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Milestone cornmeal unites families.

African proverbs
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Love Unites

Love unites cultures, families and friends,
Love unites traditions from generations past,
Our connection provides union and respect that is timeless,
Love unites cultures, families and friends :)

Love unites special childhood friends,
Love unites nurturing relationships that have helped us grow.
Our hearts embrace the beautiful memories that have empowered us,
Love unites special childhood friends :)

Love unites passionate people who help,
Love unites our compassion and sympathy for others,
Our caring actions and encouraging words spark inspiration,
Love unites passionate people who help :)

Love unites everyone and everything always,
Love unites all life effortlessly,
Our awareness expands as we embrace our intimacy everywhere,
Love unites everyone and everything always :)

poem by Paul Jensen Jr
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The Impact Of Poverty On Education

THE IMPACT OF POVERTY ON EDUCATION.

INTRODUCTION

There are so many different tools that have been thought relevant in people’s developmental projects both at individual and societal levels. Education is one of such practical tools. Importantly to note, there are also various meanings that denote the broad term ‘education’. In this essay, however, we are mainly interested in defining formal education since our discussion will dwell much on it. According to Nwomonoh (1998) , formal education is the process of gaining knowledge, attitudes, information and skills during the course of life especially at school.

Though education is said to be so instrumental in human development but also in the revamping of world economies, it is very unfortunate that education systems, world wide, are being held to ransom all because of poverty at both governmental and household levels. According to Thibault (2009) , poverty means the shortage of common things such as food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, all of which determine our quality of life. It may also include lack of access to opportunities like education and employment which aid the escape of poverty.

Problems in our society are interconnected in one way or the other, just like poverty and personal family problems affect a student’s capability to learn. Improving education entails improving the living conditions of students. Having in mind that education is basically responsible for the development of many countries including Malawi, as the back ground suggests, we cannot afford to bypass such a vital element without a mention. Considering also the fact that poverty is one of the forces that come in the way; blocking the success of education, we feel it rational to look at how the two realities, education and poverty, affect each other both positively and negatively. That is also why we are convinced that this topic is worth studying. Our awareness of this source, poverty, and its impact on education will enable us devise some proper measures of intervention with the hope of minimizing the negative impact of poverty on education. This point, in short, explains the purpose of our investigation and why we are so passionate in getting into this research. During the whole discussion we are being guided by two questions thus, ‘does poverty really affect education? And if it does, what points do we have on the positive and negative impacts of poverty on education? ’

METHODOLOGY

The study was basically qualitative in approach because of the nature of the issue that was being addressed. This was the case because the issue of how poverty affects education, both positively and negatively is particularly very difficult to predict the conclusions without penetrating into the core of the issue. For instance, one may unreasonably rush into concluding that poverty affects education negatively only and we cannot even dare to speak of poverty affecting education positively. The study was conducted in three schools namely; Mulunguzi, Masongola and Chirunga Private Secondary schools in Zomba district between 24th April and 3rd May. In this research we used both government and private funded schools to have a more balanced result on how poverty affects formal education in these different institutions. The information required for the study was collected through group interviews of form three students and individual interviews with teachers using semi-structured interview schedules. We opted to use these interviews in the first place because we felt books are more theoretical whereas a field research is practical and it involves real life experiences. Nevertheless, we still used desk research as a supplementary source of information and for clarity in some areas.

RESULTS

Positive impacts of poverty on education
To begin with, poverty encourages one to get educated and of course work hard in class. This is because the problems faced due to poverty are very serious and therefore students who are from poverty stricken families strive to end the problems and one of the best solutions is through education. That is to say, if a person, for instance, due to poverty, is taking just a meal in a day instead of three meals, and again if he/she is sometimes sleeping on an empty stomach, he/she will resort to education bearing in mind that if he/she gets educated they will secure formal employment and eventually be able to make ends meet for themselves as well as fending for their families.

