AFABW Int Poetry Selections for 2021 Printed Anthology
November 6, 2020 – Los Angeles: The following selected poems will be featured in the next Artists For A Better World International printed poetry anthology, to be published in 2021.
The next phase of book production is receiving sketch illustrations. After the sketches are received and selected, the book will be printed and made available in 2021.
AFABW Int thanks all the poets who submitted work from around the globe in the past year.
The poem sequence in the book will be different than listed below. The final poetry sequence will be partially informed by the visual artist sketches that will accompany some of the poems.
AFABW Int challenged global poets to submit poetry influenced by a theme of “creating a better world” and/or inspiring readers. For additional insight, poets were encouraged to review the purpose of the group, as delineated in the AFABW Int Mission Statement.
Be sure to click “READ MORE” after each poetry excerpt below.
All works copyrighted to each poet with all rights reserved.
When you see this “Sketch Icon” below, that means there’s an illustration available under each indicated poem. Just click “READ MORE” or the “Sketch Icon” to see it.
Dean Blehert: All the Lonely People
Dean resides in the state of Virginia.
It seems like last year, but probably it was
READ MORE
last decade or two that AT&T filled magazines
with ads that covered two pages.
Hiba Ayshabi Babu Rasheed: I Wish I Can Show You My Face
Hiba resides in Doha, Qatar.
I wish I can show you my face.
READ MORE
Show you the dark purple eye-shadow I am wearing
Oh, not for an evening of fun out with the girls
It’s from the sleepless nights I spend crying on the memory of my dead son’s little baby fingers
Rodney Johnson: Calamity
Rodney resides in Washington, D.C.
Moving out is a calamity
READ MORE
Going from a warm bed to a yoga mat is a tragedy
Replacing chicken wings and collard greens with rice and random veggies is challenging
My hard head doesn’t allow for softening
Richard Rensberry: Invitation
Richard resides in Michigan.
May your heart sing like the mockingbird, lilting
bright as the monarch in the marigolds, red
as the blood of the Indian paintbrush
flourishing at the orchard gate, happy
as the pears and the Sweet-Dutch apple, purple
as the sunburnt peach.May your feet dance like the breeze
through the copses of oak and maple, waltz
like the rain through the roses and rhumba
up the walk to our back porch, shuffle
to the susurrus of crickets and cicadas
‘neath the stair where floorboards creak.May the door open wide with a smile,
Fini
a hug and an ice cold drink.
Hanna Lynn Roth: On a Hill in Hollywood
Hanna resides in California.
Helmet on, brake check
READ MORE
Red light, slow down
I smell my leather jacket
The tires are spinnin’ round
Richard Rensberry: The Ire of God
Richard resides in Michigan.
Earl’s heart
READ MORE
like the rabbits and deer
gets its tides from the phases
of moon. As it wanes
all is quiet in the woods
and furrows.
Richard Rensberry: Mother and Father
Richard resides in Michigan.
If I were the rain,
READ MORE
I would be less begrudging.
Millicent Segwane: The Streets
Millicent resides in Gauteng, South Africa.
The streets that I walk… Doesn’t that sound so unoriginal? Which great artist has not yet said those words?
READ MORE
The streets of a place that I call home remind me of a place that I call hell, wouldn’t you at least walk the streets with me?
Rodney Johnson: Face to Face
Rodney resides in Washington, D.C.
The water feels like champagne chains
READ MORE
As beautiful as it is intoxicating
Ready to pull you in for a voyage
Or a passage
Rory Jackson: Our Isolated Place
Rory resides in the United Kingdom.
it’s Kafkaesque
READ MORE (and view video poem)
Masquerades and fancy dress
Method for the madness
Is it working? How can they tell?
Kay D. Weeks: My Love Letter
Kay resides in the state of Maryland.
Earth love,
READ MORE
I never have to ask you to touch me:
Hovering storm-cloud embrace
with white hair like wind-riffled sand
Diego Bonilla & Rodolfo Mata: Big Data
Diego and Rodolfo reside in the United States and Mexico.
We do not know you, but we know you quite well
we have come to know you through the millions of people
who, like you,
have left their digital footprints here in the database.Based on our statistical data, we can tell you that you follow the standard pattern
READ MORE
Angelica Poversky: ANGELIQUOI? – To The Colours I Cannot Name
Angelica resides in Canada.
I know the ocean is vast and vital- a massive part untouched
READ MORE (and view video poem)
a small part, taken for its resources and magic
But like all water
The ocean recalls the bath of dissolution
The way waves can turn an ox into sugar.
Kunle Okesipe: Tell Her
Kunle resides in Nigeria.
