Learning Poetry

I happen to like a lot of different kinds of written work. As you've well noticed I'm sure if you're a regular reader, if you're not, welcome on board ^_^.

When I was in college I was introduced to something called Poetry Slams, the idea of which puzzled me slightly. Why would people be slamming poetry? And then we watched some video footage, and I was amazed! This was something new, and wonderful to me.

I was blessed to have the chance to see one of the artists perform live at my college. (And some of his work is amazing, just from a literary appreciation view, so seeing it done live and seeing what it was meant to sound like in person was great.) Today I figured that I'd start rounding this blog out, into a more cross genre creature (slowly as it may be) by adding one of his books of poetry to the mix.

What Learning Leaves
Taylor Moli
74 pages

I've had my copy of this book for 6 years. I've shared it with a few people, but it ended up in storage at one point and it recently came out. The poetry contained between the pages covers a variety of topics, but the ones that most people will relate to or understand are the ones concerning school.

"Like Lilly Like Wilson" is one of my favorite poems in the book. It looks at the way people use the word like, even when it isn't necessary. Teenagers will likely find amusement in the words, and an understanding as well. That sometimes, there's a limit.

Taylor Moli has put out more poetry since then(of course) and has his own website, If you're intrigued or even just a bit curious please head on over and take a look. http://www.taylormali.com/index1.html

Celebrate!

Well, since many people are celebrating this today, Merry Christmas! I hope that the day brings you joy and that you have a chance to sit back and enjoy the time you have. It seems there's never enough time anymore. We're so busy trying to make ends meet, and just stay alive, we barely have a chance to take a deep breathe and really look at what's going on around us.

A lot of people say that this is the time of year to foster goodwill and peace among men. With that in mind I would like to make a recommendation to you. Please be open minded and here me out.

A good number of us have opinions about other religions that are based on rumors or stereotypes, rather than facts. The media of today doesn't help with that either. Movies are often demonizing different groups and setting things up in favor of one group or another. If we look beyond these displays, we can see that in actuality there are more similarities than differences.

So today, I'm going to recommend the following. Instead of judging someones ideas or background, their religion or nationality, Read something about it. Look into the actual texts. Educate yourself, and become more well rounded. Remember that not everyone is extreme, there are many people who's goal in life is to interact with others peacefully.

That said, I am not going to recommend a specific text, but rather I am recommending that you learn to use your curiosity in order to make better decisions. We can see peace, we can see goodwill, but we have to remember that it starts with us. Our actions do influence the cations of others. Understanding how or why someone does something makes a big difference in how you see them.

Anyway, enough of that. Have a splendid holiday, and please enjoy the chance to spend time with the people that you love, as well as the pleasant memories of the past. Thank you kindly also for thinking to give some of your time today to me. May peace be with you.