Poetic Reflections Week 10-A Special Guest

Terrell Dunnum is a school teacher and an ordained minister. At the age of twelve he began to teach Sunday school and help his mother prepare for her missionary license. Terrell’s unique message is one that has inspired, educated, and challenged individuals of all ages in making life changing choices.

At the age of 18, Terrell Dunnum’s mother died from an aneurism and a year later his father died from a coronary heart failure. Finding it difficult to continue with life and questioning God about the traumatic events left Terrell in a confused and depressed state. Terrell graduated from High School and continued through college receiving a bachelor’s degree in education through the help and encouragement of his older sibling,

Terrell says,” it was not easy, but I had to let go of the past, and learn to trust God in ways that my intellectual mind could not understand.” Through prayer and fasting, Terrell began to witness the miraculous effects of forgiveness and faith. Terrell later received his master’s degree in Christian Counseling from the American Bible College and Seminary.

Terrell Dunnum now encourages others as a motivational speaker. He has a gift to touch the hearts and minds of individuals struggling with identity crisis and relational barriers. He has helped thousands of young men and women find true meaning and purpose in life. He is the founder of Total Freedom Ministries Inc., a non-profit organization that provides mentoring, biblical counseling, and basic life skills to troubled youths and families.

The

Link to photo on web (http://whilethereisstilltime.com/about-the-author.html):

About While There is Still Time

God always sends messengers to warn his people before a special event. He sent Noah before the flood. He sent angels before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. He send John the Baptist before the arrival of Jesus Christ.

In the same way God spoke to Noah and John the Baptist, he has spoken to Terrell Dunnum. Terrell had released the Lord’s messages into a book of poetry that will bring hope and healing to all who read it.

While There is Still Time is filled with poetry that is enjoyable both for its messages and its unique rhythms and rhymes. The poetry in While There is Still Time will touch all people, whether saved or unsaved. The lost will be drawn back to God, the weak in faith will be strengthened, and all readers will find encouragement and inspiration.

You can visit the website: www.WhileThereisStillTime.com

An interview for Jingle Poetry at The Gooseberry Garden

  

http://gooseberrygoespoetic.blogspot.com/

Tell us about yourself.

First of all I would like to say, thank you for having me as a guest. I am an author, teacher and inspirational speaker. I have a master’s degree in Christian Counseling from American Bible College and Seminary and find it an honor to hold workshops that help facilitate inner emotional healing. I began reading the bible at the age of twelve and continued throughout my adult years. As an adult I became determined in finding ways to press in to the presence of God. The book, While There Is Still Time is a result of that determination.

Tell me about your book, the name, what does it mean to you?

While There Is Still Time is a book of prophecy revealed through poetry. It is a book that connects the reader to the heart of God. The title conveys a message of hope. It also brings a reminder of the promises of God while urging the reader to make life abundant choices.

When did you start writing your book and what gave you the idea?  

I started writing While There Is Still Time a year and a half ago. The book is the result of a conversational experience I had with the Lord God Almighty. It was a Sunday morning in mid March. I was awaked by gentle yet powerful voice within that seemed to resonate from the throne of God. Grabbing paper and pencil, I began to  jot down messages as quickly as they through the spirit of my soul. Over the period of one week, three to five poems where written given through the wonderful inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Your first poem? Remember?

 The first poem I ever wrote was a poem written and given to Sharon Draper based on the book Copper Sun. The poem was titled, The Sunset Within. It was a poem about finding strength, love, and hope.

What are your writing inspirations?

Having the opportunity to encourage someone who has given up is so rewarding. To share words of life that have the ability to bring freedom to one’s soul is more than words can convey. We all must realize that our words living, whether spoken or written. They have the potential to transform life for centuries to come.

When did you start writing poetry? Do you write fiction as well?

I started writing skits and plays for high school students eleven years ago. While There Is Still Time is the first non-fictional book of prophetic poetry I have ever written. I feel it is important to share messages of love that compel us to look at our choices in life and make necessary changes.

Do you have a favorite author or poet?

