Submission Five & Six

"Beauty Gives Me Hope." ~Brooke Nowakowski, B'ham WA

"what gives me hope is the beauty of nature. it's just so amazing, because it's something that's not man made, so it's not planned in any way, but it can still create something beautiful! on my bad days, to be happy, I can just think about nature and the natural world because it has never done anything wrong." ~Jillian Papp, Vancover B.C.

Submission Four

"Music Gives Me Hope." ~ Briauna M. Graeber
Everett, WA

Submission Three

"God gives me Hope." ~Miguel Muller NY

Guiding Spirits

Great Eagle of Dusk
Fly unto your landing place
til the dawn returns.

Great Eagle of Dawn
open up your wings and soar
where the spirits lead.

May the great spirts
sent to us from God on high
guide us ALL in flight.

~Miguel Muller NY

Submission Two

"I have no idea what gives me hope, and maybe that search is what continues to offer me hope." ~Tippy the Vegan/Introspective Mess CA



Photo by: Kashia Gale

Submission One

The Kindness of Stranger's Gives Me Hope. ~Rebecca Truman, CA

Today while getting on the bus I noticed an elderly lady trying to jog towards the bus. She was about to miss it when I told the bus driver to please wait a minute. So the bus driver waited a minute and she got on the bus. She sat down in the first seat. I witnessed acts of kindness from strangers during this bus ride to this women. She started talking about wanting to go to a thrift store and asking people on the bus where she could find one. Three people chimed in with their favorite thrift stores and offered advice on what items are the best to buy at each one. As the conversation progressed she mentioned that she was 91 years old and walked a mile everyday. One lady gasped and said, "Wow, that is amazing. That offers me so much hope." The elderly lady shared a bit more about her history and about still maintaining her own home. Then she said, "Except for that stupid yard. I went to Arkansas for four weeks. When I got back the weeds were this high. I just can't maintain that anymore." Then a man spoke up and said that he has plenty of yard work experience and that he would be more than willing to help her out free of charge. I thought this was a wonderful example of an act of kindness from a stranger. People helping people offers hope to all who are involved. Thanks Rebecca for being the first to submit what gives you hope.

Ladyfest

As many of you know the launch of this project was Thursday June 17th. You may have been wondering where I was during this launch since I have not written on my blog. Let me give you a rundown.

What offers people hope, motivation, inspiration, and healing? Ladyfest Bellingham. Over the past months I have been apart of coordinating this wonderful festival of literature, art, and music. Ladyfest's goal is to offer women a safe space to be themselves and to show their creations. I saw beautiful art, listened to amazing and inspiring music and read some of the most powerful poems. Meanwhile, I saw people grow as individuals and gain hope from the artists that surrounded them. Not only did I witness wonderful things happening in the people around me but I too was influenced by all of the glorious festivities. Over the course of Ladyfest I was able to face some of my own confidence issues and feel motivated while gaining healing from the wonderful ladies I was able to interact with. I will post photos from this festival as well as discuss it in future posts.

On a side note: Monday was a sad day for me. Over the last 6 months I have been attending Poetry Night at the Anker Cafe. Through Poetry Night and the atmosphere that the Anker created I was able to build friendships and gain support from this new found community. However, the Anker Cafe closed its doors last night and went out of business. It was sad for me to see something that had become such a huge part of my life fade. While poetry night will still be going on and the community will still offer me hope and surround me with support, Bill Anker did such a marvelous job making his Cafe feel like another home to me. Thank you Bill for all of the wonderful experiences you offered me. I hope to see your Cafe reopen in the future. I will be one of the first people in line for Pretty City's wonderful Americanos.

Tell Me

"What in your life is calling you? When all the noise is silenced, the meetings adjourned, the lists laid aside...what still pulls on your soul?" --Terma Collective, the box

Tell me what brings you hope and send in art submissions with a theme of hope @ whispersofthewheel@live.com then tune into my blog all summer to see your wonderful submission. My launch date for Whispers of Hope is in only 1 day!

Come Alive

“Don’t ask what the world needs - ask what makes you come alive and go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~ Howard Thurman

Submitted by my mummy

Unresponsive Deities

Pout in indignation.
Cry in global fear.
Bend backwards for the
moons of the unresponsive deities.

Stop.
Think.
Let the calluses break
so they blister once more.

Watch the dance of dust
and feel the pound of the rain.
Let the grief pull
and push you.

Fall deep within your cerebral lobe.
Let yourself slip into obscurity.
Chance yourself at death
and breech the rules of life.

Then live
Live for the fact that you will die
Live for the fact that you will dream
And most of those dreams will not come true
But let yourself imagine that they might
Live for the fact that every breath you breath might suffocate you
Live for the fact that once you receive that hug you will want another and another
Live!
Live to live

Then die happy
and die alone
because at least
you can say you lived.