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White Coats

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(Doctors Day was March 30th.)

White Coats

Duty first before self
Often her/his needs neglected
Counts on honesty and integrity
True to self and to the world around
Outstanding perfectionist
Relationships are sacred to Humanity

DOCTORS are committed to making life-long human relationships.

If and when you are fortunate to have experienced such a relationship,
please pause and appreciate it.

Sudha Reddy

Sudha Reddy is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology. She is a life-long seeker and learner whose parents taught her true happiness is in helping and sharing. Her life purpose is to decrease suffering in the world, in every possible way. Writing is one of her many activities for staying healthy.

Anita Hill Came to Bakersfield

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Dressed in red and black

Anita Hill took the stage

Humble amid the thunder

Of full-house applause.

“We are not bystanders anymore,”

She said,

Urging us to act

Like we are brave

And smart

And know a thing or two

About crushing

Inequality

Injustice

Urging us to use our voices

“Break the culture of silence.”

Insist

Act

Use our votes

Stand up

Speak up

Reimagine equality.

—Annis Cassells

 

Annis Cassells is a writer, poet, life coach, and teacher.  She divides her time between Bakersfield, California and Coos Bay, Oregon. She has been a member of Writers of Kern for more than a dozen years.

Entries from a Journal of the Drought Year

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No one can convince me
that the oak has no memory.
Whenever I’m willing to listen,
it reminisces about winds
that shook its confidence
before I was born,
saturating rains I can’t imagine,
and droughts worse than this one.

The trick is to translate
murmurs and creaks of sap and solid wood
into dialects of blood and bone,
the cackling of neurons we call thought.

But the birds gossiping among its leaves
have no interest
in how much time it took
or what the oak had to endure
to make the shade
that shelters them in in the hot afternoon.
Now will always be enough for them.

—Don E. Thompson

In A Journal of the Drought Year ©2016,
Encircle Publications, LLC, Farmington, Maine, USA

Don Thompson, Kern County’s first Poet Laureate, was born and raised in Bakersfield, and has lived in the southern San Joaquin Valley for most of his life. In his term as Poet Laureate, he has held readings, given presentations, and promoted poetry throughout the county. During National Poetry Month 2018, he will present at the Kern County Board of Supervisors meeting (April 10) and the Bakersfield City Council meeting (April 11).

My Thoughts About #OctPoWriMo and Attempting #NaNoWriMo

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Jasmine Lowe

There were no awards given out at some beautiful ceremony, or trophies sitting high on top of pillars with my name engraved in the gold colored metal—but, I did it. I finished another writing challenge, and now I have pages of poems that I actually like, and some of them I even feel pretty proud of.

The 31-day blogging challenge to write a poem a day for the month of October was probably one of the best things I could have done to dip my feet back into the pool of poetry and kick start my writing for the rest of the year.

OctPoWriMo, or October Poem Writing Month, different from NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, which takes place in the month of April, encourages participants to push themselves and their writing and to explore poetry for another month out of the year.

This was my first year taking part in the challenge, and I’m hoping that this won’t be my last. I definitely feel as though I have been reconnected to poetry and that I was challenged in a way that would forge new habits in my writing and make sure I set aside time to grow and foster my skills.

I wanted to continue practicing these habits into the next month by attempting to complete the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge. NaNoWriMo is an annual, Internet-based creative writing project that takes place during the month of November. Participants attempt to write a 50,000-word manuscript between November 1 and November 30.

I’ve attempted the challenge before, but I always stop midway through the month as the holidays approached and traveling got in the way. However, I’m hoping my recent accomplishment with OctPoWriMo will encourage me to stick with my plan to make more time to write every day.

I’ll see what I can do during the month of November, but I am planning on finishing the 50,000-word challenge even if it not accomplished in the 30-day time span. I may be a little late getting everything done, and I probably won’t receive a trophy after it is over, but I will have achieved what I have wanted to do anyway, and I will have solidified a great habit of making more time to write.

Swing

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Life starts with a melody
Just be an instrument
Immersing in the beat
Flowing with the rhythm
Swinging with the music of life
Smelling every rose in the garden of love
To eternity

—Sudha Reddy

Sudha Reddy

Sudha Reddy is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology. She is a life-long seeker and learner whose parents taught her true happiness is in helping and sharing. Her life purpose is to decrease suffering in the world, in every possible way. Writing is one of her many activities for staying healthy. Sudha is a new member of WOK.