Not only does poverty encourage one to get educated, but also it helped in the introduction of free primary education. In Malawi, for instance, when Bakili Muluzi became president, he introduced free primary education and he had eliminated the requirements for school uniform forthwith (Kadzamira & Rose,2001) . This had increased the access to education dramatically as those pupils who were coming from less privileged families were also given access to this free primary education. It should also be noted that the free primary education system was not only implemented to fulfill an electoral pledge but also bearing in mind that some families were not able to send their children to school due to poverty. Free primary education was there to deal with illiteracy by reducing families’ direct costs of education. Again due to the influx in the number of pupils in primary schools; there was a lack of teachers. Sonani (2002) , testifies that the Ministry of Education re-employed all retired teachers below the age of 65. This also meant that the once retired teachers got back to their source of income which helped them support their families as well as hauling the economy of the country. The implementation of free primary education system in Malawi forced the government to provide infrastructures so as to accommodate the large number of pupils in these schools. Simply put, poverty had led to the introduction of free primary education which means that more children are going to school, and again more teachers are being trained and getting employed and finally the construction of school blocks culminating into infrastructural development, all these branching from poverty.

We may also look at poverty from a positive angle bearing in mind that when a country is poor more funds and donations come into it. These funds and donations are also given to the education sector to build new infrastructures and in the maintenance of already existing ones in the sector. These privileged countries also provide learning materials to schools that are poor as a result students in these less privileged schools perform well in accordance with the amount and quality of the learning materials that they have been provided with. For instance, a United States based non governmental organization known as “Water for People” handed over 44 water toilets they built to Chimwankhunda primary school. The school toilet facilities had been vandalized 11 years ago but because of poverty the school could not renovate them (Gausi,2007) .

In addition, these funds and donations help more people to get educated. This is so because people can use funds as school fees, pocket money and buy stationery. The donations may include library books, chairs and writing materials. These can make a conducive environment for one to learn since there will be enough facilities at the school. For instance, with funding from the “United States Agency for International Development” (USAID) ,3,300 needy Malawian primary school girls are being funded. They are being provided with food, clothing, school supplies and hygienic products like soap and body lotion (Muhaliwa,2005) . Likewise,500 pupils at Katoto primary school in Mzuzu no longer sit on the floors during lessons courtesy of Southern Bottlers Limited and Lions Club of Limbe. Before these funds and donations, pupils used to sit on the floor due to scarcity of desks. These donations improved the pupils’ school attendance in such a way that pupils have started going to school regularly.

In the same line, a needy student can be given a scholarship to go further with his/her education. In this case the scholarship is given to the person just because he/she cannot manage to pay school fees on her own. This in turn benefits the needy person and the community at large. In this situation poverty has assisted in the development of education in an area by beckoning funds and donations from rich countries and organisations.

Further more; in most cases poverty facilitates one’s ambitions to attain formal education. It becomes easier for a poor child to put much of his concentration on education as compared to a rich child. This is because a poverty stricken student will have less destructive materials for entertainment. He/she will also have less or no money to indulge him/herself in activities that require spending a lot of money for instance, drinking beer. Sometimes even if the child can find money he/she can buy basic needs and not just spending it anyhow. Contrast to this a rich child may obtain things like ipods, mp3s, games for entertainment. These things in most cases destruct the concentration of students in their studies. As a result, one’s class performance is negatively affected since most of his/her time is being spent on entertainment.

Negative impacts of poverty on education

Just as a coin has got two sides, a head and a tail, poverty also, apart from having positive impacts on education, it does have negative impacts on the same. We have talked much about the positive face of poverty on education. We shall surely do ourselves injustice if we do not look at the negative part. In spite of the fact that poverty has an impact on education that is worth complimenting, we cannot afford in this discussion to overlook the point that so many students have been forced to leave the corridors of learning institutions due to the same poverty. One of the reasons that force some students leave the learning institutions prematurely is pregnancy, which in most cases, come because of poverty. It is almost common knowledge that a good number of students who come from poor families wish they could be sailing in the same boat with those who come from well to do families as far as luxurious life is concerned. The poor students constantly feel that there is something missing at the core psychologically. With this feeling in their minds, they tend to regard themselves as incomplete and not accepted socially. Consequently, they envy the rich students and squarely want to posses the things that are associated with the rich students. Very unfortunate that the poor students’ parents cannot afford to fulfill their children’s desires like what the rich parents would provide. Because the pull towards recognition is too strong for the poor students to resist, they end up in indulging themselves into prostitution in their search for money. Pity indeed that instead of recreating, as anticipated, their promiscuous behavior sees most of them getting pregnant and for some very unfortunate ones get even HIV and other STIs. From this discussion, commonsense convinces us that this school dropp out due to pregnancy is one of the negative impacts of poverty on education.