Tell her that sheds a tributary of tears in the rain,
READ MORE
That mates her salt with silt,
In a jailbreak of feelings like funerary volcanoes:
There is a hyperlink of sorrow between her cheeks and a distant wood.
Kunle Okesipe: The Journey of the Magi
Kunle resides in Nigeria.
On our way to planting an orchard in Mars,
READ MORE
To turn its meteorites to cuisines for breakfast,
And gift the lilies of earth to woo its desert,
To lure its canyons back to the lineage of water,
TahLeeTah Jhen Kuom: What If?
TahLeeTah resides in Hong Kong.
What if your past disaster is someone else’s present,
READ MORE
Could you bear to see without lending a hand?
What if your hands are full and your purse is tight,
How could you be of help, what is your essence?
Fabiyas M V: The Tomb
Fabiyas resides in India.
Though building his own tomb,
READ MORE
he’s not insane.
Fabienne: When We Have A Choice
Fabienne resides in the United Kingdom.
What will you do my friend, once the storm is over
READ MORE
Where will you go neighbour, to now discover
Who will you see cousin, when you can have a choice?
George Alger: An Airport Soiree
George Alger resides in the United States.
On we paraded to and fro,
ten thousand souls a day.To just as many fates and fortunes,
READ MORE (and view video poem)
processions for meaning, hope or play.
Erenestina: Father
Erenestina resides in Albania.
Once you told me that the heart doesnt beat in the heart,
READ MORE
now that I understand where it does,
the wind beats to you somewhere,
Dean Blehert: Giving
Dean resides in the state of Virginia.
The featherbed, we say, “gives,” meaning
READ MORE
it accepts one’s shape. Water gives (ice doesn’t).
Hiba Ayshabi Babu Rasheed: Qatar
Hiba resides in Doha, Qatar.
Beautiful houses, neatly arranged
READ MORE
Tall date palm trees, what a wonderful exchange
Little rain during the months of winter
O land you give us back so much better
Malcolm Aslett: A Complicated Misunderstanding
Malcolm resides in Virginia.
It was a complicated misunderstanding
READ MORE
And all happened because I don’t understand
How a time machine works under the hood
Kevin Taylor: Peace
Kevin resides in Canada.
Peace
READ MORE
Is not withdrawal
Peace is the surge
The urge
Gerald Jatzek: Mycelia
Gerald resides in Vienna, Austria.
What if thoughts take time?
READ MORE
We are born. We plant a tree.
We plan. Trees grow. We die.
Rodney Johnson: Stuck
Rodney resides in Washington, D.C.
If I had to describe 24 in one word it would be stuck!
READ MORE
Can see where I want to be and where I am all at once
Pleased with where I am but not satisfied enough
Fabiyas M V: Nimisha
Fabiyas resides in India.
In her layette, she looked fair.
READ MORE
‘Nimisha’, the parents called her.
When aged five, the polio plucked
the strings that her legs moved.
Shawn Schoeller: Before The Rise of Man
Shawn resides in the state of Florida.
Do you happen to recall
READ MORE
The way we were before the fall?
Us before Time began
Before the awful rise of man?
Hiba Ayshabi Babu Rasheed: Surveillance
Hiba resides in Doha, Qatar.
His eyes blinked twice, maybe thrice
READ MORE
With a somber gloom, they ate
dare not spilling the stale rice.
Silykane Watomassyane: Fragile Flowers
Silykane resides in Mozambique.
Souls of tiny trees give birth to flowers,
READ MORE
Nevertheless the absence of the spring
In the land of dilemmas rooted in my heart,
Where shame welcomes me every
Unwished but deserved daybreak…
Silykane Watomassyane: Fraternity Beyond
Silykane resides in Mozambique.
I close my eyes for not to see the world
READ MORE
In a protest, I deny to behold its beauty
Adorned with indifference to others pain:
Not being noticed is the major pain to me…
Antonio Baptista Magaia Júnior: The Symphony of Revolution
Antonio resides in Mozambique.
These are the verses that the symphony never wrote
READ MORE
The mission that the world few understood
The loan of geniality that the talent did propose
The mad astuteness of the artist of the land
Kevin Taylor: Hello for the Earth
Kevin resides in Canada.
Hello for the earth
READ MORE
Hello for the moon
Hello from the sky
Hello from a room
Jeevan Bhagwat: Tomorrow’s Child
Jeevan resides in Canada.
Come child
READ MORE
let me teach you peace
for you know too much
of war and despair,
too much
of hunger and pain.
Gerald Jatzek: Understanding
Gerald resides in Vienna, Austria.
I am a man of roads.
I could stay in your house
forever. StillI’d be a man of roads.
Still I’d stay.
Fini
Aadya Sharma: Thinking Out Loud
Aadya resides in India.
O Butterfly!
