Poets Salon: For the Earth

POETS SALON

Cloud Mountains (Photo – Mona Bedi)

– 04/19/22

Hosted by Kathabela Wilson

for the future
sunflower seeds
In all our pockets

~ Kathabela

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In the wind (Photo – Susan Rodgers)

Susan Rogers

Holding On

Listening to the news of Kyiv under attack I recall stories of my grandma Rose. I can still hear the urgency in her voice although it’s been years since she’s been gone. She told me, “I was born in the small town Pavoloch, in 1905 near Kyiv. My father was a business man who leased an orchard in the spring. He would estimate, buy the trees then harvest, apples, pears and grapes. In the summer we all went there and lived in huts to help get the fruit from the trees.

It was very good until times changed. Often we had pograms. This was very bad because when the Cossacks came we never knew who would survive. We used to run away to friends’ homes and hide. The last time they came it was so terrible that half of the Jewish people were killed, houses burned, women raped. They ran through the streets and killed my cousin who was supposed to have a baby. They killed her but not the baby. Then they came into my house. My mother was smart. She had my sister Anna in bed with all kinds of medicine. The men were afraid to touch her because they thought they would get the sickness. They took some of our things but didn’t harm us that time.

We decided enough was enough. We sold our house and paid a man to take us to the river. He came in the middle of the night and took us to the Dnieper river. The river was deep and we thought we would drown. My father carried his mother on his back and the older children carried the younger ones. The water was up to our necks. We were caught once in a field and taken to jail but later released and brought to Romania. A charitable organization helped us out as refugees. We did not know the language and the money we had was not good. We did odd jobs. My dad and brothers worked all day for a loaf of bread. But when they brought it home and cut it open it was full of maggots and we had to throw it out. A lot of the time we were hungry. But we made it. We finally came to America.

cliff’s edge
a wild sunflower
holding on

unseasonable heat
this year even warmer
in Kyiv

Ukrainian spring
everywhere I turn blossoms
yellow and blue

Trader Joes’ morning
needing to find hope
I buy peace lillies

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From a trek to Valley of flowers, Uttarakhand, India (Photo – Mona Bedi)

Mona Bedi

War destroys everything. According to Buddhism violence harms the spiritual state of the perpetrator, as well as the victim.It’s high time Russia felt remorse over the bloodshed it has caused. All living things have a right to life.

war siren
just mom’s lullaby
to the rescue

snow desert
bullets bounce off
helmets

cloud animals
my childhood comes alive
on the morning sky

cerulean sky
the way my thoughts
stitch the clouds

hidden moon
under the ghoonghat*
a shy new bride

*A ghoonghat is a headcovering or headscarf, worn primarily in the Indian subcontinent, by married Hindu.

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For Ukraine. Photo and words by Susan Rogers.

For the Earth: Notes and Credits

Susan Rogers considers poetry vehicles for light. She’s a practitioner of Sukyo Mahikari—a spiritual practice promoting positivity. In 2013, 2017 she received nominations for Pushcart Prizes. She’s co editor of A Sonic Boom of Stars and was one of four international judges for the 8th Rabindranath Tagore Award. https://www.loispjones.com/susan-rogers.

Mona Bedi lives in Delhi, India. She says: “I am a medical doctor in Delhi, India. I have been writing poetry since childhood but a few years back I started writing the Japanese form…haiku. I have two poetry books published by the name of ‘they you and me’ and ‘dancing moonlight.’ I live with my husband, two children and a dog. I have won prizes in many haiku competitions and had an honorable mention at the Japan Fair 2021. I love nature and hiking. Clouds hold a special place in my heart, especially the way they constantly change forms and an entire day can pass just watching them. I feel that clouds are the paint strokes by nature.”

Memory Lane
> You will love to visit with Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy, Giselle Maya, Shelagh Morrison, Roy Kindelberger, Carol Judkins, Renee Howard Cassese and matsukaze (Orrin Tyrell), the beauty of our related salon in 2018, "Earth Hour."

Submission Guidelines

Suggest your own theme. or write Kathabela for a theme suggestion. We publish every two weeks. Send short poems, free verse, haiku, senryu, tanka, cherita, haibun, tanka prose, short prose poems, etc., or your own unique approach, to Kathabela by text message or (click here to email her directly). We can feature your work again after five months. Multiple Submissions can be saved to appear later:

1. Send a short bio, with comments on your theme.
2. Send photos or artwork by you, or friends.
3. Put your poems directly in the email.
4. No attachments except photos.

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