Poetry for Life

I wanted to share this powerful piece to commemorate Veterans Day and honor all those who gave and risked their lives for our freedom. Thanks! Thanks By Yusef Komunyakaa, 1947 Thanks for the tree between me & a sniper’s bullet. I don’t know what made the grass sway seconds before the Viet Cong raised his soundless rifle. Some voice always followed, telling me which foot to put down first. Thanks for deflecting the ricochet against that anarchy of dusk. I was back in San Francisco wrapped up in a woman’s wild colors, causing some dark bird’s love call to be shattered by daylight when my hands reached up & pulled a branch away from my face. Thanks for the vague white flower that pointed to the gleaming metal reflecting how it is to be broken like mist over the grass, as we played some deadly game for blind gods. What made me spot the monarch writhing on a single thread tied to a farmer’s gate, holding the day together like an unfingered guita...

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month! As someone who has lost multiple family members to this and am at high risk for it myself, I think it is important to bring awareness.  We can fight against breast cancer and keep it from doing more damage by using our voices and sharing our experiences. Below you will find poetry from people who are impacted by breast cancer: Breast Cancer DIY : A section on the site who highlights poetry created by women with breast cancer, for women and men with breast cancer A Breast Cancer Story in Poems : A blog entry in the Huffington Post from a breast cancer survivor who tells her story through poems. We Carry: I Carry: Personal Stories through poetry from a breast cancer survivor and overcomer. Happy Poetry Reading! SSS

Happy Pride Month!!! If you are looking for ways to celebrate Pride Month and poetry at the same time you have come to the right place. You can start by checking out works by these famous LGBTQ poets - Walt Whitman Langston Hughes James Baldwin Alice Walker Emily Dickinson Georgia Douglas Johnson Oscar Wilde  Poets.org is also celebrating LGBTQ Pride Month by highlighting some excellent works of poetry by the LGBTQ community.  Click the link to check it out -  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/collections/144686/lgbtq-pride-poems Do you want to be speechless? Check out this link and read/listen to some LGBTQ poets whose powerful, heartfelt words about their own experiences will leave you without words - http://www.buzzfeed.com/skarlan/8-pieces-of-lgbt-spoken-word-poetry-that-will-leave-you-spee#.tmW884r5YW . Be ready some it can be viewed as controversial. Happy Poetry Reading (Listening and Watching)! SSS

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. As you may or may not know, poetry can be very healing especially for those who are mentally ill. As Anne Sexton stated--  "Poetry led me by the hand out of madness."   Mental illness can also be a source of brilliance and creativity. Edgar Allan Poe reminds of this in his quote about himself -- " Men have called me mad but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence" . Many poets' writing has been shaped by their mental illness.  Let us honor those pioneers --Sylvia Plath, Lord Byron, Edgar Allan Poe, John Keats and Emily Dickinson. Don't forget to remember those who are suffering and honor them with your time and effort this month! Here is a video from Yashi Brown, a poet and mental health advocate educating and helping to break the stigma of mental illness. Your pensive poet! SSS