatives. On your decision depends the fate of the entire World.

Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the future of humankind.

Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people in a time of such terrible danger?

Know that you are essential to this world. Understand both the blessing and the burden of that. You are desperately needed to save the soul of this world. Did you think you were put here for something less? In a Sacred Hoop of Life, there is no beginning and no ending.

 Chief Arvol Looking Horse is the author of White Buffalo Teachings. A tireless advocate of maintaining traditional spiritual practices, Chief Looking Horse is a member of Big Foot Riders, which memorializes the massacre of Big Foot’s band at Wounded Knee.
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the child at sea

Copyright
©Jane H. Johann
Lake Michigan No.2
Kenosha, WI
October, 2013

 

WHY do we destroy

the precious gifts we receive?

Children are not property

Children are gifts…don’t you see?

WHY do we destroy

the growing heart?

WHY don’t we give our children

a holy start?

For a brief time,

tenderly their precious lives are held in our hands

For a brief time

we breathe our words into  the tiny lambs

Then from us they take leave

Their delicate souls facing forward as they walk through life

Our words can build or destroy them–

Empower them to stand strong in the inevitable strife

How does a child turn from a loving being

to a person without control?

WHY do we cut the child apart

that was given to us whole?

Solomon’s tale rings true

in more ways than one

Turning one parent against the other

is always wrong and always done

Pure and innocent

quick-witted and giving

Snuffed out by an angry parent

is no way for living

 

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…Mom Used to Say

Copyright
©Jane H. Johann, Palmyra,1990
“Lara & Mom”

I was preparing breakfast this morning for the two of us who happen to be together for awhile–my youngest daughter and me.  The apartment is great for a married couple, but I am not too sure about a Mother and Daughter! (giggling) The bacon was frying, slowly sizzling, while I mixed the omelet. When I finished that, and the bacon was still frying, I washed some of the accumulated dishes. Then the flood of practicalities from my Mom came into my head, “Be sure to use a clean towel when you dry those dishes!” After all, with eleven children, my parents and Great Aunt Gerty many germs abounded!  I am sure we are all going to live to be a hundred years old and immune from nearly everything! (yes, I know, we have made ourselves too sterile to the point that we will die if we breathe!).

The thought of my Mother’s admonition and practicality for the day made me think, “How will our children hear our voices?”

Today, cell phone texting dominates family interactions, sad to say. Even when we go to a restaurant, TV’s surround the eating area at every angle, blaring away! Why? I thought going out to eat was a chance to speak and listen to each other.  When we are at home in our living rooms, the TV becomes the god, along with football. I would prefer not having a TV, or, at the very least, have it in another room–because it does not bring life to the living room!  Bring in laptops, I-pads, tablets, and computers to accompany our visits, and we no longer hear each other, let alone our parents.

All those little bits of wisdom–what is proper, what can be done, what should be done, how to behave, how to be kind–and, foremost, the personalities of our Moms, their caring voices, their worried thoughts, their encouragements–are embedded in our brains from the voice of our Moms.  And, I am happy I have them!  My Mom was in my life for 60 years–and now I am blessed to hear her voice in my thoughts.

Then my heart becomes sad…how will children remember what their Mom said or their Dad said?

How will they remember them?

Will their voices echo through the cell phone texts?

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Wordless Wednesday

“Ode to Mother Earth” Rocky Landscape near Wisconsin Dells, WI. Interstate-94. Between LaCrosse and Madison, WI.
Copyright
©Nadia Krenn; 2015.
Used with Permission

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History…Herstory…Our Story

“Light at the End of Cloud Trails”

I am posting the summary of what John Kelly, the Chief of Staff of the Trump Administration delivered to an audience last night, October 30, 2017.

I am posting it NOT because I accept anything that he says, but so that my readers can understand my words that follow.
SOURCE:  https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-chief-staff-john-kelly-defends-confederate-monuments-n815886

The following is the full transcript of Kelly’s remarks on the removal of Confederate statues:

Well, history’s history. And there are certain things in history that were not so good and other things that were very, very good.

I think we make a mistake, though, and as a society, and certainly as individuals, when we take what is today accepted as right and wrong and go back 100, 200, 300 years or more and say, ‘What Christopher Columbus did was wrong.’

