Liberty...--Hosted by Inge Wesdijk--(DaginneAignend)--The Netherlands

Dear Whispers’ Friends,

Thank you for sharing your words for the September activity.  I really appreciate all the time Inge Wesdijk put into this wonderful column.  She opens the door for a variety of views, one that gives us a chance to pause and reflect about the idea of liberty…especially in the context of “anything goes” versus moral responsibility.  I have missed our writing family, your light and your encouragement of others.

We don’t have control of the sands of time. And sometimes, we may feel a bit adrift, the title of Jim Teeters opening poem.  As writers, we do have a chance to embrace the lonely, uplift the down trodden and shine a light in our international community.

Blessings,

Karen O’Leary

Whispers’ Editor

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Adrift

I am anchored to nothing but the wind

passing aimlessly beneath a pale sky

a lone seagull dances the expanse

I float toward the shallows

seaweed sways, encircles my legs

then lets me go waving goodbye

Jim Teeters, United States

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Liberty

They provide cool shade for all who pass

Without regard for race or class.

Their strength and beauty they freely share

With people in nations everywhere.

Noble teachers are these steadfast trees

That exemplify true liberty.

Molly Moore, United States

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A Joyful Dance

Birds of Paradise,

those lovely colourful gems

high up in the Jacaranda.

Can still hear their mating call

Their brilliant plumage,

a fluttering feast of splendour

Gert W. Knop, Germany

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In Pursuit of Liberty

When I see our flag

a surge of freedom penetrates

my soul with grateful memories

of brave men and women

who gave their lives

in pursuit of liberty

John W. (Bill) Williams, United States

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Hand me a hammer

This lightening sky pulls my eye

   upward from newly darkening earth,

too many gulfs, too few bridges…

I will build one bridge today,

I welcome this lightening sky

   to ease my work.

Richard Carl Subber, United States

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Sweet Charity

There’s a door

In the floor

Of heaven,

And it’s made

Of silk

That sighs.

Stefanie Bennett, Australia

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Weathering Storms

Earthquakes, tornadoes and tsunamis!

Being saved brings me to grateful knees.

But do I wait for rescue from a flood

Before I'll bow my knee in gratitude?

Gratitude rescues me from spiritual death!

Sometimes I foolishly reject "living breath"?

Charlene McCutcheon, United States

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ABC

Archons give rules and freedom both at once.

Breath in and then you must let go your breath.

Chains keep some locked up, climbers safely linked.

"Depend": a word for slaves or friends in need.

Events can be controlled or not, with help.

Freedom is not yet liberty, not yet.

David Leslie, United States

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Meteor Shower

Turning

My eyes above nightfall

Equal to any streaking point of light

My spirit is free to journey without limit

To the destination my soul inspires

Without end

James Marshall Goff, United States

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Persist

This is the world in which we live

we all must share and that means to give,

terra firma could be a star

if we were diamonds to glitter afar.

Love, compassion and truth would exist

if all earth’s people would simply persist.

Gerald Heyder, United States

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Freed

He left the confines of his cell,

and sniffed the morning air,

he squinted upwards at the sky,

the sunshine on his hair,

he turned to view the jail and vowed,

"I won't go back in there."

Jack Horne, England

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World wide free expression

Every where people should be free

Say as they will in expression spree

Spreading love all around in victory

With no fear or hate troubling any

Just a people writing in cause of we

United, we plan in a world of plenty

Yancy Lee Dalton, United States

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We Need Friends

Feeling free

is a necessity.

Whether a dinosaur

is at our door

or a current enemy,

we all need help.

Eleanor Michael, United States

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Praying for Peace

Forward thinking staying the course

Applying logic instead of force

Taking heed of good advice

Diplomacy works it's nice to be nice

Calming fear relieving tension

Peace in North Korea, no armed intervention

Allan Ball, England

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The Right to Grow

Liberty is the right to grow,

to push out beyond our roots,

no matter how pinched and needy, 

no matter color, sex, or traditions,

         to cultivate the person

that makes the world a better place.

Elizabeth Howard, USA

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Liberty City

About a half mile inside the city we turn around.