READ MORE
Sitting on a flower in the tree
So beautiful and yet so free
Mehak Shaikh: Muffled Summer
Mehak resides in Pakistan.
Summer has come to bring warmness
READ MORE
Marine indulged floret outfit
inhaled the fragrance in calmness
Mesmerized much
Silykane Watomassyane: In Green I Shall Rest
Silykane resides in Mozambique.
In my dream there will be no drought
READ MORE
That will decimate these superb landscapes…
With green trees, the world is a journey –
And is sad to see handicapped its branches…
Mark Andrew Heathcote: We Could Be Eco-Lovers
Mark resides in the United Kingdom.
We could be eco-lovers
READ MORE
Adopt a ‘hands-on’ approach
We could be gentle sisters & brothers
Mark Andrew Heathcote: Primal Instincts
Mark resides in the United Kingdom.
Is this why we are ripping-
READ MORE
Each other limb from limb
So, primal instincts live again.
Can we not be brothers in arms?
Kathryn Sadakierski: Ellipses
Kathryn resides in Massachusetts.
Did you ever notice
READ MORE
That when the wind spins
It brings leaves and twigs
With it?
Antonio Baptista Magaia Júnior: Love, Sun of Humanity
Antonio resides in Mozambique.
With the creator born the creation
READ MORE
Each creature, miniature of its distinction
With the word we adorn emotion
Kathryn Sadakierski: Cycle
Kathryn resides in Massachusetts.
The circles we move in
READ MORE
Fuse,
Unbroken,
Like Monet’s water lilies,
Floating eternally,
In rotations like the planets
Orbiting around the sun
Nikhil Parekh: A Child Smiles
Nikhil resides in India.
Only in a world of freedom,
READ MORE
Can a child unfold and bloom.
Only with the Sun piercing right through the dark hut,
Can a child see the wonderful sights of this world.
Kathryn Sadakierski: Layers
Kathryn resides in Massachusetts.
Let go of misconceptions,
READ MORE
Let slip away stereotypes, striated by
Preconceived notions,
Mehak Shaikh: Her Crafted Moments
Mehak resides in Pakistan.
She cannot forget those moments
READ MORE
That was the cause to let her live
Warmth affection rises the spirits
To encourage the blossom in life
Jessica O. Osburn: Smile
Jessica resides in Arkansas.
I smiled at an old man today.
READ MORE
And much to my surprise he smiled back.
His kindness caught me a little off guard, kinda knocked me off track.
Mary Rensberry: Man and Beast
Mary resides in Michigan.
it is all too well known
that together at this ending feast
most man and beast have grown
in love, at the very least.the beasts and lilies of the field
Fini
indeed have emancipated man
their pure spirit sought has healed
where sometimes no language can.
Dr. Srilakshmi: A Requiem to a Gentle Soul
Dr. Srilakshmi resides in India.
An edifice massive, its stones grey gleam,
READ MORE
Gilded golden, by the Sun’s Midas beam.
An edifice of learning, through its portals streamed,
Many a waif, of great healers dreamed.
Dr. Srilakshmi: A Magical Refraction
Dr. Srilakshmi resides in India.
Clouds dark so ominous seem,
Fini
Rent apart on the heavenly screen.
On the azure blue, a wand magical,
Creates a wonder, a celestial spectacle.
A bow massive spanning the horizon,
Heralding the end of a stormy clarion.
Of hues so pure but ephemeral,
A refraction into colors seven of light eternal.
Jeevan Bhagwat: The Song of Peace
Jeevan resides in Canada.
Once, you were a pretty bird
READ MORE
With the rainbow’s colours in your mouth,
Singing hallelujahs that were heard
From east to west, and north to south.
Rebecca L. Mate: A Better World
Rebecca resides in California.
Not pie in the sky
READ MORE
Nor idealistic try,
Anika Anderson: Still
Anika resides in Canada.
Quiet stillness
READ MORE
Moments of reflection and relaxation
Blue skies, starry nights
Barely noticeable before in life’s business
Mary Rensberry: Practice Each Moment
Mary resides in Michigan.
When you are tired, sit down and rest. When you are hungry, eat.
When you need a hug, give one.Life is full of challenges and if it’s not, you’re not living!
Listening to yourSelf is an art.
Fini
Practice each moment.
Dean Blehert: A Sea Gull, Two Crows and an Egret on Duty
Dean resides in the state of Virginia.
I sat in the café looking out
READ MORE
at a few half-occupied tables
and just beyond, a railing where perched
a sea gull and an egret and (on and off)
two crows, one, always, with beak open,
though I heard nothing through the glass,
Mary Rensberry: Said a Little Bird
Mary resides in Michigan.
said a little bird
READ MORE
step into my shoes