*** BLOG CARNIVAL: When you write a poem about the orphans in the world I'll be glad to add your link to this post! Contact me, Denny Lyon, at this email address: warriorspearl@gmail.com or on Twitter: DennyLyon7. Keeping this blog carnival open until Valentine's Day so you have plenty of time to brain storm and craft a good write!
Blog Carnival Poem Links:
Mystic Dave
From Denny: Poetry is an odd form of writing as your brain goes off in different directions. That's what you get from a university degree - it can get in the way of some good writing. :) Sometimes, you wonder where the writing process will take you...
This time, like so many others, my rational side of the brain had it all mapped out and structured as to how to write this poem. What I always find amusing about myself is the internal dialogue going on whenever I write.
The spiritual non-verbal side of the brain, the right side, asserts itself and directs me to go on over to flickr to look for photos to illustrate the poem. The rational left brain falls for this ruse every time and dutifully hikes on over to flickr, hunting for the photos like some obsessed blood hound on a 500 mile scent.
Of course, the non-verbal, visual, spiritual side right brain is running the show the whole time. As all the photos are picked out and I turn my attention to writing the poem it was soon clear that the previously devised angle of how to approach the poem - and the words already written - got tossed in the trash. As usual, the right brain won the day and "we" went simple.
Originally, my thoughts were with the Haitian orphans, those orphaned long before this earthquake and the many thousands since the disaster struck. I've been watching too many news videos about international adoptions of Haitian children that they have been uppermost in my mind - and prayers. The pressing need to get them out of the disaster zone until the country has a fighting chance to rebuild is urgent so they are not lost to slavery or the sex trade.
Once I visited flickr there were a lot of UNICEF and other relief agencies' photos of kids in poverty, child soldiers in Africa, children starving from famine, children affected by AIDS, children abandoned from war, children imprisoned in child labor and children kidnapped or sold into the sex trade. So, I thought I'd write about more than Haiti. I wrote about the world. And, it's even a short poem...
Angels Left Behind: Orphans of the World
Orphans from war
Orphans from earthquakes
Orphans from famine
Orphans from AIDS
Children roam the streets in packs
Children hide alone in alleys
Children carry guns in Africa
Children ply the sex trade, weave rugs
Where are we?
Denny Lyon
Copyright 28 January 2010
All Rights Reserved
Blog Carnival Poem Links From:
Mystic Dave - Bless The Orphans
*** How can you help? A few dollars a month can help feed, educate and house an orphaned or at risk child. When a disaster like Haiti is first in the news the donations come pouring in at a rapid rate. Many relief agencies will tell you that the time they most need donations is when the news crews have packed up shop and gone home - people start to forget when the focus is no longer immediate.
The donations are needed all year long as these problems are long term. Who can't afford $5 a month as a donation all year long? Skip the occasional candy bar or Starbucks coffee and send that $5 along to help a child. You might think it is too small an amount but the charity knows they can make great use of it for one child.
There are a lot of relief agencies who have been around for decades, good people of an international effort, doing good in the world. Here's a great list of charities from many countries and religions who have a good track record of using donations wisely that I put up for a Haiti post. They have been at work on poverty and child issues for a long time: 67 Charities to Donate
*** BLOG CARNIVAL: When you write a poem about the orphans in the world I'll be glad to add your link to this post! Contact me, Denny Lyon, at this email address: warriorspearl@gmail.com or on Twitter: DennyLyon7. Keeping this blog carnival open until Valentine's Day so you have plenty of time to brain storm and craft a good write!
*** THANKS for visiting, come back often, feel free to leave a comment, a big thank you and shout out to current subscribers - and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email!
Photo Credits
Child in Iran photo by unicefiran @ flickr
Haitian child photo by LucasTheExperience @ flickr
Street child little girl photo by -Gep- @ flickr
Child’s eye photo by apdk @ flickr
Kids’ feet photo by Pink Sherbet Photography
Child alone in the dark photo by Pink Sherbet Photography
Child soldier in Africa photo by hdptcar @ flickr
Children in India photo by etrenard @ flickr
Child’s cry for Peace photo by Pink Sherbet Photography @ flickr
