Sometimes I feel I must be living someone else’s life, because I have these stories that come to my head, and they have no relevance to what is directly happening in my life.  This is how many of my poems are created, and the resolution, or partial resolution of the situations involved in these “lives” is explained in a poem. 

For the poem, “One Another,” two people meet after what seems a lifetime since their last meeting in their youth. Then a boy, a man recalls when an a political election, he is attracted to a girl, who belongs to the opposite political party he was raiseed to respect.

In fairness, both attended rallies for each other’s presidential candidate after they started dating.  Like the Capulets and Montatgues, this modern Romeo and Juliet lived in different worlds and parts of town.  The relationship is not encourgaed by either of their families, and after graduation from high school, the couple split up.  he goes into the military and then vocational school to learn a trade to make a living.  She goes on to college, majors in business, and becomes part of her father’s business whichc is eventually sold for high profit. Her parents retire, and the woman begins her own business with the financial and emotional support of her parents.  She becomes a great success, and another election rolls around.

By coincidence, the man’s services are needed in the expansion of the woman’s business, and they are together again for a mutual business meeting.  They remember the politics of the candidates they supported and how not much has changed. 

They get around to the current business at hand and leave knowing they could never have been romantically together.  She married, had several children and got divorced.  One  of her sons died in a foreign war. He married another woman who gave him three sons before she died in an auto accident. He has not recovered from the loss.

Even though never married, these two people have much in common, and depend on one another.

One Another

Somewhere, somehow, altogether
We are related to each other,
Friend or lover, sister or brother,
And must get along, one another.
We should also love our mothers,
For we would not exist without them.
One earth, one life, are all part of God’s
One plan for salvation through Christ.
In spirit we have but one Father, who
Created this world and the universe.
His praises are in songs and verse,
Fighting the doom of evil’s curse.
War’s spoils feed the devil’s purse
And hate only makes matter worse.
Somewhere, somehow, altogether
We are related to each other,
Friend or lover, sister or brother,
And must get along, one another.

The Needle of Life

Thread the needle of life
spun with the thread of love,
and you will stitch together
a warm quilt of happiness
from colorful patches of
many memories.

Photos by Mike Hall

With the month of May fast becoming history, a few Indiana wildflowers still remain before those charged with lawn care cut the plants down to size. The best way to preserve them is through digital photographs. A new extended version of the Indiana Wildflower video, including these photos, has been created with a background of  natural bird songs. To get this special version, not on You Tube, send an e-mail to info@eliastobias.net.

      Photo by Mike Hall

This weekend, a rabbit stopped by the front door of the apartment building, and nibbled on leaves from a small bush before it scampered to another location. The  wild rabbit was hard to see at first since it blended with the mulch, but it moved.I didn’t bother to chase it, since it was probably scared of me.  I had my image, and that was enough.

Words can make a blind man see

Words have the power to make a blind man see.
Words can set the imagination free, and
Recreate the world for even a blind man
to be what he or she would like it to be.

Words can make a blind man see.
Subtle shades of green line of trees
reach for the sky along an active
creek where tiny droplets fall over
staggered series of small rocks
creating mini waterfalls for the
small fish and other animals that
depend on the water for their life.
The music of different bird calls
echo in the empty spaces between
the trees and the open meadows.

Words can make a blind man see.
A horn blast from a distant car is merely
a distraction to the hundreds of people
walking in both directions on both
sides of the street filled with cars
and trucks, all going somewhere.
Flashing “do not cross” signs are
routinely ignored by the crowds,
all covered in coats to avoid the cold
and winds as ice patches are evidence
of a lingering cold weather pattern.

Words can make a blind man see.
People, mostly well-dressed men and
women, wait eagerly as the lights dim
and the audience applaud as a single
person stops center stage and bows in
respect to the gathering filling hundreds
of seats at the large auditorium.
Silence continues as the young performer
adjusts the bench of the polished concert
piano, and her hands break the still air
as the notes merge into a melody.

Words have the power to make a blind man see.
Words can set the imagination free, and
recreate the reality of the world full of diversity.

The newsletter for the World of Words by Elias Tobias

Celebrate Life is May’s poetry theme

“When are we get there there? Are we there yet?  These are questions I asked of my father as he drove my family around on long trips or vacations. At one stop, he handed me a map and explained how it was used. I didn’t ask those particular questions again while traveling with my parents. The destination is not always the goal, but the trip getting there is the adventure, and life’s detours, though as first may be negative, turn out to be the best accidents ever.

Also as a child growing up, I loved to be outside playing with my neighborhood friends, and the weather had a way of spoiling things. My father must have had this saying, “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain,” when he helped me out one afternoon.  I didn’t go out in the rain, though.  I looked into the closet and found a box of checkers, but no checkerboard.  Within an hour or so, he had made a regulation-sized board that was good enough for him to defeat me at several games that afternoon.  We didn’t go to the store for a new checkerboard.

