Aunt Bea (for Fortnight of Funnies)

Charles Martin presents:

digital decoupage cwmartin

religious odyssey

aunt bea
was reading
the sunday paper
when i stopped by
she said
i’ve noticed
that
they have
computer apps
for just about
everything
here’s one
that tutors students
it even watches
the student’s face
so it knows
if the student
is getting upset
and
will provide
some
comforting words
of encouragement
guess we can
soon expect
that someone
somewhere
will walk into a confessional
ask for father dave
and hear
dave
dave’s not here
i’m
hal

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Today’s funny is from the prolific USA poet Charles Martin aka slplmartin who blogs at Read Between the Minds.

Charles posts a poem a day (text and audio) accompanied by his own wonderfully expressive photographs and digital compilations.

Not only is Charles super talented but his poetry is the beam from the lighthouse shining in the darkness which is the world of war, corruption, slavery and black hearts.

The poem I have posted today is one of his famous aunt bea poems, and he has quite a collection. She is the aunty we all wished we had sitting in the kitchen with a cup of tea and words of wisdom and wit 😉

Charles has quite the loyal following and I am one of his biggest fans.

Thanks Charles for reminding the world of things that are usually hidden or denied;

and thanks for letting me purloin your poem and digitial decoupage 🙂

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Guest Blogger – beeblue

Today I would like to introduce you to a blogger from Australia – beeblue, who blogs ‘life, or something like it, in poetry and photos’ over here. She is also known as bluebee (just to confuse us).

bluebee or not bluebee, that is the question. (sorry – couldn’t resist 🙂 ).

She is a very talented poet (rumoured to have an aunty famous for poetry – I wonder who it could be?), unafraid to dredge the deepest waters for material. Her poetry will make you laugh, make you cry and make you wish you could write better.

Beeblue also posts lovely photographs of trips to places like New York and makes us all very jealous – haha. Now without further ado, the wonderful beeblue will answer my usual two little questions.

Why do you blog?

I started my blog mainly as a way of relieving stress and to balance out what I consider the left-brained nature of my work with a bit of creativity. I’ve dabbled in creative writing on and off over the years and started writing a novel two years ago but don’t really have the necessary time to devote to it given my work and personal commitments. Writing poetry is less time-consuming but it satisfies that need for a creative outlet and helps me to focus on articulating some pre-occupations.

What do you like best about blogging?

I’m very interested in the way people distil their view of the world through their unique manipulation of language. And the fact that people from almost (almost) any global demographic can exchange views and debate on almost any subject is remarkable – it provides a fantastic opportunity to engage with talented and interesting people we would never otherwise meet and I’ve learnt a lot from my experiences with the good, the bad and the downright weird ;-). And the whole meme aspect just blows my mind, too. But what I love most of all is seeing the humour and resilience shine through people’s writing when the subtext indicates that they are struggling with some pretty serious issues – it’s instructive and keeps my faith in humanity hanging on by its fingernails, ha, ha.

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Thanks beeblue 🙂

Guest Blogger – Mark William Jackson

Mark William Jackson

Today I would like to introduce you to fellow blogger Mark William Jackson from Sydney, Australia. Mark’s blog showcases his unique style of poetry, but also short stories, reviews, art, and photography. Some of his posts can also be found lurking at the Overland literary journal.

He has publicly struggled with the addictive nature of blogging, but is currently off the wagon and well into imbibing of the blog juice 🙂 so I thought it was as good a moment as any to ask him a couple of questions.

Why do you blog?

I’ve been scribbling sporadically for 20 years. Throughout this time I’d write some poems, send one to an editor, receive a rejection and give up for a few years. I started my blog in 2009, firstly on blogger (now I think it’s called blogspot), then I migrated to wordpress. Initially it was just another phase in the sporadic writing cycle, but then I started receiving comments – for the first time people outside of my immediate family were reading my poetry. It was exhilarating (and addictive). It was this encouragement that gave me the drive to keep going, helped me to handle the rejections and work on my development.

What do you like best about blogging?

I have a relatively well documented love/hate relationship with my blog. I have built it up and broken it down three or four times now. Once it starts ‘rolling’ I find myself drawn into it too much, I become blinkered to all else and the tool becomes the product. And yet, when I’m not actively blogging I feel a lack of connection.

I like the interaction with other writers, the back and forth feedback, suggestions and interpretations of my work that I had never considered.

I like the blog to serve as a central online repository, a place where, if people are interested in my work, they can look through previously published poems, links to where I am currently being published and works created exclusively for the blog.

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Thanks Mark 🙂