Peace Tree
Peace Tree
Like a tree in the
summer,
love will bloom
in its time
in its degree…
Like a tree in the
winter,
peace shall reign
on its time
in its order.
July 2, 2009
July 1, 2009
A Pound of Peace
A Pound of Peace
Brother Rufus McDougal is different since he was from another country. He was a foreign exchange student from Scotland, majoring in the environment and natural resources. Now he is the big “Think Green” person in a small town near Belfast, Ireland, where he serves as a consultant for local and international companies in environmental construction practices and techniques, and efficient and energy options. He always was part of the underground peace movement. Here is one of his works.
A Pound of Peace
A pound of peace is worth its weight in gold,
but the harmony peace gives can’t be bought or sold.
The pleas for peace are routinely told,
but such pleas are ignored. Hate makes the world cold.
The plan for peace is to bring the sheep to
fold where eager hearts can be converted to Christ’s mold.
The prayers for peace are new and the same time, old.
The prayers are a statement for whose faith is bold.
A pound of peace is worth its weight in gold,
but the harmony peace gives can’t be bought or sold.
The path for peace can be wide or very narrow,and it
takes many long hours to mend damage of a broken arrow.
July 2009 Newsletter
Newsletter for the World of Words by Elias Tobias
Reader’s support appreciated
The daily count of unique visitors remains both high and constant with 1.2 million readers in May and the daily page view count has increased more than doubling the daily unique visitor rate. When 1.4 million people come to the World of Words by Elias Tobias, this means that there are 16.2 readers per second are logging on to the poetry blog. I’m not sure what part body the .2 of a person is, but I hope it becomes whole person soon. These numbers are great and we hope the trend continues throughout the summer months. If you have any comments to make, please go to contact@eliastobias.net.
Let your opinions count, and take the survey
The World of Words by Elias Tobias is continuing a survey started in June. The survey is simple with only 10 questions. Help me to help the readers out. Click on the survey logo above to get started.
Buy the book
The World of Words by Elias Tobias is proud to announce poems and photographs from the web blog will be available in a library quality book as a gift item. The site has more than 150 poems in its catalog and all of these can be in one book for $49.95, or just about 30 cents per poem. Since the web blog is organized into books, all poems in a certain collection can become your custom book based on work online. Make a book of your favorite poems. It is up to you. If you are interested, contact Elias Tobias at contact@eliastobias.net for details.
Still time to vote for photographs for Indianapolis book
The Indianapolis Star and a group of partners and sponsors are working together on CaptureIndy, a photography project to reflect what the city and the surrounding areas have to offer. There are 8 chapters or categories for the photos, and I have more than 25 photos entered in this contest.
The end result will be a coffee table-style book and all those who enter photos will be given a CD of all the photos submitted. Those images published in the book will be chosen by a few photo editors and the viewing public via the Internet. The book will go to press around October, so you can vote often over the next two months.
So I need your votes. I’ve done the hard works. Just to go http:// www.captureindy.com/people/mhall7175 and get to my page. Look at the thumbnail photos, and click on any picture. Then the full photo will appear and you can cast your vote for that photo with the click of your mouse. After votong for one photo, you can click on other photos by Mike Hall and vote for them. You may have to register with CaptureIndy to make the vote or votes stick. There are other pictures from other photographers to check out, too.
The Peasant Princess now in five languages
The children’s story on the World of Words by Elias Tobias, The Peasant Princess, has been been translated into four additional languages: German, French, Spanish and Arabic for additional readership. Copy it and read it to your children.
Be a cut above in your kitchen
I have a former Engish 111 student who has become an authorized Cutco Cutlery distributor, and after seeing her practice demonstration, Jordan Crosby asked me for more references. I said I have a web site. I didn’t need any new kitchen knives at the time, but the knives are sharp and so is her presentation. In the Indianapolis-Central Indiana area, call 317-690-9027 for a personal demonstation today.
New Elias Tobias brochure ready to download
Start a new Elias Tobias fan club with a new Elias Tobias brochure. Use this, along with other free downloads, as material to let other people now about the poet and and his work at The World of Words by Elias Tobias. To get the two 8 1/2 x 11 pages just click on the two thumbnail images above. Also a PDF verson is available, and if a print quality version in desired, contact me at contact@eliastobias.net and with a working e-mail, the latest vewrsion can be sent to you. If you print these with a home computer, so be sure not to get the pages upside down.
Back to the Basics
The use of the older poetry was such a big hit that the same theme will be used for July. The poems I wrote in high school and the first years of college, especially the ones that were published, will be put on the web blog. Some daily blogs will contain several poems, since the older works are typically shorter. Each week this month will feature at least four poems per week: a Spanish poem, unpublished poems, and a previously published poem, linked to the publishing credits. The publishing credits history page has been updated so that poems already on the web blog are now easily accessible, and as the older published poems appear, links to these poems will be set to the poems listed in the publishing credits.
These eyes have been a witness to
the best and worst of what people bring.
The capacity to care and give has exceeded
some people’s material possessions and means.
But here are others who sanitize their sanity, and
stay clean of touching lives of their fellow man.
Charity is not the act of giving something for a hope
of some return; it’s helping another person stand
on their own two feet, and giving them food to eat.
It’s an activity that doesn’t happen at Christmastime.
It’s something people should often repeat.
These eyes have been a witness to
the best and worst of what people bring.