Adding more flesh to this discussion, we can also appreciate that hunger has been so instrumental in bringing down the standards of education world wide, in general, and Malawi, in particular. Frankly speaking, there are very few students if not none, who concentrate on their studies on empty stomachs. Food is one of the basic needs that every person is obliged to have if he/she is to survive. It is not surprising, therefore, to see some students performing miserably in class simply because they have not taken enough food or they have taken none altogether. The question of hunger finds its way into the education system because the government has failed to provide adequate food in most of its boarding schools. This is poverty at governmental level. There are also some students who are not boarders but still endure the hostile reality of hunger right in their homes. This is due to poverty at household level. It is sad that poverty, both at governmental and household level, has helped in engineering the deteriorating of education standards in Malawi.

Bearing in mind that it is only the eagle that can tell us the real whisper of a cloud, we visited Masongola Secondary school with the hope of getting first hand information from the students and their teachers since they are the ones who mostly benefit or get destructed by poverty. The Masongola secondary school students and their teacher, Mr. Enock Abraham, testified to us during an interview that government’s inability to provide extra food, apart from the usual beans that the institution offers, has seen many students developing ulcers. It would sound bizarre to reason that one can attend classes whilst he/she is on a hospital bed battling with ulcers. The Masongola students further testified that most poor students who have ulcers just bow down out of the race of learning because they cannot afford to buy extra food whenever the institution is serving the students beans.

This pitiful development goes beyond the boundaries of Masongola secondary school. Mulunguzi secondary school as Mr……the head teacher at the institution testifies, has not been spared from the scourge of school dropp outs simply because the school has not been able to provide extra or adequate food to students who cannot take what their friends take on health grounds. Needless to say this leaves the education standards in Malawi vacillating. It is a pity that though we have wrestled with this question of poverty a dozen times, we have not been successful in the battle. At one point in time, the government attempted to minimize the chances of school dropout in primary schools through its provision of porridge to pupils in the junior section. This attempt was in itself a good gesture but the government has failed to implement the initiative further in other schools that up to now have not benefited from the program.

It may not sound an exaggeration if we may say poverty has also forced a good number of students to give up their hopes of getting educated simply because they find it so difficult traveling to and from their respective schools. Lack of transport means, in short, has pushed them well towards the blink of despair as far as attaining formal education is concerned. This point speaks for itself how poverty can sometimes work on the education’s disadvantage.

As we go further with this discussion, we also appreciate the fact that the problem that mostly hinders a student’s success is inadequate resources that include; few teachers and learning materials. It must be highlighted that these problems are not only in developing countries but they may also find their way in reasonably developed countries like South Africa. In a developing country like Malawi, the education system encounters these problems because of the government’s failure to look into problems of infrastructure, capacity and availability of teaching and learning materials (Nkawike,2005) . The Muluzi government did a little if any; in as far as infrastructure is concerned. Lack of school blocks facilitated by a large number of pupils due to the introduction of the free primary education in 1994, forced pupils to have lessons under trees. In 2003, for example, lack of school blocks resulted in a tragedy at Nkomachi in Lilongwe when a tree fell onto an outdoor class, resulting in injury and deaths of pupils (Mvula & Chanika,2004) . This problem of learning materials continues till date, in all levels of the education system. According to Abraham (2009) , the school has always had shortage of learning blocks to an extent that the Physical Science and Biology laboratories are used as classrooms. There is also great shortage of books in all departments, and some departments like the technical department needs new equipment and current books which are very expensive. With this unfortunate situation we cannot anticipate good performance from Masongola secondary school.

