Category: https://www.facebook.com/carolyn.oconnell

Some Mothers’ Hearts Have Stopped

Jamie Dedes's avatarJamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine

Some mothers’ children stare unseeing
No sweet, wet baby kisses from blistered lips,

. . . . songs unsung

No wedding portraits to dust and treasure
No graduations or trips to the sea

. . . . just their bodies to bury

crushed
beaten
stilled

by the engine of nihilism

Limbs cracked and broken, bellies torn
Faces purpled, hearts stopped

Hearts stopped …
. . . . hearts stopped

Some mothers’ hearts have stopped

Some mother's children Some mothers’ children

© 2015, poem, Jamie Dedes, All rights reserved; photograph of some mothers’ children killed in the Syrian Civil War, Ghouta massacre/uploaded by Bkwillwm to Wikipedia under CC BY 3.0 license (I believe it may be a screen shot from a news video)

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What have we done that people can pick up weapons and kill?

This is a wonderful article

Jamie Dedes's avatarJamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine

Dan and I as kids and probably the last time he was shorter than I. He stands 6'5' and I stand 5'2". Dan and I as kids and probably the last time he was shorter than I am. He stands 6’5″ and I am 5’2″.

With all its faults – and there are many – Facebook can be a blessing. I haven’t seen my cousin Dan in about fifty years. I lost track of him, but was much delighted to find him again on Facebook last March. 

Dan and I were raised in the United States, but our family was from Lebanon. Our mothers were sisters. Our religious roots are Melchite (our grandfather’s side) and Maronite (our grandmother’s side).

My mother, Zabaida, used to tell me that in Lebanon first cousins were like brothers and sisters. Among other things this was one way she tried to understand what people meant when they talked or wrote about Jesus having brothers. I understood it as my relationship to my cousins, especially cousins Daniel and Christopher, who were brothers…

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The reason for using epigraphs

angelatopping's avatarAngela Topping

210110

An epigraph is a short quotation which is placed between the poem and its title. I have heard people wonder aloud about why poets do this, and some people even think it is there to show off how erudite the poet is.

In fact, the reason most of them are there is because of the following reasons:

  1. A way to acknowledge an inspiration or influence
  2. A way of demonstrating openness about the origin of a particular line
  3. Showing the reader some of the thinking process behind the poem
  4. Sharing a pithy quotation which sums up the poem – or in some cases, the whole collection

I’d be interested to hear from other poets their reasons for using epigraphs too, so drop a comment if you can add to my list.

I want to share one of my own poems which has an epigraph, to demonstrate what I mean:

Pomegranate

For…

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No kidding: The Adventure of a Lifetime, “Book Club” (the movie)

Jamie Dedes's avatarJamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine

60627688

Sometimes joy is as simple as finding a film that doesn’t involve violence and murder. In the midst of a world that is suffering pain and loss in every nook and cranny, I found a wonderful documentary film,BOOK CLUB: The Adventure of a Lifetime.  It’s about a group of women living in the Washington, D.C. area. They formed a book club that was still active as of 2009, the year the film was released, making it sixty-two years old. That’s longer than many marriages last, longer than some people live.

Watching this charming film is like opening a time-capsule. There are early references to WWI and the Great Depression. There is the club’s history through the pre-war years, WWII, the post-war ’50s, Kennedy’s assassination and the ’60s, and on it goes into the last decade.

Book Club travels from the weighty tomes the women read initially to “improve our minds” when…

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Horseman of Destruction

These Janissaries have up-ended their cauldrons
broken their contract with Islam
sided with Staten rides in his army
beside the angels, fallen from light.

Hung with explosives, brandishing automatics
they slide into unsuspecting cities
cutting down innocent people unmindful
of their race, religion, sex or creed,

sitting in cafes, shopping , watching football
or inside venues listening to music;
young or old, rich or poor nobody is spared.

While they glory in violation of cities
culture, women and. children
creating rubble, refugees flying from them

to countries and cities we know and. love.
These Janissaries follow preaching their fables
to callow boys seeking adventure
they fall for the story.

Donning their raiment they aspire glory
killing the children of innocent people
Parisians, Spanish, English it doesn’t matter
what their race, religion age, sex or ethnicity.

Above us all Allah, God, uncaring of titles

WEEPS.

Carolyn O’Connell
November 2015

reubenwoolley's avatarI am not a silent poet

These Janniseries have up-ended their cauldron”s
broken their contract with Islam
sided with Staten rides in his army
beside the angels, fallen from light.

Hung with explosives, brandishing automatics
they slide into unsuspecting cities
cutting down innocent people unminfull
of their race, religion, sex or race,

sitting in cafes,shopping , watching football
or inside venues listening to music;
young or old, rich or poor nobody is spared.

While they glory in violation of cities
culture, women and. children
creating rubble, refugees flying from them

to countries and cities we know and. love.
These Janniseries follow preaching their fables
to callow boys seeking adventure
they fall for the story .

Donning their rament they aspire glory
killing the children of innocent people
Parisians, Spanish, English it doesn’t matter
what their race, religion age , sex or ethnicity

Above us all Allah, God, uncaring of. titles

WEEPS.

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