August at the Green Leaf...

It's been a quiet afternoon here, with the rain and grey outdoors cooler than the last several weeks, it seems the perfect day for a bit of introspection. None of the poets apparently were able to make it today, but that's OK - some days it's just like that and I don't mind going with the flow. Poetry will still be an option here at the Green Leaf Coffee House, the owners and I are all committed to making that possible for local poets.

It's on Poetry Days such as these that I turn to putting in more energy online into poetry. Writing, promoting, whatever I can do to connect to the spirit of what these three hours are for.

I gave Jillmarie of Green Leaf Coffee House and invitation to become a guest contributor to Word Whizzyrds - free reign to post notices of ALL the open mic events and music that Green Leaf does. They are really becoming a great asset to the local community and it's inspiring to see it.

So on that note, after reading several poets work online, I wrote this new one today that I'll leave you with. I'm looking forward to days when more of you can come out, but days limke this have their nice points too. I hope everything is going wonderfiully for all of you out there in the Western Chicago 'Burbs.

Dan

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Who Will Fill This World?

I sit in the grey rainlight wondering,
Amidst clouds of pillowed steel,
Reading my peers and feeling,
I breathe in the angst like burned steel in this air,
Feeling a tentative green ghost waiting to be born,
A future we might yet bear to fruition,
A whiff of hope drifting up from my cup,
Of ginger-peach iced tea.

When you remember everything good in life,
Isn't it the moment someone you cherished cradled you,
Stroked your hair or hummed gently holding your hand?

What I know is that using anger like a tool burns you,
From the inside out it eats you alive,
It doesn't matter if you're an entire culture or a lonely heart,
It will make you its breakfast lunch and dinner,
As surely as this world spins 'round the sun -
I've seen it happen with my own two eyes.

We were great as a nation and as a people,
At those moments we were most filled with these things -
Dreams, hope, inspiration, compassion, vision.

What I know is that love fills you,
Feeds you and nourishes you and gently guides you,
And if you want to revere the past and those who went before,
Let their angers subside and yours as well,
Get closer to your ghosts in the memory of those moments that glow,
When they dreamed and loved and accomplished,
Give your ghosts a real future -
By dreaming and loving and accomplishing.

Tearing down takes moments,
Building up is always the real work.
What is it you birth?
Who will fill this world?

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 08/18/2007

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to all the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.