Poetry Corner* Dr. Archan Mehta

FRIENDS

Truth be told, 

I have lost my friends,

Over the years:

I no longer know

Where my friends are,

What my friends are doing,

Or where I can find my friends.

However, I have heard the

Rumors floating around regarding

My old and dear friends:

Some are medicine men,

Working for prestigious hospitals,

With fancy titles and brand names.

Some of my friends are busy

Singing in bars and taverns

In a drunken stupor;

Other friends are socialites,

Famous for being famous.

And, last but not the least,

Some of my friends

Have turned to PR,

And have joined the

Page 3 crowd, surrounded

By celebrities galore from

Every walk of life.

I am not sure, however,

If I want to be close to

My friends anymore:

I think, maybe, I have

Outgrown my friends and

It is likely that my friends

Have outgrown me too:

As the saying goes, after all:

“Out of sight, out of mind.”

I guess I want to be left alone.

Instead, I will try to find

My own slice of heaven,

Far away from my friends,

Beneath the pretty moon,

And under the welcoming trees,

With the vast and open 

Sky as company for me.

BIO:

Dr. Archan Mehta has earned a PhD. in Management. Currently, he is a Consultant and Writer based in India. In his free time, Dr. Mehta likes to stroll in the outdoors and party with close friends. He is also fond of meditation. Please feel free to reach out to the poet at archanm@hotmail.com at your convenience.

On the Poetry Scene* Year-End Announcements & Updates

 

Happy Holiday Season!

As the year comes to a close, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for your support, time, readership and sharing of gifts in 2022.

It has contributed greatly to Poets United's overall success and longevity.

Below are a few events and programs that may be of interest to those of you in the poetry community. Please feel free to share your own events as well via the comments section.

•  Poets United is slated to participate in Chicago Public Library's annual Poetry Fest to be held in April, 2023. This week-long event will feature some of the best talent in the Windy City. Activities include: educational workshops, poetry readings, business panels, poetry vendors and more. Stay tuned for details.

• Highland Park Poetry is holding a Poetry Challenge. Their website provides the following info: " POETRY CHALLENGE. Now accepting submissions for Highland Park Poetry's 2023 Poetry Challenge. Poets of all ages are invited to write about 1) Flowers, or 2) Architecture (honoring the 300th anniversary of the death of Sir Christopher Wren - may write about any architect or piece of architecture), or 3) write a poem in the form of a Japanese Imayo. Deadline is January 31, 2023 at midnight. For downloadable .pdf of submission guidelines and entry form, visit our Daily Poems & Events Page."

• Poets United seeks applicants for the Robin Denise  Williams' Memorial Writing Scholarship.  In our mission to advance poetry, foster greater appreciation for the creative arts, and support emerging writers and poets, Poets United is currently seeking applications for its Robin Denise Williams Memorial Writing Scholarship for 2022-2023. Read more here:

https://poetsunitedtoadvancethearts.blogspot.com/2021/12/poets-united-seeks-applicants-for-robin.html

Deadline is January 31, 2023. Submit essay along with contact info to Coffeejens@gmail.com.

Scholarship recipient will be notified and awarded funds in early 2023.

• New Verse is looking for poetry on current events and trending topics. See their guidelines here:

https://www.newpages.com/guide-submission-opportunities/calls-for-submissions-new-verse-news-current-events-poetry/

Nominate your favorite Chicago Poet for Poetry Laureate designation.

• The City of Chicago is launching a program to select its 1st Poet Laureate.

$50,000 will be awarded to the chosen individual. See more details here:

  https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/poet_laureate.html

Wishing you and yours a happy, safe and prosperous 2023. This blog will be on break until February, 2023.  Hope to see you then! 

Image credits: Pixabay.com

Ode to Toni Morrison* A Highland Park Poetry Review

 

As poets and writers, putting our work out into the public arena makes us vulnerable. It exposes us like a swim suit model. It makes us crazy.  We agonize over what people will think of us. We agonize over our choices.

