Friday, December 28, 2012

The Sweet and the Serious

I wanted to talk about something I enjoyed today, but then I also heard about something disturbing that needs attention. So I am sharing both the sweet and the serious. First, the sweet:


My friend Robyn Hood Black wrote this for our winter poem swap:

What's in a Name?

Tabatha -
dactyl in poetry feet
waltzing in
rhythms of
magical beats
music and
drawing and
writing in lines
energy
synergy -
How your work shines!

*********

I love dancing dactyls :-) I was also excited to receive THE ARROW FINDS ITS MARK – A Book of Found Poems, edited by Georgia Heard. Here's a link to a post where Robyn shares another terrific found poem. Robyn likes using found objects to make visual art, too. She gave me this wonderful decorated antique letterpress T:


Robyn's Etsy shop, Artsy Letters, is here.

*********

Now for the serious bit:

The Committee to Protect Journalists has released statistics for 2012 that are grim. 67 journalists were killed in 2012, particularly in Syria and Somalia. The number of jailed journalists also set a global record. The top offenders were: Turkey, Iran, China, Eritrea, Syria, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, Uzbekistan, and Saudi Arabia. This is unacceptable.

Ways to Get Involved

*********

Carol's Corner is hosting Poetry Friday today.

6 comments:

Linda B said...

Thank you, Tabatha. Robyn's poem is good, rather breezy and pretty and a wonderful compliment for you, and the 'bad' is just that, bad. Thank you for the link.

Robyn Hood Black said...

Tabatha, so honored you shared my poem here today! Thanks for the kind words and artsy shout-out, too.

Re. the serious side of today's post, I've always loved your blog name and you regularly live up to it. Thank you for illuminating what needs attention, like these awful statistics about those who risk their lives to tell the truth.

Mary Lee said...

Robyn's poem makes my want to dance! It needs some music...

Author Amok said...

Hi, Tabatha. Lovely found letter pendant from Robyn. Nice! I'll bet you'll never hear your name the same way again after Robyn's musical poem.

Tara @ A Teaching Life said...

So, being the kind of person I am, I read the serious bit first - thanks for posting about this, Tabatha, and for sharing a way in which one can take some action. Dis you hear Richard Engle's account of his kidnapping in Syria? Heart stopping stuff.
And then to the poem about Tabatha, how lovely to inspire lines such as:
waltzing in
rhythms of
magical beats
Sublime!

Joyce Ray said...

Your name dances! Robyn's poem is lovely. Thanks for the call and the link to support journalists - truth tellers who lay their lives on the line for justice.