An invisible cloak
shields us on the journey
through time’s traveling show
Its power lies in the tightness of the weave
every stitch a name, a place, a lingering scent or sound
 
Fabric enfolds and reshapes memories
extracts the sting
fluffs up the pillows
to let sleep in
 
It asks only that we loosen our grip
let go of striving
save our tears
for the parched earth’s ladle



______________________________________________________________
Emily-Sue Sloane (https://EmilySueSloane.com) is a widely published Long Island poet and
author of two poetry collections, We Are Beach Glass (2022) and Disconnects and Other Broken Threads (The Poetry Box, 2024).

Oh gentle wind of my conscience.
Protector when my light is dim.
Guidance for when I doubt.
Conversations held in my dreams.
Deliverer of messages in unexpected places.
The sky through a storm.
In words spoken by strangers crossing my way.
And in utter silence.





​
_________________________________________________________________
Mary Anne Abdo is an author, poet and photographer. She graduated magna cum laude from Luzerne County Community College with a degree in Human Services. With a background in freelance journalism. Her self-published poetry book, "Fractured Lollipop Poems of Brokenness Healing and Hope is now on Amazon
You may check out her work on: Facebook: Mary Anne Abdo/Poet/Author
Mary Anne resides in Scranton Pennsylvania.

Native Nations are made of covenants,     
                              water,
                              dances,
                              trances,
                           and visions
which come later,

                         after pumpkins                                    and potatoes.
                           
                             Weather drowns towns under the sun, 
yet healing begins and restoration is done,
as our prayers carry

                             stories,
                              songs,
                              syllabary,
                              stars

toward                 

                              stomp dances,
                               brush arbors,
                              churches,
                              yards.

Each mercy is a slice of light
                              and right,

repairing
the lives of our tribes.


________________________________________________________________
Dr Dawn Karima is a Native American Music Award Winner, a four time Global Music Award Winner, an Indigenous Artist Activist Awards Winner and the host of the World Entertainment Awards Nominated podcast, CONVERSATIONS WITH DAWN KARIMA. Dr Karima directs Wells of Victory Inc, a 501c3 nonprofit charity in her hometown of Cherokee, NC.

Chimney Rock.
Gone.
(Last of the Mohicans)
Lake Lure.
Gone.
(Dirty Dancing)
Marshall, Black Mountain, Weaverville, 
Leicester, Swanannoa, Little Switzerland, 
Spruce Pine, Asheville, and so many more.
The winds.
The rain.
The rivers.
The lakes.
WATER!
Helene you came and went.
You devastated.
You decimated.
No power, no phones, no internet,
NO water.
NO WATER!
The water overflowing
rivers cresting.
We band together
in the face
of devastation.
Neighbor helping neighbor.
Supplies trucked in.
Meals horse backed in.
Gas scare, food too.
Forget prescriptions.
We band together
sharing information
listening to the radio
while checking on strangers
and loved ones alike.
We will survive
like the long leaf pine,
the cotton bloom,
the scuppernong,
soft southern moss,
rhododendrons,
the cardinal, and
the dogwood tree.
We are the Land of the Sky
soaring above Mt. Mitchell.
We are true friends and
warm hearts.
We are the Tarheel state.
And we are
North Cackalacky strong!

_________________________________________________________________
LB Sedlacek is a poet in western North Carolina. Her latest poetry chapbooks are "Unresponsive Sky" published by Purple Unicorn Media and "Organic Soup" published by Bottlecap Press.  She also enjoys swimming and reading.

Hey, Dr. King…
…the world is on fire
The senseless slaughter of innocents
Proceeds apaceIn Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, Sudan,
Haiti, Nigeria, and
Other places around the world
Not mentioned
In the nightly news.
 Clergy like to pray
Or maybe hold a peace vigil
But won’t lead
A public march
To protest global violence.
Nope
Too confrontational.
 You nailed it in your “Letter
from a Birmingham Jail”
Churches prefer
“the anesthetizing security of
Stained-glass windows” to
The risk of activism.

So, Dr. King,
I’m sorry
We’ve failed you,
Forgotten your legacy.
 You took a bullet
For us in ‘68
It should’ve lodged
In our collective psyche
It did in mine.
 I’m ready, Dr. King
To take to the streets,
Peacefully,
Nothing will change
Until we do.

​
_________________________________________________________________
Jim Sanders is a retired U.S. government employee, who seeks peace through charity and activism.    