Two people look at each other, and feelings grow
into a relationship promised by wedding rings.
Then over the years, the feelings start to fade, and
the damage continues even after the divorce.
They say there is the other woman or man, but
The problem really stems from another source,
the feelings of jealously or bad communication.
They key to successful long-term affairs is not sex,
but a sense of respect without any conditions.
These eyes have been a witness to
the best and worst of what people bring.
When special groups or nations can’t solve
their differences, they fight for their king,
and for property, for commerce, for a god,
and others who died. The only solution is a war,
and any resolution for a peaceful deal is used
as a stalling weapon as soldiers go out the door.
Men and machine guns step in ankle –deep mud,
blood and bodies as they rush to take a strategic hill.
their answer to the solution is to kill, kill, kill.
These eyes have been a witness to
the best and worst of what people do and say.
There are problems which need to be solved,
but for each one, there is more than one way
to arrive at the best alternative; and the secret
to the solution is how much people want to give.
June 30, 2009
Burnt Toast, Great Nets
Burnt Toast
…and then she looked at me
with a smile and said with a
table knife in her hand…
Make the most of burnt toast
Man, you gotta use your head.
Scrape off the burned part.
You need to make the most of your bread.
…and then I had breakfast.
Great Nets
Children
chase
brightly-
colored butterflys in a
g r e a t field of green
grass with great nets.
They miss their prey,
and catch themselves.
June 29, 2009
La sal de la vida
La sal de la vida
Para ver la versión original en inglés, haga click aquí.
La sal de la vida
En muchas recetas, es de nuez moscada molida fresca
una especia de que muchos jefes de cocina como de utilizar,
pero no demasiado, para el fresco natural
Esencia puede ser objeto de abusos.
Es una sutil ingrediente secreto que
parece que el sabor de platos caseros,
y es cierto que otros distintivos
especias son sin duda exagerado.
Chile de todos los tipos piensan que están calientes,
comino y piensa que todavía puede competir.
Sage va con romero y tomillo
canela y considera que es dulce.
Luego negro de pimienta molida, que es
utiliza siempre con una pizca de sal marina.
Varios chefs de tratar de hacer una gran parte de cómo
el ajo es bueno, pero una buena respiración se detenga.
Así que lo mejor es usar un poco de nuez moscada,
sobre todo cuando no sabemos.
Ese será el plato que gana primer lugar
y el que se roba el show.
June 27, 2009
Questions and Answers
Questions and Answers
Some go out the in,
others go in the out.
Things are so confused.
What is it all about?
Some know where to begin,
others are filled with doubt.
I listen to what they say,
and I just want to shout.
Where should I turn?
Should I go left or right?
I just keep moving along,
but the end isn’t in slight.
How I am supposed to love,
when there are those I hate?
How much love is enough
when I go out on a date?
I just keep asking questions.
Their answers I should know,
but they will come with time
and with patience, I’ll grow.
June 25, 2009
Footsteps in the Sand
Footsteps in the Sand
(Photo by Mike Hall)
Footsteps in the Sand
Footsteps of the soldier are
etched in the sand as he walks
into the events which are history,
but like the water that rises with the tide,
the events are erased with the passage of time.
Then another man leaves his mark in the sand.
June 24, 2009
The Dancer Just Wanted to Dance
The Dancer Just Wanted to Dance
Brother C.J. Chatham III, was a business major who eventually made millions on the stock market and has his own firm in Long Island, New York. He is not married, but has a fun time being rich and single, although the current stock market conditions have kept him busy to stay in that profession.
The Dancer Just Wanted to Dance
She said she just wanted to dance.
She didn’t believe in love or romance.
She said that love would make her dead,
But I said the feelings were in her head,
And her ideas could be changed
If her priorities were rearranged.
I said she only needed to give,
Instead of just trying to live.
I looked at her and wanted to kiss her lips,
But all she wanted to do was dance,
And move her experienced hips.
I knew then my love for her had passed.
The music swelled and filled my ears,
And I still remember it after all these years.
June 23, 2009
Detours
Detours
(Photo by Mike Hall) National Road winds through the hills of West Virginia.
Detours
If the road to success is always under construction,
then my life has been a constant detour from the expressway.
I’ve slowed down a little for the others in my way as I
watched the new overpasses being put together.
My truck, filled with my belongings, has felt the changes in
the layers of pavement, the new over the old, on the frontage roads.
As I made turns I believed are right, I found out later that
perhaps they were not appropriate; however, a decision was made.
At times I relied on a few tourist guides. Unfilled, I left
places feeling disappointed. The books lied.
It is always easier to look back, to see the different places I
would have missed if I would have known my directions.
I have no regrets, and I have hope for the future,
for life is the journey.
June 22, 2009
Cuaderno de la Naturaleza
Cuaderno de la Naturaleza
Para ver la versión original en inglés, haga click aquí.
Cuaderno de la Naturaleza
Ramas desnudas de café
árboles en el bosque
bloc de notas son de la naturaleza,
y el vacío ramas
son las líneas de la
página en blanco.
Palabra por palabra, el
verde yemas pronto
florecen en la primavera
en oraciones completas.
Cada árbol se convierte en un
párrafo y, a continuación,
un caminante errante puede
leer el ensayo de la naturaleza
ha escrito con una
banda sonora de cantar
aves en el fondo.