One of my favorite authors is Sarah Young. She is the author of Jesus Calling.

Favorite quote?

..Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added. Mathew 6:33

What's your plan for your future writing? 

Seeking God’s face and tuning my ear to his life giving words of wisdom is my number one plan for the future. There are times in which we all get distracted or become sidetracked. My plan for the future is to always be pliable to the stream of life that flows from within.

Any advice to poets who wish to blog or write poetry?

Shoot for the stars. Never give up and keep the candle burning bright within your heart. The talent you have been given will help many as they travel the journey of life. Use your faith to strengthen the wind against your sail. 

Poem of the week (10) - Longing and Loss

Happy Weekend Poetic Friends.I welcome you all to the Poem of the Week for this week's theme Life, Loss,  Loosing, and Failures.I read many wonderful poems from talented writers and one which had my attention more was Free withing these walls.Ah! The title has so much meaning and so I read the poem which was more deeper in meaning.For those who are wondering , I am talking about Roughwaterjohn poems :)

I think it was a personal poem for Sara and since he had his linked his poem here for poetry potluck to select ,now this is here.

The poetry was overall touching and poignant and deserved to be here today


Free within these walls....

Free to fly, though kept within, the walls of those who cling,
Spirit swells, as heart burns bright, her thoughts as bird will sing.
Gaze from glass of ‘prisoned walls, she thinks and plans her day,
Words that wound she will not say, though here she may not stay.

Though loves her spirit free and bright, yet he clings too tight,
With clutch of need and grasp of doubt, still she will not fight.
For bright the light that burns within, this aged soul in youth,
Wisdom deep and heart most kind, helps deal with those uncouth.

She shares with those who share her light, but never undermines,
This need he has though clinging tight, she reads her loves dark signs.
Dark with doubt but not with pain, he fears his thoughts, not hers,
Wiser than the one who clings, her words and thoughts assures.

She views the world through curtained life, looks out on friends afar,
Though sky seems dark with lack of light, she finds a distant star.
Its light reflects the light within, she knows she need not stay,
She plays her part, still loves the one, who’s deeds have writ this play.

-Copyrighted to Roughwaterjohn

About Me:

I am Umamaheswari Anandane ,the owner of Inside My Poem Book and Perpetual Mind , feels honored to be a part of the Jingle poetry reading and selecting poems from amazing writers everywhere.

Cheers!

Lets encourage each other and grow together !

Uma @ (http://umaspoembook.blogspot.com/) 

Friday Blog Review - Morning - Week 10

Today I came across a blog called Morning. The blog looks very crisp and clean and is easy to navigate. The author of the blog goes by Morning, but that is all I can find about the author, other than her amazing stories and poems that she posts on her blog.

One of the stories on her blog is called “A Short Story in 55 Words.” It is a very poetic style story and flows very nicely. The picture that accompanies makes it feel all the more real. The emotions and events captured in such a small amount of words is honestly amazing.

Morning writes lots of different of styles of poems and stories on her blog, and from the looks of it she participates in lots of different story and poem events on the web. One of these being Magpie Tales which she made a brilliant piece for.

Morning has had her blog up since October 2010 and has only gotten better since. I hope to see more of her writing soon and I suggest her blog to anyone looking for an interesting and brilliant read.

~Robin Elizabeth (Write.It)

Thursday Poetry Forms (Poetry for Dummies) Week 10

Can you believe it? We've already been doing this for ten whole weeks! So welcome back to The Gooseberry Garden where once again CC Champagne, along with the brilliant Ava, for your Thursday delectation attempts to unravel the tangled web of poetry forms and, hopefully, provide some inspiration along the way.

You probably know by now that I have a major pet peeve, namely what I call poetry-speak. I have already raved about syllables, tried to dissect a bit of free verse and lauded Ava for, among other things, her easy straight forward explanation of iambic pentameter and haikus, but as I've been skipping around the blogosphere I am almost worried about the fact that I am, slowly, starting to understand poetry-speak and their related poetry forms, and I am also starting to enjoy researching these posts.