1.
Dark clouds strong winds came.
 The hurricane was insane.
 People lost their homes.
 Now we must help with healing.
 Powerful floods flanked Florida.
 Sunshine state grew dark.
 Now we must bring the sunshine
 Back and help rebuild.
 Children saw their schools destroyed.
 Parents held their babies close.
 
2.
Milton like Helene
 Was merciless with power,
 A power of pain,
 With a reign of dark terror.
 We shall replace that dark reign.

A sparrow broke my heart this week
Flying headfirst into a window he didn’t see
A loud thump, a fall, a shattered misshapen body 
A silent cry in pain, an eye that locked onto my own
I stroked his softly feathered body, speaking words of mercy
A small box lined with an old washcloth – my attempt at comfort
As his breath diminished from rapid to hardly noticeable to absent
A sparrow broke my heart this week
 




​
________________________________________________________________
Thomas Zampino’s first book of poetry, Precise Moment, was published in 2021. His second book of poetry, synchronicity, was published in 2023 by Southern Arizona Press. In 2024, he published Petrichor, also by Southern Arizona Press. You can follow him at thomaszampino.wordpress.com.

On a rainy road thinking of sunshine
My destination seems so close
Stepping boldy into the future one step at a time
It's hard on days like these
So wet and grey
Dampening the world as well as the mind
How drained these days can make us
Cold.. yet cleansing
The shadow of brighter days to come
For without the rain why rejoice for the sun
Whether it's weather or life
The idea is the same
You weather the storm to see better days again



________________________________________________________________
Dustin Fresh Sr is a poet from Rhode Island. He hopes someone reading his poetry can relate and gain strength and hope through that. Love connects us all!

Asked by the officiant of the morning service,
would you be open to the offering of healing prayer and blessings?
I’d said yes. 
Found myself holding the small container with the holy oil,
watched as people processed toward where I stood,
listened to requests for healing, many,
words struggling to get through their masks, many
not audible to me, so prayers intended for one’s family
sounded rather like an invocation to pray for Camelot, and
prayers for the good of the community became, to my ears,
prayers for immunity.


Whatever had been offered up, I took and sent along
and up to higher powers.  I asked if I might anoint the seeker with
this holy oil, sometimes feeling my wordless touch
could offer more than any prayer might.  And so,
my thumb pressed onto brows the sign of grace, again, again, and then
once more as I continued praying for those present and not,
my marking one more time a forehead symbolizing all the
beings needing healing in the world.


It’s only now, later that day, my thumb still softly shining,
oil remaining in its creases, I begin to feel the healing
move from thumb to heart to soul,
the healed returning healing to the healer,
all of us better because our lives
had touched another’s, sensing wholeness
in the moments beyond the holy oil,
whether I’d gotten prayers right or not.

​

_________________________________________________________________
Barbara Simmons is a Wellesley College, Santa Clara University, and The Writing Seminars (Johns Hopkins) alumna.  A retired educator, she writes to wonder and hope. Publication include... NewVerse News, DoubleSpeak, Soul-Lit, Capsule Stories, Writing it Real Anthologies, Walt Whitman 205 Anthology, All Your Poems. Her book, Offertories: Exclamations and Disequilibriums, was published in 2022. 

Welcome poets to “Storm of the Bards” a blog (and eventual book) for the hurricane relief efforts.
As you know Hurricane Helene and now Hurricane Milton have done a lot of damage to certain parts of our country—and the relief can use all the help it can get. So let’s use our poetic talents to help out.
 
How It Works:
 
Step 1: You Make a Donation
You make a donation on your own to any of the relief efforts, Red Cross, Americares, etc. Any relief effort currently helping with the hurricane situation. You do this on your own (the honor system) and you tell us the donation made (you can keep the amount anonymous if you wish but for purposes of a tally we’d like to know if you are comfortable sharing.)
​
Step 2: Send us a Poem
Send us a poem to be posted on the blog. You can send a couple if you wish but we will only be sharing 1 per donation.
There is no strict theme to this project, but poetry about lending a helping hand, compassion, caring, and innovative thinking would be all the more appreciated.
Send poems 100 lines or less each to
[email protected]
Include “Storm of the Bards” in the subject line. Include a brief 2 line biography in the third person if you wish.
 
Step 3: We Publish The Poem
We publish the poem on this blog. And we will be sharing this blog frequently with our Local Gems Email List of over 25,000 readers.
 
Step 4: An Eventual Book
After the submission period for the blog is over, and all the poems are compiled, we will eventually print a collection of the poems from the blog, which the proceeds will also go to relief efforts and charity.