In order to deal with these issues, the Muluzi government thought it wise to disregard the provision of learning materials in schools. Instead the Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) pass mark was reduced to ensure the success of students in their examinations. Even the director of Basic Education, Nelson Kaperemera admitted that funds intended for learning materials were servicing the debts of government at the expense of improving quality education. Instead of reducing the pass mark, the government and other stake holders should strive to improve quality of education, improve teacher salaries, and provide adequate materials and train teachers properly (Malawi News,2006) .

In developing countries like Malawi, the schools are understaffed (teaching personnel) and they tend to be handling a large number of students for long hours. Furthermore, the teachers are subjected to meager salaries, which are even made late. The government does not seem to have the welfare of teachers at heart, for instance the education Manager for Phalombe, Enoch Ali says the district is facing a dire shortage of teachers, a situation that is contributing to low education standards. The teacher pupil ratio in Phalombe is 1: 120, whilst the recommended ratio is 1: 60 (The Nation,2006) . Due to low pay teachers resort to organizing part time classes, which demand an extra amount of money on top of the normal fees. These changes clearly affect those students who come from very poor families, as they do not receive adequate studies because of lack of money.
This does not only occur in secondary schools, but it also happens in universities. As the academic staff of the Universities go on strike because of the government’s reluctance to increase their salaries. One considers how this is supposed to retain staff in the University. As a result lecturers spend more time doing consultancies; instead of preparing lectures and doing University mandated research. If we are serious about fighting poverty, formal education is the hub of ideas to fight these problems by improving its standards (Kapasula,2008) .
Child labour is one of the major problems that contribute to school dropp out. The majority of child labour victims are children who are living in poverty. This is so because they lack basic needs, for this reason they are forced even against their will to do any kind of work in order to gain financial wealth. This, therefore, affects school attendance. Evidence of school dropp out due to child labour is found in central region where most children are being employed in estates. This region has high tobacco production. Since this crop demands a lot of work, children are at high demand because they do not claim high wages compared to adults. Research, therefore, showed that the percentage of children attending schools is lower compared to that of northern and southern region (Nyirongo,2004) . We have the case of two brothers aged between 12 and 15 who were forced to work at a tobacco farm at Mpherembe in Kasungu district, where they were receiving 150 kwacha a day due to poverty (Namangale,2005) . We can see that child labour has a great impact on education because through it, a lot of children are being deprived of their right to education as they spend most of their time working.

In addition to that, Chirwa (2003) found out that child labour is also taking place in people’s houses. In this case children are forced to dropp out of school either by parents or on their own, to work in neighbouring homes. Here one of the victims is a 12 year old girl Elizabeth Chalimba, who left school when she was in standard six to work as a nanny in order to support her siblings. Children from low income families are at risk because though school is their only hope for a better future, they dropp out because their parents are failing to provide them with basic needs. Apart from child labour, psychological problems due to poverty is also another cause of school dropp outs. Research shows that the impact of poverty is greater on children as opposed to adults. Firstly, the problem arises due to the environment in which these children are raised. These environments being impoverished, they are intellectually unstimulating, and lack of stimulation results in impaired intellectual development of a child. This in turn contributes to failure in class which can later on lead to school dropp out.

[...] Read more

poem by Innocent Masina Nkhonyo
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An Old Man With His Hat