We face potential criticism. We risk being judged. People can be unkind in their feedback. Not to mention, some folks simply fail to get where we are coming from. They miss the message. Critics would be surprised to learn that it's harder than it looks.

And let's face it: art is subjective. "One man's trash is another man's treasure." Which is why I was honored and humbled with today's review of my recent book by Highland Park Poetry.

Reviewer Barbara Eaton shares the following:

There is no dross in the poetry of Jennifer Brown Banks.  Direct, to-the-point, intelligent, and often witty, her poems speak to her experience and ours.  Her latest book, “Ode to toni morrison” (and collected poems...) covers the pandemic, the death of her mother, the deaths of Toni Morrison and the artist formerly known as Prince, the joys and fears of parenting, what she calls the “Daddy Deficit,” and many more of the trials and triumphs of life.

The title poem, “Ode to Toni Morrison,” expresses the poet’s wish to have met the Nobel Laureate “Perhaps in some/Quaint coffee shop,/ With an assortment of herbal teas/ And pricey brews,” the young poet “Full of awe and admiration,” “Hoping to emulate.”  But, alas, this meeting never took place, since Morrison passed away in 2019.  Her works, however, remain “Etched/ In our hearts.”

“Ain’t it Silly? Really!” is a clever little poem about the trivial reasons for family feuds:

“because they disagree,

Over ancient history.

Or money. 

Or sibling rivalry. 

Or hurtful words               

Uttered mistakenly."

My favorite poem in the collection is “Parenting is Like Baking a Cake.”  It is a conceit, an elaborate comparison of cake baking and parenting.  The conclusion is characteristically optimistic: you “hope/It rises.” 

I enjoyed the poet’s energy and optimism.  If you need a shot of energy and optimism, you need this book. 

===ABOUT THE REVIEWER: Barbara Eaton is a poet and semi-retired community college instructor.

To read the entire review or to order the book, visit Highland Park Poetry's site here:

http://www.highlandparkpoetry.org/reviewsthanks.html

 A special thanks to Highland Park Poetry and Barbara Eaton for their time, consideration, and constructive feedback.  

Image credit: quotation mark, Pixabay.com

Poetry Corner* Dr. Archan Mehta

 

Poem : What Is Creativity?

Creativity is something

I can’t figure out:

Creativity is both a

Mystery and a process:

I picked up a pen

And tried to create a poem,

But I really felt stumped.

My fingers would not

Move at all. Truth be told,

I think I suffered from “writer’s block.”

But suddenly, when I ventured outside

For a stroll, well, the poem

Wrote itself: my pen flowed

With effortless ease. Thus,

Creating a poem is not a

Question of hard work or even

Mankind’s indomitable will.

After all, when you are in the mood,

Creativity starts to flow with the

Power of a Niagra Falls.

When the muse decides

To visit you, finally, you need

To fill your vessel with rhythm and music.

Creativity annihilates your ego and

You are left alone: there is

Something in here and out there,

Which is unfathomable like an

Unexplored ocean pulsating

With turbulent waters but fills

You like a balloon. And you

Are filled with a sense of awe

And wonder in your eyes, the

Enchantment of an eternal sunrise.

And then, creativity, all of a sudden,

Dies quietly like friends and relatives

Mourning silently at a funeral.

BIO:

Dr. Archan Mehta has earned a PhD. in Management. Currently, he is a Consultant and Writer based in India. In his free time, Dr. Mehta likes to stroll in the outdoors and party with close friends. He is also fond of meditation. Please feel free to reach out to the poet at archanm@hotmail.com at your convenience

Poetry Corner* Dr. Archan Mehta

Poem : Power of Memory

Something we love

Lives after us:

A favorite song,

A cherished friend,

A sweet and cute baby,

Blessed with cherubic cheeks.

We pursue our passion

But only have one life to live.

Something we love

Lives after us:

A stolen kiss,

Bar-hopping and gate-crashing

Parties when we were young

And restless and carefree.

Memories we share will

Return to haunt us like

A phantom lurking 

Silently in the shadows.