Many poetry forms do have foreign sounding names like Ghazal, Sestina or Roundelet (we will surely return to all of these and more in the upcoming weeks) and when you start trying to figure out what they want you to do to write one, the explanation frequently starts something along the lines of 'This is a form written in anapestic pentameter...' Ana-who? Penta-what? Adhering to poetry forms is, unfortunately, not only about learning how to count syllables or finding interesting rhymes, you need to understand a bit of Greek to be able to get familiar with them. Needless to say, I don't speak Greek, and therefore I would like to focus on metrical feet this week. I have found that, for me at least, this is the Greek word part that usually puts me off poetry forms the most.

We all use metrical feet, whether we are aware of it or not, and it doesn't matter if you live in a country that still uses imperial measurements or one who has kept up with evolution and now uses the metric system. Metrical feet are what provides rhythm to the words, how they are stressed when we say them. Ava already brought up one of them in her post on iambic pentameter, where she compared the iambic foot to the beating of a heart. Simple and brilliant! So what these little Greek words are telling us is where the poet intended us to stress the word used in his poetry!

Wikipedia provides a list of some 28 various metric feet (and links to even more in their external links section), but I thought I might settle for a quick run-through of the most common ones, along with some famous examples.

Iamb - Two beats (two syllables) where the stress is on the first syllable (TA-dum), think of your heart beating. A poem that uses this metric foot would be Lewis Carroll in the wonderful poem Jabberwocky (featured earlier in the week at d'Verse Poets Pub):

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.

If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Since Carroll used non-sensical language, no one would have known how to read this poem if there hadn't been a cheat-sheet in the form of a metrical foot to go by!

Trochee (or Choree) - Two beats (two syllables) where the stress is on the second syllable (ta-DUM). As an example I get to mention the Master himself, William Shakespeare, and the unforgettable opening scene of Macbeth:

Double, double, toil and trouble;

Fire burn and cauldron bubble!

Not all of Macbeth is written in trochaic meter though, but I really just love this example!

Spondee - Two beats (two syllables) with equal stress (DUM-DUM or ta-ta). Unless you write a poem about a robot speaking in a monotone, un-stressed voice, it would be silly to expect a whole poem to be in this metric foot and the reason I mention it is that it is a good 'filler-device' that helps mix up the rhythms of other feet (often anapests).

Anapest - Three beats (three syllables) where the stress is on the last syllable (ta-ta-DUM). An example would be the poem which, according to Wikipedia, is 'arguably the best known verses ever written by an American' and has been attributed to both Clement Clarke Moore and Henry Livingstone Jr, namely A Visit from St. Nicholas:

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house...

Dactyl - Three beats (three syllables) where the stress is on the first syllable (DUM-ta-ta). An example of this metrical form would be the poem Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

This is the forest primeval. The

murmuring pines and the

hem locks.

The last line, the words 'hem locks' are in fact a spondee rather than a dactyl. The rhythm of the dactyl is the same as that of the waltz and the complete opposite of the anapest mentioned above.

There are many, many more of these but, though I don't know about you, I am starting to see Greek words and metrical feet dance like little spots before my eyes now and will therefore call it quits for this brief summary. If you have any comments (or if I have screwed this up), feel free to make a comment and I will answer as best I can.

I am sure that if you look through your poetry you will now be able to recognise some of these in the rhythm of the words you have already written as you may in what you write in the future. The most important thing is that the metrical feet can help you express how you want your poem read by others. A poem you have felt, and written, in one metrical foot (say using anapests) might not flow as well if someone reads it assuming it is in another (for example dactyls). This is your chance to point out how the words sound in your head and I know from personal experience that this doesn't always translate well to paper.

If you feel like sharing some of your poetry, whether you know the metrical foot/feet of it or not, why not join the fabulously creative souls over at the Poetry Picnic where we also say good-bye to the inspirational Shashi this week, or fill up your poetic race car and join in this week's Poetry Rally? Next week Ava will be back with more from the exciting world of poetry forms!

