I Blog Poetry and Prose

I'm caught up with the NaNo Prep challenge exercise I was behind on. Last night, I read two articles in the Would You Vote for Science or God?   series by Maya Bohnhoff. The articles I read are A Debate: Does Science Refute God?   and Life, Matter and the God Particle  . I finished "A Cabin in the Woods"  and submitted it to "Stormy's poetry newsletter & contest" .

The old church--
abandoned by all except
the echoes of the Holy Spirit,
the ghosts memories,
and tourist
that now and then stopped
to kneel in its empty sanctuary
and intone prayers
to one of God's ancient names--
stood facing the east.

I write poem and short stories about Halloween, no longer celebrate or commemorate it. If I need to use it in a short story or poem, I do research on its origins and its myths. I stopped celebrating it, when I realized it no longer held excited me. As a child, I love to dress up and go trick or treating with my sibling, and, as an adult, I sometimes attended Halloween parties at the places I worked. I attended the Halloween parties to be sociable or because friend were attending them. Now I use Halloween as an inspiration to write, but for no other reason.

I am a "mystical aspirant"3--
a poet with mystical aspirations--
who knows that union
with the Unknowable Divine Essence
is impossible.

Sometimes in autumn,
when the leaves begin to fall
and a cold wind blows out of the north,
I remember
the amber leaves
of the cottonwood tree growing
in my Grandparent's front yard.

Welcome to October 2020,
beautiful and scary
with falling leaves,
glowing pumpkins,
and two full moons.

I'm not going to attempt to get my spooky on. If I think of a good or scary start to a story or poem, I'll enter a couple of contests. My focus in October is preparing for NaNoWriMo and keeping doctors appointments. I have a followup with one specialist on October 6 and I'm scheduled for an ultrasound on October 19. I will celebrate the Birth of The Bab on October 18 and the Birth of Baha'u'llah on October 19. I will make entries in "I Blog Poetry and Prose"  and "Snow's Space Blog"  either everyday or every-other-day.

According to the Cambridge dictionary, one of the meanings of detached is "not emotionally involved in a situation"4. Just because a writer isn't emotionally attached to the things or events of this world, doesn't mean much. A writer that is emotionally detached from the events of the world probably has more emotional energy to put into their writing. Detachment from the world just means that they don't worry about losing material things. Nor are they worried about how much money their books bring in, because they put their energy into creating plots, characters, etc.

I'm participating in the "October Novel Prep Challenge"  and National Novel Writing Month as a NaNo Rebel, with the book "Epistles From My Soul" . Earlier this month I wrote three blog entries related to my NaNoWriMo project, and they are "Thoughts on Being a NaNo Rebel" , "Midweek Reflections on Letters From My Soul" , and "On Friday September 18, 2020" . This is about the second or third time I've participated as a NaNo Rebel. I wans't thrilled with the results of the other two projects, so I'm hoping this one goes better. I'm going to plan a little more carefully this time, and it should go better.

At present, America is a nation divided against itself and the world. In an interconnected world, where a small and invisible virus can spread quickly from nation to nation, isolationism--with its America first mask--can only harm the country's citizen, businesses, and government policies. For generations America has been cursed with institutionalized racism and policies that encourage white privilege and power. The policies the country has lived with and encouraged, has caused part of our citizens to live in poverty and require government assistance through no fault of their own. People accepting food stamps and assistance from the government want to work and earn their own living; they are held back by institutions that look at their color, gender, or some other attribute and judge them as less worthy or incapable of performing the job.

The call has gone out for new levels of international cooperation to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. This virus affects the citizens of every nation on Earth, and it can't be battled one nation at a time. To battle this pandemic requires the resources of every nation on Earth. It the nations on Earth respond to this call for unified action against the COVID-19 pandemic, we can defeat it. However, if nations withdrawn into the national borders and attempt to fight this pandemic by themselves the battle is lost.

Who has changed my life? Baha'u'llah has changed my life. He changed it through the sacred scriptures He revealed. He changed it through the prayer He revealed. Before accepting Baha'u'llah I didn't understand that all religions--no matter what they call God--worship the same God. I learned that all religions are sent by one All-Glorious Unknowable Creator. Below is a list of Baha'i Teachings, from the pamphlet Baha'i Solutions, which caused me to investigate the way I thought and to question some of the things I learned as a child.

Is love eternal? Yes, if its the love of God for His creation. Love between human beings is accidental and ephemeral. Anything can come between two people who are in love or think they are in love. It takes hard work for two human beings to remain in love with each other, and--no matter how much people want their love to be eternal--sometimes the relationship between the two isn't worth the work.

Sunday the first day of the week on the Gregorian calendar. On the Baha'i calendar it is Jamal, the day of Beauty. It is church day for some, and, for others, it just another work day or a day off from work or school. For me, today is a day of memories. Memories of growing up in Blackwell, Oklahoma, and attending Sunday services at the First Southern Baptist Mission in the Smelter Heights. My family also attended the First Southern Baptist church in downtown Blackwell, and when we moved to Shawnee, Oklahoma, we attended the Baptist church there. However, it's memories of attending the Mission in the Smelter Heights that are the clearest.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg
a great lady,
a crusader fro gender equality,
and a woman of faith.

On Friday, September 18, 2020
I look out my front door
at the gray clouds
covering the sky
and hiding the sun.

One of the saddest aspects of life is that science and religion are considered enemies. Both science and religion are gifts from God, the All-Glorious Creator, and were never intended to be enemies. One of the basic principles revealed by Baha'u'llah, Prophet Founder of the Baha'i Faith, and enunciated by 'Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah's son, was the harmony of science and religion. Both religion and science are necessary for civilization and humanity to prosper.