Memory is like an old

Shirt we wear, time and again,

Long after we pass on.

And this is our new dawn:

For this body is only

Our temporary abode.

But people who are

Close to us

Will remember us

Long after we are gone beyond

The setting of the sun.

BIO:

Dr. Archan Mehta has earned a PhD. in Management. Currently, he is a Consultant and Writer based in India. In his free time, Dr. Mehta likes to stroll in the outdoors and party with close friends. He is also fond of meditation. Please feel free to reach out to the poet at archanm@hotmail.com at your convenience.

Image credit: Pixabay.com

Poetry Corner* By Dr. Archan Mehta

 A Poet’s Fate?

I write this song

For the talented poet

Who tragically died,

Penniless, in an open gutter.

Even so,

May this poet’s tribe increase

And find solace

In the salty breeze.

May such poets find patrons,

Who support the arts,

Like this poet,

For a start.

And may such artists

Never feel alone:

Instead, may poets find

Shelter in support groups

Meant for such endangered 

And exotic species:

And may such poets

Lose their fear

Of failure, over time,

Why, their acts of

Creation feel like mine.

And may such poets

Find a permanent abode

In the act of creation itself,

Without having to worry

About how to sell

To the highest bidder

In an auction house:

After all, this is a

Fate worse than hell!

Therefore, talented poet,

Reign supreme,

For I imagine you

Up among the clouds:

Poet, you don’t need

To be loud to be heard:

We, who are sensitive,

To your needs, hear

You, loud and clear,

Poet, dear.

POET'S BIO:

Dr. Archan Mehta has earned a PhD. in Management. Currently, he is a Consultant and Writer based in India. In his free time, Dr. Mehta likes to stroll in the outdoors and party with close friends. He is also fond of meditation. Please feel free to reach out to the poet at archanm@hotmail.com at your convenience.

Image credits: Pixabay.com

The Poetry Corner* By Dr. Archan Mehta

Happy September!

Please join me in welcoming our new monthly poetry contributor. Dr. Archan is a very diverse, dynamic poet who has written on an array of timely topics over the years, for various publications. Here he shares his thoughts on love and its many lessons.

Enjoy! 

Drifting Apart?

Baby:

I’m not coming home

For you have lost the

Art of capturing my heart,

And I guess that

We have drifted apart.

Baby:

There was a time

When we walked,

Hand in hand,

On a stranded beach,

Close to oblivion.

Baby:

There were stars

In our eyes,

When we were young and foolish,

Way back then,

But we have drifted apart

And there is nothing 

Left between us:

Just the memories

Of yesterday

And no tomorrow

To look forward to.

Baby:

Do you remember?

It used to be

Just me and you

But our world conveniently

Forgot about us

And now we

Have drifted apart:

Fallen like old comrades

In a sinking ship

Headed for the bottomless pit

Of the ocean—

Like prisoners of war

Walking the plank

On a pirate’s ship

Destined for shark-infested waters.

Baby:

There is no rose

Beautiful enough

To mend our sorrows

Because we have drifted apart.

Baby:

We have fallen

Like angels dancing

On broken shards of glass:

How we have drifted apart,

Over the years.

Baby:

The days are near

When you and I

Will come close to tears.

Baby:

We have drifted apart

And there is no way

In the world

We’re going to ever

Make a brand, new start.

Baby:

You go your way

And I’ll go my way.

Baby:

We can no longer

Sit on a magic carpet

Made of dreams;

Nor sing songs

Longing for eternity

Because you and I,

Baby, were never

Meant to be, don’t you see?

Baby:

Maybe it is time

For us to search

For another country,

For we have drifted apart.

POET'S BIO:

Dr. Archan Mehta has earned a PhD. in Management. Currently, he is a Consultant and Writer based in India. In his free time, Dr. Mehta likes to stroll in the outdoors and party with close friends. He is also fond of meditation. Please feel free to reach out to the poet at archanm@hotmail.com at your convenience.

Image credits: Pixabay.com