There Little Robbie found him in an old yellow album
A blurred picture of a half old man with his hat
Standing in front of the coffin
He smiles shy but wide with his teeth gone making a hole like Little Robbie when he lose his baby teeth
Little Robbie doesn’t recognize him and he wonder where he is now
Maybe he is one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
So he asks to his big sister
But his sister doesn’t recognize him and she wonder who he is
Maybe he is one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
So he asks to his mother
But his mother doesn’t recognize him and she wonder how he was there
Maybe he is one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
So he asks to his father
But his father doesn’t recognize him and he wonder what he did there
Maybe he is one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
So he asks to his uncle
But his uncle doesn’t recognize him and he wonder when the picture taken
Maybe he is one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
So he asks hopelessly to his grandfather
His grandfather takes a deep look to that picture and wonders why Little Robbie asks
Little Robbie says, “I want to meet him! I want to know about him! I want to play with him! ”
Maybe he is one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
But his grandfather shakes his head, “No, he is not.”
He is not one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
He is just an old man with his hat
“He accompanied your great grandfather when he sick until his death. This picture is taken in a burial of your great grandfather.”
His grandfather stares at little Robbie
“Now, are you disappointed? ”
He is not one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
He is just an old man with his hat
Little Robbie shakes his head, “No, I am not.”
Though he is not one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
Though he is just an old man with his hat
“But I still want to meet him, I want to know about him, and I want to play with him! ”
And then he could be one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families

poem by Maria Sudibyo
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Through the eyes of a Field Coronet (Epic)

Introduction

In the kaki coloured tent in Umbilo he writes
his life’s story while women, children and babies are dying,
slowly but surely are obliterated, he see how his nation is suffering
while the events are notched into his mind.

Lying even heavier on him is the treason
of some other Afrikaners who for own gain
have delivered him, to imprisonment in this place of hatred
and thoughts go through him to write a book.

Prologue

The Afrikaner nation sprouted
from Dutchmen,
who fought decades without defeat
against the super power Spain

mixed with French Huguenots
who left their homes and belongings,
with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Associate this then with the fact

that these people fought formidable
for seven generations
against every onslaught that they got
from savages en wild animals

becoming marksmen, riding
and taming wild horses
with one bullet per day
to hunt a wild antelope,

who migrated right across the country
over hills in mass protest
and then you have
the most formidable adversary
and then let them fight

in a natural wilderness
where the hunter,
the sniper and horseman excels
and any enemy is at a lost.

Let them then also be patriotic
into their souls,
believe in and read
out of the word of God

[...] Read more

poem by Gert Strydom
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Marriages

Marriage of two minds
Unites two ideas.
Both agree and disagree,
Yet each remains itself.

Marriage of two souls
Unites two spirits.
They dance, separate, and intertwine,
Yet each remains unique.

Marriage of two people
Unites two bodies.
They touch and are touched,
Yet each remains separate.

Marriage of two hearts
Unites two bloods.
They fill and are filled,
Give and are given to.

But when two people love,
The two hearts are shared,
And they are never the same!
The two hearts become:
One.

poem by Jennifer Katz
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Happy Families

Have you got miss fortune?
Shes the daughter of rich parents,
All she does is cry.
One four-letter word is all she wants,
But you cant buy love,
So theres no supply.
Will you take young master charge?
The boy whos living well,
Beyond his fathers means.
See his mother kill herself with work,
To keep her dandy,
In the latest jeans.
(happy families.)
Happy families is a kids game.
Happy families is your main aim.
It starts out with a dealing in the middle of the night,
And ends up with a full house if you play your cards out right.
Mum says dad is cheating,
You should see the grown-ups fight,
For...
Happy families,
The game thats sure to please.
Have you got young master race?
The bigot son who, like his dad,
Is fueled with fear.
Not so much a son more of a stormtrooper,
To burn the books,
When dads not here.
Happy families is a kids game.
Happy families is your main aim.
You start out with your first cub and you think that lifes a song.
Youll end up with a wolfpack if you lay your cards out wrong.
Dad says mom is cheating,
You can see the children long,
For...
Happy families,
The game thats sure to please.
Have you got miss carriage? ,
Shes the girl who wants a baby,
That she cannot find.
Strange, the ones who want to win the race are,
Usually the ones,
Who fall behind.

song performed by Xtc
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Lazybones

