August 2010 Newsletter

Newsletter for the World of Words by Elias Tobias

Levi Jacobs is next LSC member to be inducted

Levi Jacobs is a funeral director and main partner in Jacobs and Son Funeral Home in a Central Texas town. It’s a third generation business that he inherited from his father and is teaching his only surviving son, Michael, the trade.  He is an honest, faithful and professional businessman who had another son, David, who was learning the biz, but died in an accident in 2008 while at Texas A&M University.

Jacob’s father, Joseph, was in the U.S. Army during WW II as a medic based in San Antonio when he was discharged.  He met woman of German descent named Lydia and got married. He moved to Kerrville, near Fredericksburg, after he married and settled down. He used what service had taught him, in medical field, to start the family business. His only son, Levi, was born.  They grew up there, and married Etta, short for Marietta, and they had two sons. Joseph died unexpectedly in 2007. His mother continues to work at the business and is the corporation’s CEO and Board Chairman, and Etta works in accounting department at family business.

Jacobs’ membership  was sponsored by Christopher Benedict , who was attending a friends’ funeral in late February, 2010, at Jacobs and sons.  Levi, a poet whose main theme is celebrating life, recognized Christopher Benedict as LSC member from the Web blog, World of words, and Levi showed him some of his work. Interested,   Benedict decided to sponsor Levi as a candidate.  A three member committee, E.T., Bill Kelso and Karl Dobson, conducted a background search and interview.  The candidate was confirmed, and the LSC group voted as a whole to add him as another brother, thus establishing policy for further memberships.

Poetry First Aid can help your poetry sparkle

Sometimes the words don’t seem right, no matter how long you have thought about the feelings to be expressed in a poem, or you have not used the right tools to get the poem in a final form. Here is where I can help. With Poetry First Aid, a poem written by someone other than myself can be submitted to contact(at)eliastobias.net  to Poetry First Aid. I’ll work with the original text, help edit it to be a better poem, and the result may be a better poem.  The new poem belongs to the original writer, with all rights reserved.  It’s free.

Free Poetry Poster

How would you like to get something to dress up your laptop or your desktop computer?  The answer is a free poetry poster with one of my favorite poems, like Captian of My Ship. You can print it  and frame it, too. Just double-click on the image on this page and choose the “Save photo as” option when you right click again.  You name it. You can use it.  Then find the “main page” link on the right side of the page to go back to the main page.
Enjoy.

Download a copy of the Captain of my Ship poster. For other posters, click here.

How to have a free poetry blog in three easy steps or claiming your homestead on the wild frontier of the Internet

For serious writers, there comes a time when various types of contests, open poetry nights,  and sharing works to friends and family are just aren’t enough.

Publishing a book with a traditional concept, even with publishing-on-demand companies on the Internet, still takes some sort of cash investment.  Self-publishing is how many great writers received their start, and it remains an option, if money is available.  Like the open ranges of the Old West, the Internet offers alternatives to getting published without great costs for writers.

One option is to start a free poetry blog, and it can be done in three basic steps.  First, decide what kind of blog will be created. Then get a free quality host that offers an independent e-mail option, and then third, maintain and promote the web site through personal and online network techniques. Click here for the complete version. 

My Summer Vacation is theme for August
As a follow-up to last month’s theme, and as tribute to the thing that most people do in the summer, “My Summer Vacation,” is the theme for poetry in August 2010.  It just so happens Patty and I went to Louisville, Kentucky, for a three-day vacation, and I have pictures and video to prove it.  This month is also my birthday month. The Friday photos will reflect our experiences.  The poems will be a vacation of sorts, a look back over the years, like thumbing through an old photo album.

 Poem of the Month

unfinished dreams
unfinished dreams
haunt my mind as I
toss in my sleep.
the beginnings
of these thoughts
are silent and deep.
several asprins
to relieve the headache
is what I need.

Who is Elias Tobias? Go to his biography that is also in Spanish.