It was just a joke, there's nothing good downtown.

We've work to do, tillen the crops and seedlings abound.

Take some time, smell the fresh air, help a friend with a frown.

Liberty City folks are free, be who you want to be, all is sound.

They don't want folks like us around, so I made a u-turn out of town.

Constance Escobar, United States

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I Am Privileged

I have the power of choice

able to respect your opinion

while being free to express mine

without fear, pressure or deceit

I am at liberty

to live and let live.

Paul Callus, Malta

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Global (acrostic)

God

Loves

One and all

Both equally

Allowing us to be individual in the

Lord's name.

David Fox, United States

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Gray

That world

adults discover—

hovering

between

certainties of

black and white.

Joan Leotta, United States

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Liberty

Some earthly time ago it was clear

Shadow free, glitteringly alive

Filling the head with extravagance

Without need to complete or empty

Reaching a zenith .... then slow decline

Now, but the memory while I'm in captivity.

Isha Wagner

New Zealand

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Land of Liberty

The Grand Canyon, Mt. Rushmore,

Yellowstone, Yosemite, Carlsbad,

Denali, the Everglades, Great Lakes,

Smoky Mountains, white sand beaches

--spirits of the earth sing

  their welcoming song

Barbara Tate, United States

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Lamp of Welcome

In the United States,

we have a Statue of Liberty.

She asks the tired, poor,

and huddled masses to come.

Now some say, douse the lamp,

and send the immigrants home.

Caryl Calsyn, United States

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Polishing and flourishing process

I wish every soul could thrive

Wherever it seeks to dine and live

Everyone desires humanity's pat

I wish l could listen to the diversity

Of songs whose lyrics define and refine

Dignity and generosity into divine pebbles

Ndaba Sibanda, Zimbabwe. 

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The Bee

I found a bee upon a stone today

While sitting in the shade a palm tree away

Through wings that were translucent and as fragile

As a pair of ghosts who shimmer through

The haunted halls of dreams I saw myself.

What better place than Earth to rest one’s wings?

By John Polselli, United States

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A Lyrical Swell

Starlight stirs my coffee

the moon a soft croissant

new tidal ebb in accession

impassioned lyrical swells.

biscuits await on the doily

August eclipse a memory.

Ken Allan Dronsfield, United States

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A cherita (untitled)

Liberty

is not always valued

when we have it

but is much-desired

when we're deprived of it . . .

a world in need of care not warfare

Mary Gunn, Ireland

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Liberty

standing
side by side
in good times
and bad
united together…
family

Peggy Dugan French, United States

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Basking in Liberty

arms

float,

dancing

with lilies

in a field of dreams…

free from clutter, spreading my wings

Karen O'Leary, United States

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Released

Unchained

No time pressure

False expectations

Empty promises

Time to

breath

Inge Wesdijk (DaginneAignend), The Netherlands

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Whispers’ Guest Editors--Inge Wesdijk (Daginne Aignend)--The Netherlands and Caryl Calsyn--The United States

Dear Whispers' Friends,

It is such a pleasure to share with you our first two guest activity/columnists in an effort to provide words that matter in a global outreach. This new version of Whispers gives us an international format for sharing the gift of words. I chose a poem previously published at Whispers in their honor.  I'm deeply grateful for their contributions.

I hope many of our past contributors will join us in this new view.  I wish all of you the best always. Keep you candles burning brightly!

Blessings,

Karen

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Inge Wesdijk (Daginne Aignend)--September 2017 Activity Editor

The old lady's wisdom

Morning dew, wandering through the city
A lonely passenger, trying to clear my head
Suddenly the invigorating scent of coffee
The appetizing aroma of fresh baked bread

A voice, inviting me friendly
Girl, why do you look so sad
Come over and sit down here with me
My coffee is the best you ever had

She smiles, the wrinkled old lady
When you are refreshed and well fed
You will expel your melancholy
And treasure every day's joy instead

Inge Wesdijk is a Dutch writer, poetess, and photographic artist who works under the pseudonym Daginne Aignend. She likes hard rock music and fantasy books. She is a vegetarian and spends a lot of time with her animals.

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Caryl Calsyn—September Columnist/Thoughts to Ponder

The Golden Door

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses

yearning to be free, the retched refuse of your

teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-

tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

(as it appears on the Statue of Liberty, by Emma Lazarus)

I am an immigrant. You are an immigrant.

Whether coming to America in recent times

or many generations before, we all came from

other lands. Only a few are Native Americans.

There is an indignant underground and above

ground cry that we should allow no more

immigrants to touch this country’s shores.

Advocates propose that man's humanity to man end.

The tired, the poor, and tempest-tossed, if these

advocates have their way, would find the lamp

extinguished and a closed and locked Golden Door.

Caryl Calsyn is a retired interior designer and currently serves as the President of the Highland Lakes Writers’ Club.  She serves on history related boards and sings in a church choir and a chorale.  She is a widow and has two sons living, one deceased and feels blessed with grandchildren.  She loves writing poetry and still finds it amazing that 113 have been published at Whispers, Creative Inspirations, Westward Quarterly, The Storyteller, The Oak and other publications.

Are Writers Unique?--By Caryl Calsyn, United States

Dear Whispers’ Friends,

Caryl Calsyn shares thoughts to ponder about.  I thank her for sharing this introspective search, a challenge for each of us to dig beyond the surface to capture a unique view.  Please post your thoughts in the comments' section.

I hope you share your words and thoughts that may help our Whispers’ family find the right mix to continue forward.  This is a welcome to past contributors and new writers.  May you all find joy in writing.

Blessings,

Karen, Whispers’ Editor

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Are Writers Unique?

Are writers a different breed?  Are writers more observant?  Do writers ponder meanings below the surface?  Are writers more contemplative?  Do writers have greater sensitivity?

Yes, I have a lot of questions and no, I don’t have all the answers.  However, I can and intend, to tell you what I think.

I think writers are unique.  They don’t aimlessly meander only half seeing what they see.  They don’t just pass through life intent only on where they need to be next.  They tend to wonder about the importance of what they see on their journeys.  That awareness can emerge in the form of sadness, humor, nostalgia or in other ways.  Perhaps non-writers see none of these things.  Yes, any writer can tell you that at times putting words on paper can be a chore, but they feel a need to do so for themselves and for others who may read their words.

I did not come to these conclusions on my own.  They came as a result of being a member of the Whispers’ family of writers and a local writers’ club.  The written word quite often reveals something about the author.  I sometimes feel as if I know someone I have never met.  Often more so than some I have met, where the dialogue doesn’t go beyond the usual, “How are you?” and “I am fine” level. I treasure the uniqueness of writers.

Caryl Calsyn, United States

Whispers' September Activity--Hosted By--Inge Wesdijk (Daginne Aignend)--The Netherlands

Dear Whispers' Friends,

It is such a joy to be able to bring our writing family back together to share another season of creative joy.  With help from all of you, we can enjoy Whispers with the treasured gifts from our talented community.

September's activity comes from Netherlands' Writer and Editor Inge Wesdijk (Daginne Aignend). Her idea gives writers of various levels a chance to share in her inspiring opportunity. Both Whispers' contributors and new writers to our community are invited to share their poems for this activity.

From--Inge Wesdijk, Whispers' Guest Activity Editor

Title: "6 line poetry celebrations"

Subject: Liberty

Outcomes:

1)  To allow writers to explore ideas in a concise format and allow different voices to capture ideas without the restriction of styles.

2)  Present poetry with depth and insight to share with an international audience.

3)  Celebrate the gift of words to uplift people up in this climate of challenges.

Challenge--

To present a poem of 6 lines that is relevant for a global community

Please use the following format:

Title

Space

Poem

Space

Author’s name and country

Please share your poems with Inge for consideration for publication at Whispers--

daginne@gmail.com

Deadline: September 20                            Publication date: Shortly after deadline.

Of note--Whispers does not publish profanity, erotica, violence or other derogatory writing.

 

It is a gift to have Inge share her talent and willingness to open Whispers for activity submissions.  I hope all of you will appreciate her willingness to give our community a rebirth.

Blessings,

Karen O'Leary

Whispers' Editor

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