Lazybones, sleepin in the sun....how you spect to get your days work done?
You cant get your days work done......sleepin in the noon day sun
Lazybones, layin in the shade....how you gonna get your cornmeal made?
You cant get no cornmeal made....sleepin in that evening shade
When taters need sprayin, I bet you keep prayin
The bugsll fall off of the vine
And when you go fishin I bet you keep wishin
Them fish dont grab your line
Lazybones, loafin all the day.....how you spect to make a dime that way?
You wont make no dime that way.....loafin in the shade all day

song performed by Louis Armstrong
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Most cornmeal producers don't tell you when their cornmeal was milled, which makes it difficult to know how long the product has been sitting in the store before you bought it.

quote by Jeremy Jackson
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If you have a busy natural foods store in your community, give their bulk cornmeal a try: high turnover means the product will most likely be fresh. And if the cornmeal is organic, all the better.

quote by Jeremy Jackson
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Ode to Maize

America, from a grain
of maize you grew
to crown
with spacious lands
the ocean foam.
A grain of maize was your geography.
From the grain
a green lance rose,
was covered with gold,
to grace the heights
of Peru with its yellow tassels.

But, poet, let
history rest in its shroud;
praise with your lyre
the grain in its granaries:
sing to the simple maize in the kitchen.

First, a fine beard
fluttered in the field
above the tender teeth
of the young ear.
Then the husks parted
and fruitfulness burst its veils
of pale papyrus
that grains of laughter
might fall upon the earth.
To the stone,
in your journey,
you returned.
Not to the terrible stone,
the bloody
triangle of Mexican death,
but to the grinding stone,
sacred
stone of your kitchens.
There, milk and matter,
strength-giving, nutritious
cornmeal pulp,
you were worked and patted
by the wondrous hands
of dark-skinned women.

Wherever you fall, maize,
whether into the
splendid pot of partridge, or among
country beans, you light up
the meal and lend it
your virginal flavor.

[...] Read more

poem by Pablo Neruda
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Stronger Than All

Always standing proud, we know our time has come
Marching off to war, the crusade has just begun
Fighting for the right to live under the sun
We wont stop til they´ve lost and weve won
Come and fly with us, together as one we belong
This magic of metal unites us, its making us strong
Like an arrow we strike c stronger than all
Heavy metal troops on the rise
Like an arrow of might c stronger than all
Well walk through fire, were true to ourselves and our lives
History commits the oath to deal in steel
Warriors of the faith, to no living soul we kneel
Born into the fold, the templars are for real
No one will ever bring us to heel
Come and fly with us, together as one we belong
This magic of metal unites us, its making us strong
Like an arrow we strike - stronger than all
Shooting through the air at full speed
Like an arrow of might - stronger than all
In the name of metal, defending our hopes and beliefs
The past and the present unites in us all,
We stand up for our beliefs
The way of the templars is here once again,
Forever they will be free
Like an arrow we strike - stronger than all
Heavy metal troops on the rise
Like an arrow of might - stronger than all
Well walk through fire, were true to ourselves
Like an arrow we strike - stronger than all
Shooting through the air at full speed
Like an arrow of might - stronger than all
In the name of metal, defending our hopes and beliefs

song performed by Hammerfall
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September on Jessore Road

Millions of babies watching the skies
Bellies swollen, with big round eyes
On Jessore Road--long bamboo huts
Noplace to shit but sand channel ruts

Millions of fathers in rain
Millions of mothers in pain
Millions of brothers in woe
Millions of sisters nowhere to go

One Million aunts are dying for bread
One Million uncles lamenting the dead
Grandfather millions homeless and sad
Grandmother millions silently mad

Millions of daughters walk in the mud
Millions of children wash in the flood
A Million girls vomit & groan
Millions of families hopeless alone

Millions of souls nineteenseventyone
homeless on Jessore road under grey sun
A million are dead, the million who can
Walk toward Calcutta from East Pakistan

Taxi September along Jessore Road
Oxcart skeletons drag charcoal load
past watery fields thru rain flood ruts
Dung cakes on treetrunks, plastic-roof huts

Wet processions Families walk
Stunted boys big heads don't talk
Look bony skulls & silent round eyes
Starving black angels in human disguise

Mother squats weeping & points to her sons
Standing thin legged like elderly nuns
small bodied hands to their mouths in prayer
Five months small food since they settled there

on one floor mat with small empty pot
Father lifts up his hands at their lot
Tears come to their mother's eye
Pain makes mother Maya cry

Two children together in palmroof shade
Stare at me no word is said
Rice ration, lentils one time a week
Milk powder for warweary infants meek

[...] Read more

poem by Allen Ginsberg
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The milestone marked nine

The milestone marked nine

I am by the side of a metro bus stop
Under the shadow not-so-fully grown gulmohar tree
Whose trunk is still protected by a tree guard

Crows and mynas perching on this tree
Often bless me with their droppings

But I remain in my shape
I may be a little over one foot tall
Wide enough for any person to rest on me

People, mostly elderly, sit on me
Preferring me to the tall stainless stool
Beneath the shelter
As they are confident of not tilting dangerously

I used to see dreams in the eyes of most of the people
Who wait for their bus to come

Some plan a future
Some ponder over the past pains
Some visualize their daughter’s wedding
Some think of a comfort after their son’s employment
Some plan for their retired life
Some have a dialogue with their unseen gods
Some keep talking over their mobile phones
Some sit on me minding not the bird dropping on their shirt
Some do not mind the spider spinning its web
Just above their head on the tree branch
Some smoke
Some keep munching fried peanuts
All keep busy themselves

Some may not have even noticed
This silent observer
The milestone marked nine

poem by Bashyam Narayanan
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Two Thousand

I've reached a milestone some might say
but to me it's just become my way
to pass my time with rhythm and rhyme
and deliver my thoughts to you.

When I wrote my very first poem
I felt I'd just been born.
I fearfully put my pen on the page
on an early morn
and my thoughts just literally flew.

It's become my way to have my say
about everything under the sun.
And now that I've written 2,000 of them
I still revere number one.
For it was my poetic debut.

Will I stop here and lay the pen aside
or will the ink still flow?
Most certainly I will write some more
for poetry to me is a rainbow.
It appears right out of the blue.

It's beautiful, mysterious
and filled with color.
So I accept the fact it's a milestone
but know that I'm not through.
I'll get up tomorrow morning
and write some more for you.

poem by Edwina Reizer
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Milestones (For my son, Ross on his thirtieth Birthday)

Time rules the passage of our lives
We divide it from Millenia down to thousandths of a second
We use it to measure and to compete
We use it to Prosecute and to Remunerate

We mark the Milestones of our lives
We use them as Aides Memoire

The first day of School
The rigid rules of Discipline
The introduction of Punctuality
The construction of Timetables

We saw you at this Milestone
Your tears, your bravery, the shining lights of your successes

Suddenly, your treasures packed, you dashed toward the Mortarboard
Leaving behind Giant Land Snails and holes in other lives
This time the tears shed were ours
We dealt with pining dogs and adjusted our emotions

You sucked in knowledge and took swimming lessons in Love
You learned that tides can turn while you are busy staring at the Moon

You didn't run home to hide under a Duvet and wait for a cure
You left the wounds to lick themselves and headed onward
Time now morphed to deadlines and salary expectations
Ambition grew with confidence and hair length

We watched from afar, proud, but surrounded by Eggshells
The Shepherds whose Lamb was being replaced by a Lion

You kept calm (sometimes) and carried on
Each deadline met, each new success, adding to the whole
The structure gaining both beauty and wisdom with it's vintage
Still learning, still maturing, still improving

Embrace this latest Milestone
Keep it safe, it's your platform to reach for the stars! !

(TEMPUS FUGIT)
But so do Eagles and how beautiful are they?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

poem by Owain Glyn
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Raising Godly Families

Raising families may be tough, as our times are spiritually rough,
The roads that many take today, can lead youth spiritually astray;
Though times continue to change, God above, remains the same,
So that on The Lord's Revelation, we can have a firm foundation.

The Lord has a design for us, for families following Christ Jesus,
Regarding the families we raise, for The Lord's honor and praise,
Building on the Truths of Christ, we guide children to Eternal Life,
As God's plan moves the family, to a new life with God, eternally.

