Magical Poems and Legendary Tales

A review of Olivia Wells: “Stories and Poems in the Moment”. Night Publishing, June 2011.

“We are human beings,” writes Olivia Wells, “not human doings, and in every way we are made up of many colours, some dark, some light, some demanding, some gentle.

The dark and demanding are necessary for us to take action and the gentle and spiritual are for nurturing.

When we accept all that we are, then we can accept all that is in others.”

So begins a wonderful journey through simple, legend-like stories and beautiful, compassionate poetry like Take a Leaf

Take a leaf,

from the heart of a friend,

it is there to share with you

spend it wisely,

the love that it brings

is valid for time long

and a day.

Measure it and you will see

That it reaches beyond the

sunrise

and slips between your fingers

if you let it go.

Be gentle ..

it is intended

just for you.

There are also darker poems like “Mirror Me”, “Reflections on Alzheimer’s and Autism” and “Ode to a Son”:

Your demonic death

washed my soul in deep sorrow,

and yet, there is hope,

for you.

Now the child wraith can bloom

In gentle fields of soft sun,

and grow in the light of love

that I send to you.

Knowing that the life you lived

though short was a lesson

to be learned

the hard way.

May I thank you, and wish

that this song of love

will follow your every step

to a new place.

The stories, written like legends, are pure magic. “Silk, Ruby, Ebony, and Clover”, “Lao Tsu and the Tears”, and Doorinna the Snake Dragon are but three of them, each one the kind of story children will devour again and again and again.

I can’t really say enough about this wonderful little book. It is a gem.

A clear ***** read that will be a favorite for generations.

A Recommended Blog

Every once in a while I run across a blog that I like well enough to recommend to others, and Spence Smith's blog is one of them. I really like Spence’s blog, what he writes about, and the way he writes. I guess it proves the value of social media, because I ran into him on Twitter.

Take a look, wander around and see if you don't agree with me that he writes about some very worthwhile things.
His link is: http://www.spencesmith.com

Enjoy.

Toasty

Edward M. Kennedy, 1932-2009, Hero

In a time where politics is fraught with name-calling, paranoia and insult, Senator Kennedy was a man of graciousness and a passionate advocate for the causes and people he believed in. His accomplishments were legion:

• The Voting Rights Act of 1965.

• The Freedom of Information Act.

• The Occupational Safety and Health Act.

• The Americans with Disabilities Act.

• The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act of 2009.

• Fought a four-decade crusade for universal health coverage.

• Helped Soviet dissidents.

• Fought apartheid.

• Was one of 23 senators to vote against the Iraq war.

• Vastly expanded the network of neighborhood clinics.

• Virtually invented the COBRA system for portable insurance.

• Helped create the law that provide Medicare prescriptions.

• Helped create the Family Leave law.

What kind of man was he? Admittedly, neither a man without faults nor a self-righteous man who called names. In the words of Vice President Joe Biden, who worked in the Senate with him for 46 years, Senator Kennedy “never was petty; never was small. It was never about him, it was always about you.” He reached out to others, had a heart for others. When Mr. Biden’s first wife was killed in a terrible auto accident that injured their two children, Senator Kennedy was on the phone with him immediately, offering support.

What did Rush Limbaugh say about him? No surprise. If Kennedy was the Lion of the Senate, "We were his prey." No surprise there. I have two questions for Mr. Limbaugh: Does this mean that you oppose all of those things that Kennedy fought for that have benefited so many of your fellow citizens? Or do you simply not care?

“Today we have lost a great spirit,” Vice President Biden said. And so we have.

In a recent post, political cartoonist and blogger David Horsey wrote the following: “Teddy Kennedy is gone and we may not see his like again. But a greater tragedy for the nation would be if the politics of mutual respect, wise compromise and willingness to find common ground died with him.” So it would, David, so it would.

“If by a liberal,”, Senator Kennedy wrote, “they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind; someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions; someone who cares about the welfare of the people, their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties; someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicion that grips us; if that is what they mean by a liberal, I am proud to be a liberal.” —Edward M. Kennedy

And so am I.

All for this post,

Toasty

 

Natalya Estemirova, Fallen Hero

By any human measure, Natalya Estemirova is a hero. A 50 year old single mother, she was kidnapped from a street in Grozny Chechnya by four men, bundled into a car, and shot four times in the head, her body later dumped near the capital city of Ingushetia.

There seems to be no end to the idiots who believe that killing advocates for human rights, justice and compassion does anything other than make their advocacy stronger and more determined. Instead of stifling human rights advocacy, they strengthen it.

But that's a lesson that abusive people and powers never seem to learn. They are like the person who becomes enraged because the elm tree refuses to give him pears, so he cuts the elm tree down. And thousands of tiny seeds begin to sprout and create a forest.

The best response to these idiots is this: Wherever you live, stand for human rights, compassion and justice. In the end, nonviolence and compassion win. Violence, for all its horror, has no staying power.

Celebrate Natalya Estemirova’s life by the way you live yours.

All for this post,

Toasty