*cheers*

Poetry Picnic Week 9 : Longing, Loss, Loosing and Failure

My friends, I am Shashi and the host for the 9th week of creativity and enjoyment at The Gooseberry Garden for Poetry Picnic WK 9. This is going to be my last week of hosting and I am sure, next week you will have someone far better than me to host this Picnic at Gooseberry Garden.

It was great week to really read most of the posting’s this time as I was able to take out time to do that. And what I realized is that we have great talent among our selves... and I must congratulate all of you. This week is again going to be very great as we are going to talk about and share an interesting topic i.e. ‘Longing, Loss, Loosing and failure’

But before that let me tell you what we are going to do next week...

Well next week will be choice of the new host to decide about the topic so I will leave it open, may be if I can suggest, how about “Nature: Forest, Rivers & Mountains”

Now coming back to our topic this week....

POETRY PICNIC WK 9: Longing, Loss, Loosing and Failures

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson

As early as 1891, William Dean Howells wrote that "If nothing else had come out of our life but this strange poetry, we should feel that in the work of Emily Dickinson, America, or New England rather, had made a distinctive addition to the literature of the world, and could not be left out of any record of it"

EXULTATION IS THE GOING
__________________
Exultation is the going
Of an inland soul to sea,
Past the houses -- past the headlands --
Into deep Eternity --

Bred as we, among the mountains,
Can the sailor understand
The divine intoxication
Of the first league out from land?
___________________________
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
(December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886)

Emily was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life. Thought of as an eccentric by the locals, she became known for her penchant for white clothing and her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, even leave her room. Most of her friendships were therefore carried out by correspondence.

Seeking literary guidance that no one close to her could provide, Dickinson sent Thomas Wentworth Higginson a letter in 1862 which read in full...

"Mr Higginson, Are you too deeply occupied to say if my Verse is alive? The Mind is so near itself – it cannot see, distinctly – and I have none to ask – Should you think it breathed – and had you the leisure to tell me, I should feel quick gratitude – If I make the mistake – that you dared to tell me – would give me sincerer honor – toward you – I enclose my name – asking you, if you please – Sir – to tell me what is true?
That you will not betray me – it is needless to ask – since Honor is it's [sic] own pawn –"

Dickinson valued his advice, going from calling him "Mr. Higginson" to "Dear friend" as well as signing her letters, "Your Gnome" and "Your Scholar". His interest in her work certainly provided great moral support; many years later, Dickinson told Higginson that he had saved her life in 1862.
_________
Text and Image source :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Dickinson

Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Maud: A mono drama was written in July 1855 and reviewers were alarmed by the hysteria and morbidity of central character that they sneeringly called it Mad or Mud. But it was a huge financial success.

One evening after publication of Maud, while staying with Brownings, Tennyson drank TWO bottles of port and became disconsolate about the poem's critical reception and his virtual neglect before 1842. In a bid to distract him, Elizabeth Browning, urged him to read Maud aloud to them, which he happily obliged with tremendous vigor and tears running down his cheeks...

FROM MAUD
Part 1 Section XI
__________________
O let the solid ground
Not fail beneath my feet
Before my life has found
What some have found so sweet;
Then let come what come may,
What matter if I go mad,
I shall have had my day.


Let the sweet heavens endure,
Not close and darken above me
Before I am quite sure
That there is one to love me;
Then let come what come may
To a life that has been so sad,
I shall have had my day.
______________________
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
(Aug 6, 1809 - Oct 6, 1892)

ॐ नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya

Thanks for joining us to support poetry, poetry promotion, and poetry sharing here at The Gooseberry Garden Monday Poetry Picnic!!!

How To submit your poetry?

Add your entry via InLinkz below by clicking on the blue button, and leave a comment in case it is your first time! It would be great if you could link back to us on your blog.

Weekly poetry collection starts on Sunday, 8pm (CDT), and will stay open till Wednesday, 8pm (CDT), 72 hours for you to share your poetry with us...

Please share your poetry, comment below and read some very talented artists and have fun! 

______

Shashi 
ॐ नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya