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National Poetry Month

20 April 2020 | NPM Poetry Webslam

By 

Let Your Wings Take You to Heaven
by Sandy Moffett
 
Let your wings take you to Heaven
Where your heartbeat is always strong
Where your eyes see all things clearly
And you sing the sweetest songs
 
Where your arms can fly like eagles
And hug with love to spare
Where your legs can run forever
And you live without a care
 
Let your wings take you to Heaven
To your new and perfect home
Where our love is always with you
And you’ll never be alone

Sandy was born in Bakersfield, returning to her hometown in 1985.  Sandy has been married to Greg for 39 years, and they have four children and 12 grandchildren.

Sandy is a poet, lyricist and has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Cup of Comfort and numerous other works. 

19 April 2020 | NPM Poetry Webslam

By 

That was Then — This is Now
by Judy Kukuruza
 
Committee meetings—boring.
“Wanna meet for coffee later?”
Stopping to rush into the store--harried.
Never enough hours in the day—then.
 
Excitedly looking forward to a Zoom meeting!
Drinking coffee on the porch alone.
“Do I really need to go to the store?”
So many hours in a day—now.
 
Poetry, novels, music now.
Things there was no time for then.
Literally watching the grass grow,
Seeing the hills that remain a constant now.
 
A text message—phone call.
Truly listening, participating.
Crows cawing, sprinklers popping on,
And now they are noticed and appreciated.
 
The worries from then carry into now—
Money, work, bills due.
But that phone call, that text
Are the important things now.
 
Real friends.
Real caring.
Real nature.
Real priorities that matter.
 
That was then—
A whizzing blur.
This is now—
And there is hope in NOW.

Judy Kukuruza ~ Retired college instructor from CSUB and Bakersfield College.  She published her memoir One Body/Many Souls in 2018, and later Poems to Ponder, Little Stories to Play with in Your Mind, and Letters.  She publishes her blog, “Our Spiritual Journey” through Word Press, participates in the WOK blog challenge and is published in both the WOK Anthology 2018 Reaching for the Sky and the CSUB poetry antholology, Writing Sound. 

18 April 2020 | NPM Poetry Webslam

By

La Vida Lenta

(The Slow Life)

by Rose Lester

Oh so swiftly flying by

            Winter, spring, summer, fall

The hours, days and minutes cry

            For time to answer freedom’s call.

I long for soulful emptiness

            And silence to abide;

A quiet heart that grace does bless

            And angels by my side.

Rose Lester is a Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice. As a true renaissance woman, she aspires to all things creative and is at home in a variety of creative mediums from song writing and singing, to playing her violin and guitar, to painting and sculpting, or writing poems about life and transformation. Her poems have been published in several anthologies and online websites. She volunteers for the Art for Healing program at Mercy Hospital and helps lead the Threshold Choir that sings at the bedside of those in need of comfort and peace.

17 April 2020 | NPM Poetry Webslam

By 

                                                     
No Homilies, Please!
(an Italian Sonnet-1975)
by LaVerne Lovelady
 
Don’t tell me to accept the things I see!
The ills my mother suffered at the hands
of sexist attitudes, were not the Plan
of Father God, but that of bigotry.
Don’t speak to me that lie about my Place,
with child, at home, without the pow’r of choice;
nor ask me speak, with condescending voice,
submissive to this patriarchal race.
 
For there are ways of death I will not choose;
from weapons only feckless fools contrive.
I fight a fight I do not dare to lose.
The fire within burns blessed, and will survive,
     to purify the fiendishly obtuse;
       to purge the dross — restoring burnished lives.

LaVerne Lovelady is a 30-year veteran teacher of English and Interpretive Fiction. Her poems, essays, memoirs, and political commentary have been published in various publications through the years, including the WOK Anthology 2017 and CWC Literary Review.  Her first novel The Quay Question was recently published.    LaVerne is a native Oklahoman, a direct descendant of the Alabama Creek Path Cherokees. She lives in Bakersfield with three adorable cats: Soo-Lin, Siam, and Miss Kitty.

16 April 2020 | NPM Poetry Webslam

By 

When the Going Gets Tough
by Sandy Sanford


When the going gets tough,
the tough get softer.
They have less to protect, as
all around them have their defenses down.
 
When the going gets tough,
the tough can care, be strong for others,
reach out and be there.
The tough weather the storm with those endangered.
 
When the going gets tough,
the tough take off their boxing gloves,
reach out a soft hand,
warm others with a kindness.
 
When the going gets tough,
the tough shave their calluses
on real fear, and offer joy
and hope to those in despair.
 
When the going gets tough,
the tough stay strong, so
when those around melt down,
they do not disappear.
 
When the going gets tough,
the tough can be vulnerable.
They know they are strong.
They’ve practiced their fight song.

Sandy Sanford, a Bakersfield native, left town for thirty years to see the world.  When she returned in 1999, she surprised mostly herself, and stayed.  The world now comes to her.  Dozens of International Students from CSUB have found her home, their home away from home.   

Known as an adventurer, challenger, connector, participator, friend; she loves travel, photography, scuba diving, a good story, journaling and synchronicity.