You know, 500 years later, it’s inconceivable to me that you would take what we think now and apply it back then. I think it’s just very, very dangerous. I think it shows you just how much of a lack of appreciation of history and what history is.

I would tell you that Robert E. Lee was an honorable man. He was a man that gave up his country to fight for his state, which 150 years ago was more important than country. It was always loyalty to state first back in those days. Now it’s different today. But the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War, and men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand where their conscience had them make their stand.

A WOW of disbelief….but then WHY would I expect anything else to come from a racist, bigoted White House management team. I, for one, do think and believe that what Christopher Columbus and all the other explorers did to the Native people of the Americas were morally wrong! They wiped out civilizations for the same reason it is being done today!  Greed and power prompted them to practice genocide.  Give me a break! Since when has it ever been accepted as “right” to kill men, women, and children because they were or are of a different ethnic race or culture!  It was just as wrong and incorrect in 1492 as it is today in 2017! 
Kelly’s sentences appall me, “You know, 500 years later, it’s inconceivable to me that you would take what we think now and apply it back then. I think it’s just very, very dangerous.”  The danger is that he actually believes this! My goodness, isn’t that WHY we are taught history, so we do not repeat the same mistakes! Are we supposed to swallow what happened in the past and not consider the ramifications of such actions?  What planet does this man live on! He goes on to say,”I think it shows you just how much of a lack of appreciation of history and what history is. ( I question his sentence construction…but onward)  Seriously?  We should “appreciate” the shackling and servitude, the raping of women and young girls, by the forefathers of this country?  I can appreciate history without erecting statues to glorify the men who controlled the armies and enforced the immoral norms of society back then. I can appreciate the fact that I am glad to have learned the facts so that type of behavior does not continue (Unfortunately, it does, in so many ways in modern society).
His response to the Removal of the Confederate Statues: “I would tell you that Robert E. Lee was an honorable man. He was a man that gave up his country to fight for his state, which 150 years ago was more important than country. It was always loyalty to state first back in those days. Now it’s different today. But the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War, and men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand where their conscience had them make their stand.   AND just what kind of COMPROMISE would a person reach within a nation that subjected another race into slavery? It is 2017…and we still do not have equality in this country! And I am WHITE and I hear what comes out of people’s mouths every day…I read what is said by them…there is NO DOUBT in my mind that racism is alive and well in our country of equal rights. While I tend to have statues in my home, I would NEVER have a statue standing of someone who was hateful or killed people, erected in my home. WHY would I want a statue of an evil person gracing the land of my country? 
I just do not agree with the remarks of John Kelly. I think one could interpret his response in a number of ways. I can certainly understand there is NO need to perpetuate the ideology of slavery. Would you want a statue of Hitler in your backyard? For the Black American, from various sources that I have read, that is akin to how they feel about Confederate monuments and the plaques that extol the former leaders of our country.
 
I think we are expected to call into question what someone did in the past…and I certainly do hope that the future calls into question what we have done! Because much of what the USA has done is detrimental to the survival of people and of the entire planet in oh so many ways,
 
And,  no, I haven’t kept up on my reading of War Heroes or Leaders. I am sure General Robert E. Lee was a very knowledgeable man and most likely good to his own soldiers—but no man has the right to enslave another—and yes, it continues today. (Sex trafficking comes to mind here in this country)….and yes, it was in the Bible…and I do not condone what they did in the Biblical stories either! AND I do not believe that the Bible was dictated by God…but maybe Godtelepathy is stronger than I realize…LOL. As far as I know, it was mostly MEN who wrote the Bible,…perhaps they wrote it all…Out of balance! Men and women are called to be co-creators, regardless of race or creed. So no one should try to tell me that slavery is acceptable because we find it in the Bible!  That fact does not make me respect those people in the Bible who accepted it.  My understanding of the Bible is that God was faithful to His people. People were unfaithful to God—just like today—we forget to respect one another.
 
History is HIS STORY—-a story of war is always about killing…a murderous activity which would NOT have to take place if the respect and care of each person were important to all of us.
 
In conclusion, I think it is the morally correct action to take down the statues that in fact are praising those people who fought for the survival of slavery. I stand with the Americans who believe we are all equal and we need to have mutual respect for each other.