As we follow our Lord above, our families must be raised in love,
They must become our priority, as we sacrificially love the family,
Sacrificing even our own desire, for a priority much, much higher,
When we provide for the family, they obtain strength and security.

To those who we need to reach, it is necessary to biblically teach,
Godly character and God's Ways, as we lead them in these days,
Leading them in this world of sin, we must teach Godly discipline,
With Godly boundaries in this life, being followers of Jesus Christ,

It is a must we model personally, real Christ likeness to our family,
So that through our life we reveal, a God to them, who is truly real,
While teaching with a caring heart, in hope that they will not depart,
When times fill them with dismay, so, on God's path they will stay.

Fervently, we must always pray, for the family each and every day,
Knowing that we need help from, The Lord, when hard times come;
Finally, through all times it is a must, that in all things we fully trust,
The final outcome of our family, to the Lord, who's over all eternity.

(Copyright ©10/2012)

poem by Bob Gotti
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Tom Zart's 52 Best Of The Rest America At War Poems

SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF WORLD WAR III

The White House
Washington
Tom Zart's Poems

March 16,2007
Ms. Lillian Cauldwell
President and Chief Executive Officer
Passionate Internet Voices Radio
Ann Arbor Michigan

Dear Lillian:
Number 41 passed on the CDs from Tom Zart. Thank you for thinking of me. I am thankful for your efforts to honor our brave military personnel and their families. America owes these courageous men and women a debt of gratitude, and I am honored to be the commander in chief of the greatest force for freedom in the history of the world.
Best Wishes.

Sincerely,

George W. Bush

SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF WORLD WAR III

Our sons and daughters serve in harm's way
To defend our way of life.
Some are students, some grandparents
Many a husband or wife.

They face great odds without complaint
Gambling life and limb for little pay.
So far away from all they love
Fight our soldiers for whom we pray.

The plotters and planners of America's doom
Pledge to murder and maim all they can.
From early childhood they are taught
To kill is to become a man.

They exploit their young as weapons of choice
Teaching in heaven, virgins will await.
Destroying lives along with their own
To learn of their falsehoods too late.

The fearful cry we must submit
And find a way to soothe them.
Where defenders worry if we stand down
The future for America is grim.

[...] Read more

poem by Tom Zart
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Uniting and dividing

What divides two unites them.
What unites two divide them.
Man to man and woman to woman
Rests more tussle than affinity
15.08.20005

poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Pity is the feeling which arrests the mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it with the sufferer. Terror is the feeling which arrests the mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it with the secret cause.

James Joyce in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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The Marvels of Music

A world without music would be so very plain.
From music, spiritually, there’s a lot to be gained.
It lifts your soul, when you’re feeling a bit down.
It is considered one of the best medicines around.

Through music, many emotions we can express.
It is one of the best known busters of stress.
There’s a wealth of rhythms the world wide.
Their power to pull people can’t be denied.

Music comes in so many different forms:
No one type could be considered the norm.
Without music, church bells wouldn’t chime
And our fingers and feet wouldn’t beat time.

Music unites the masses together in a single song,
Even when everything around us is going wrong.
In our bodies, we feel the beat.
To the music, we move our feet.

It has the ability to calm and relax you,
Plus, the ability to exhilarate and enliven to.
Music is a common language, which unites.
It is a force which has plenty of might.

When you hear someone begin to sing,
You often find yourself wanting to join in.
It often brings smiles to people’s faces,
As they go through their daily paces.

It’s great to sing along with your favourite pop star,
At home, at work, in the car or wherever you are.
Music can make you feel like dancing around the floor,
When you’re getting bored with your household chores.

You can use instruments or just simply use your voice.
It’s totally up to you. It is entirely your own choice.
My love of music will never ever end.
To me, it feels like a very good friend.

With the pop group ABBA, I’d have to heartily agree,
In saying ‘Thank you for music, for giving it to me.’

poem by Angela Wybrow
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