All these incidents celebrate the little moments of life that have meaning.  When people like Oprah have events like the Big Give, or when a TV network has a series that promotes the construction of a house for a needy or deserving person within a week, one person or a small group can have a great influence on others lives.  This also celebrates life.  This theme incorporates other monthly themes used on the World of World by Elias Tobias, too.

There is a poem I really like, author anonymous, called Influence.

Influence

Drop a pebble in the water,
And its ripples reach out far;
And the sunbeams dancing on them
May reflect  them to a star.

Give a smile to someone passing,
Thereby making his morning glad;
It may greet you in the evening
When your own heart is sad.

Do a deed of simple kindness;
Though its end you may not see.
It may reach, like widening ripples
Down a long eternity. 

Indiana Wildflower video now on YouTube 

A new Indiana Wildflower video, less than two minutes long, has been post by The World of Words on YouTube. Go to  http://www.youtube.com/user/etobiasnew to check it out.

Poetry Contest extended

The April Poetry Contest at the World of World by Elias Tobias has been extended into May, and the theme is “Celebrate Life.”

My contest is open to anyone who wants to enter, and like the college contest, readers here can submit as many poems as you want in any style, as long as they conform to the rules as set forth in the open poem forum on the World of Words by Elias Tobias (see page link on right side of page). Deadline is April 30,, Wnners for the top three places and their poems along with a brief biography and optional photo (if submitted) of each winner will be announced in the May Exponet monthly newsletter. Good luck and enter often.  Send submissions to info@eliastobias.net.

Also I am interested in starting  a World of Words Hall of Fame for modern poets who deserved to be recognized for their accomplishments. This would go beyond National Poetry Month, but it is a good time to start it.  Those under consideration can be nominated by sending an e-mail to info@eliastobias.net.  Candidates should  be established through publication and/or performance, and should have achieved a national or international presence through their work. Those inducted would be included in a special page for the Hall of Fame with a detailed biography and photograph on the World of Words by Elias Tobias web blog.  A press release will accompany each induction.

Poem of the Month

(with some inspiration for the Beatles)

Sounds of life

Energy …

… thousands of circles oflight
continueto collide creating aforce stronger
 thana single  element …

and the bulb glows, knowledge grows,
inventions flow and society shows its art.

Here comes the sun, and everything’s all right.

Photos by Mike Hall

A keen eye can observe a few wild flowers starting to bloom in Central Indiana, but the temperatures need to be taken into consideration. This area has had a week total of 70-degree plus weather the last seven months, unlike south Texas, which has a proportionate amount of hot weather, week of 90-plus temperatures, and more kinds of wild flowers this time of year. I guess you have to understand that most everything is better and bigger in Texas. Now this is home, and I need to be thankful for what there is here.  The wild flowers are still pretty.

See the  Indiana wildflower video, courtesy of YouTube.  at http://www.youtube.com/user/etobiasnew.

All poets have major themes that seem to repeat throughout their work, and one of mine is that no one thing happens as result of itself.  There has been or will be some cause and effect reaction created by an event.  Some reactions are minor that lead up to a major event, and some just jump to being major events. This is life, to me.

One thing leads to another

One thing leads to another, and people don’t remain the same.
You can bask in the glory of achievement and fame,
Or be indebted with the responsibility and pain.
The way to win or lose is how you play the game.

One thing leads to another, and friends become lovers.
Then you learn family is more than sisters or brothers.
Events seem to spin out of your control to others
And sometimes those you don’t know may suffer.

One thing leads to another, and you just have to laugh.
Details of memories fade to an old photograph.
Your life’s events are summed in a single paragraph.
Retirement means a gold watch from the staff.

One thing leads to another, and people don’t remain the same.
The effects of history can be blamed,
But the mistakes of the past can be changed.
The way to win or lose is how you play the game.

Photos by Mike Hall

Wanted: Members of the Burks Gang

A few months ago. my sister, Pam,  her new husband Chris, and her four children came to visit us. For one afternoon, my apartment became an Old West movie set, and they donned various articles of western wear I have been collecting. Being a photographer, I could not resist taking a few “old time” photographs using the back of the front door as a background.

A little cropping, framing and other special effects created a long-lasting portrait of the Burks Gang.  At least one of them is a lawman.  Watch out for the girls, though.  He could not arrest them all at the same time. Pam  and Chris were able to find a way to get them in warp drive into the 21 century, and take them home - found, and still wanted.

 

Photo by Mike Hall

Cowboys in the Old West usually did not have enough time to establish strong lasting relationships with women, but they did have feelings for them, which often made for confusion which was sometimes settled over a good bottle of whiskey. 

Confused cowboy

I don’t want to get inside your head.
I’d rather come back to your unmade bed.
I don’t want complicated future plans,
But its more than a rodeo ride with a fan.
I’m not sure what all these feelings mean,
But there is one thing I want you to see.
I really do like the funny way you smile,
And I really do like your company.