It's Later Than Planned - But Still April! Did You Know It's National Poetry Month?! Have you Ever Written Poetry? Wanna Share?

 

Learn all you need to know at

https://poets.org/national-poetry-month/dear-poet-2025

Hi Everybody! Yes, I know it is 10 days later than I planned to write about National Poetry Month! Let's just say, LIFE got in the way and leave it at that! I had mentioned this on Tumblr, so didn't want to bypass it this year even though I have for several years... But then, I had more access and awareness of those who wrote poetry...So, here's my invitation, would YOU like to share your poetry here???!!! Anytime this month, of course, but, really, any time you've written a new poem... I'd be happy to share it with my readers! So I was referred to YouTube by Poetry.Org, and got involved there quickly... And found the perfect poem for ME to share, don't you think? LOL Because, of course, reading in my older years is a MUST for me and I hope you all will acquire this love to keep learning, to keep remembering, to keep your mind active and growing...

This poem also spoke to me since I, too, write what is called by Alyjah and myself, responsive poetry (you can use these words for a search of this blog)... In fact, poetic words only come to me when I feel a response to another's words, although I know by what Alyjah has shared with us by video, that her words are more fluently written, more easily grasped, and, in fact, the writing of a writer, whether it be poetry or fiction or whatever. This young woman was born to write, while I was born to read, and only a few times respond poetically to somebody else's writing. 

This is a heartwarming story, in poetic form, that is so memorable that you may find it touching your own life in one way or another... To me, that is what God inspires to those He touches! 

This is just cute, short, and fun to listen to, but holds

a lot of meaning when you pause and listen closely,

don't you think?

And a Child Shall Lead Us...

I love the use of Poetry to share feelings...

It's nice to have a young man sharing poetry...

In fact, if you listen closely, you will see a maturity to his emotional feelings that perhaps are unusual for someone so young...This was impressive to me for a number of reasons!

And then there are poems that sound beautiful,

but leave you wanting to know what the meaning really was...

And then you read words that leave you wanting to learn what the speaker is trying to teach us...

Jesus said, “I stood at rest

 in the midst of the world.

 And unto them I was shown

 forth incarnate;

 I found them all intoxicated.

 And I found none of them thirsty.

 And my soul was pained

 for the children of humankind,

 for they are blind

 in their hearts

 and cannot see. 

For, empty did they enter the world,

 and again empty they seek

 to leave the world.

 But now they are intoxicated.

 When they shake off their wine

 then they will have

 a change of heart.”

--Keith Giles

 The Quantum Sayings of Jesus:

 Decoding the Lost Gospel of Thomas

And I wonder... If, after 2000+ years, we can not yet interpret the poetic words of Jesus Our Lord, Can we Ever Really Speak and Love our Neighbor?

I believe words presented in poetry are those whick need to be said, both by the author, as well as for the listener. If we cannot understand each other's attempts to share, Can we Really Believe that we know God and what His Truth Is?

I'm reading the Book of Thomas. Sometimes I understand, sometimes I blink and wonder what He means for us to learn... Many of those who write poetry are speaking their truth, trying to share what words choke them if they do not speak out...

Yet it is not a time to speak, is it? It is a time when Freedom of Speech is not tolerated except for those who attempt to control others by lying, cheating. and worse...

Words Matter...

Truth Matters

May Intoxication influencing any action, emotion or power not come between us as we seek to Know His Love and Truth...

When I first started learning how to read, I tended to take each word as I understood the meaning of that word--the literal meaning of a word is its original, basic meaning: The literal meaning of "television" is "seeing from a distance." But as I started reviewing books, my reading became more about the context of what was being said within the full scope of what the writer was presenting. That is, you will need to show more than just a literal understanding of the text. In other words, Literal Language means exactly what it says, while figurative language uses similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and personification to describe something often through comparison with something different. Remember your first reading book? It went something like this. Jack and Jill went up a hill.  A very simple sentence with each simple word that was understandable... Soon more words were added and they were bigger words that would be new as you read.... Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after... Now, did you know what crown meant when you first read this sentence? Of course not, because we think of a crown as being worn by a king or queen... Thus we each began to build our vocabulary...

Add to that is the fact that what we learn in, say, a small town, might be quite different than what we learn or say in a large city where many different peopl live... And, sometimes, you may have no idea what is meant by somebody else who you just met in the city!

But no matter what you learn, how you use those words will still be uniquely yours and may or may not be totally understood by a listener. Personally, I think that poetry helps in that situation... For instance, if I repeated the first poem above, I could probably relate--boy and girl breaks up; girls is upset when she gets what she considers a "dumb" (my word) poem of apology, which she says was not really an apology. If I use these words to share the poem, I could probably pull it off in repeating her words...

But, the fourth poem down, could never be my poem to repeat... His words are true to him. My repeat of those words would be hippocritical, or, simply not reflective of my personal experience. Listeners would immediately know I'm repeating "empty" words I do not feel...

And, yet, if I added the use of empathy, I could probably talk about my own feelings and explain what it meant to me to know that this boy has no basis of truth, or connection, to the words he has been asked to repeat each day... 

Let's go a little deeper... Some could claim that he's just angry and it doesn't change the meaning of the words, I pledge allegiane to the flag... In my opinion, then, that listener has insufficient understanding and empathy of the reality many of us have seen over and over again toward our Black citizens... In fact, this poem actually could reflect what was in the minds of Black football players who took a knee during games, don't you think? Even in my family, there were differences of opinions about that simple action... Yes, empathy and sympathy are two words we all need to share more often...

So, to close out this article, I hope you will contact me to share your poetic words here at Book Readers Heaven... Leave comments below... And, if you would also like, as Alyjah did, to share your own back story as to why you wrote your poem, please feel free to do so! Our goal is always to make sure we work toward understanding what our words mean to both the writer and the reader. To do that, we must be willing to question--what does crown mean when Jack fell down the hill?-- Or, does Jill have a crown too? And was it also hurt? There are really no dumb questions when we ask about something in order to learn and fully understand what another person is writing about!

So, If you are like me, I had to use my dictionary to ensure I knew what incarnate meant when Jesus spoke... Did you know what it means? Did you understand all of this verse? What I know is that when I was about 13 and was baptized, I had a really difficult time understanding the King James Version of the Bible. I read it, but I'd say at least half of that book left me with no understanding whatsoever of what was written...

No wonder that a young boy cries out--This is Your Flag, Not Mine!? We in America have lost something. We celebrated diversity and the chance to get to know people from across the world... In my opinion, we cannot continue serving God if we cannot celebrate ALL of God's Creations! Until then, listening to the words of somebody's poetry will often give us the way to begin to learn to go beyond the literal words...and work to understand the story behind those spokeen or written words...

GABixlerReviews