Announcement and excerpts from Chimezie Ihekuna/Mr. Ben’s upcoming book The Poured-Out Thoughts

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Chimezie Ihekuna’s new book The Poured-Out Thoughts will be released soon, so he has sent us a collection of reviews and excerpts from his work. Please enjoy!

Published Excerpts

https://drawneartochrist.com/2016/11/23/meet-the-poet/ (Mr Ben, my pen name and one of the contributors of the anthology, ”Draw Near To Christ)

 

Below are some publications of my poems (i own the rights to them, however)

 

http://www.rewardpublishing.info/october-.html (Aside the fact that my poem, ‘My Capability’ won Reward Publishing Poet of the month. Reward Publishing is currently holding the first right to the poem i ‘replaced’ it with the poem, ‘The Tri-angles of being; Me, Myself and )

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Tony Nightwalker LeTigre reviews Doug Cook’s Tae Kwon Do: A Path to Excellence

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Review of Taekwondo: A Path to Excellence (Doug Cook)

By Tony Nightwalker LeTigre

 

American practitioner Doug Cook trained in Taekwondo under Grandmaster Richard Chun and reached 5th dan level by 2009 when he published Taekwondo: A Path to Excellence, with its subtitle, “Achieving Physical and Spiritual Enrichment Through Disciplined Practice.” The author places great emphasis on learning about Korean culture and the historical genesis of Taekwondo, and his preference for the traditional, self-defense oriented style over the more Americanized, sportive Olympic style of taekwondo, known popularly as “the world’s most popular martial art form.”

 

Cook takes us behind the scenes of his pilgrimages to Korea, “Land of the Morning Calm,” from a languorous and lengthy airplane flight to vigorous training sessions to meetings with illustrious personages like Dr. Yong Kim, president of the World Taekwondo Federation (“someone who is clearly at home in the halls of power”), in the Kukkiwon, the central training facility and world headquarters of Taekwondo, located in Kangnam, Seoul.

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Poetry from J. Ryberg

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1) Everything Gonna Be All Right

(or, Trading Body Blows with

the Ghost of Victor Smith)

The night was thick, black and nasty

and my mattress was a raft drifting down

a mighty Mississippi of memory,

a Viking longboat in which my broken

warrior-poet’s form had been placed

and sent downstream through the silver-grey mists

of eternity and on to the far bright shores of my

forefathers and their fathers before them,

only to be turned away from those fearsome

gates for being insufficiently deceased.

And, lately, it seems like I’ve been waking up

in the middle of varying stages of dream-state

at all my former places of residence, feeling around

the bed for some imaginary former spouse

or significant other, freaking out about

being late to some former place of employment

and whatever it is I’m gonna say (this time?)

to placate whichever former employer.

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Poetry from Karen D’Antona

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By Linda Rondon
The Lottery
It was surreal even when it was happening.
I can’t help but think of it as some strange kind of lottery.
The children were delighted; we’re going home early!  Who will be next?  Why can’t it be me?
The single mothers usually so beautifully made up, were numb and ashen.
As more children left the classroom, the cheers were replaced by fears.
The teacher was so brave holding their tender faces, as tears dripped down her hands.
What’s happening?  The children’s voices whispered.  She shook, as she searched for the words.
Little did any of us know the numbers would be 9-11.


*My unique reference point was created in a community where many of the parents worked in The Twin Towers.  From the inside of a fourth grade classroom, I watched as an unselfish, dedicated teacher did her job under the most traumatic of circumstances.  
9-11 reminds us that fate does not choose favorites. 

9-11
Karen D’Antona

About the Author…

Karen D’Antona is a survivor, risk-taker, wife, mother, and educator.  Her spare time is filled with love, drama, home cooked meals, and a well paired wine… not necessarily in that order.  

Poetry from Joan Beebe

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NATURE’S FURY

California fires stretching across thousands

Of acres with trees and brush waiting to

Feed this monster’s appetite.

Great walls of flames devouring

The ready food of timber.

Flames and smoke rising higher into the sky,

But the ongoing march of this giant of fire

Still taking with it hundreds of homes

And other buildings.

Many evacuations and those people

Have no choice but to escape

The persistent oncoming wall of flames.

It will take many years to recover the land

And the normal lives of those who lost everything.

However, the day will come when nature will

Take over and the beauty that was once

There will again be glorious in its new life.

 

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Artwork from Jeongeui

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      I want to feel more
      I want to see more
      I want to do more I have never done ,
      then I want to live a better human life.


I want to live like a flowing stream.