Happy July Fourth

(Photo by Mike Hall)

Have a safe and happy July 4th weekend.  If you want fireworks, just click on this image for a way to celebrate.

A Pound of Peace

Brother Rufus McDougal is different since he was from another country. He was a foreign exchange student from Scotland, majoring in the environment and natural resources. Now he is the big “Think Green” person in a small town near Belfast,  Ireland, where he serves as a consultant for local and international companies in environmental construction practices and techniques, and efficient and energy options.  He always was part of the underground peace movement.  Here is one of his works.
 

A Pound of Peace  

A pound of peace is worth its weight in gold,
 but the harmony peace gives can’t be bought or sold.

The pleas for peace are routinely told,
 but such pleas are ignored. Hate makes the world cold.

The plan for peace is to bring the sheep to
 fold where eager hearts can be converted to Christ’s mold.

The prayers for peace are new and the same time, old.
 The prayers are a statement for whose faith is bold.

A pound of peace is worth its weight in gold,
 but the harmony peace gives can’t be bought or sold.

The path for peace can be wide or very narrow,and it
 takes many long hours to mend damage of a broken arrow.

Newsletter for the World of Words by Elias Tobias

Reader’s support appreciated

The daily count of unique visitors remains both high and constant with 1.2 million readers in May and the daily page view count has increased more than doubling the daily unique visitor rate. When 1.4 million people come to the World of Words by Elias Tobias, this means that there are 16.2 readers per second are logging on to the poetry blog.  I’m not sure what part body the .2 of a person is, but I hope it becomes whole person soon. These numbers are great and we hope the trend continues throughout the summer months.  If you have any comments to make, please go to contact@eliastobias.net.

Let your opinions count, and take the survey

The World of Words by Elias Tobias is continuing a survey started in June. The survey is simple with only 10 questions. Help me to help the readers out. Click on the survey logo above to get started.

Buy the book

The World of Words by Elias Tobias is proud to announce poems and photographs from the web blog will be available in a library quality book as a gift item.  The site has more than 150 poems in its catalog and all of these can be in one book for $49.95, or just  about 30 cents per poem.   Since the web blog is organized into books, all poems in a certain collection can become your custom book based on work online.  Make a book of your favorite poems. It is up to you. If you are interested, contact Elias Tobias at contact@eliastobias.net for details.

Still time to vote for photographs for Indianapolis book

The Indianapolis Star and a group of partners and sponsors are working together on CaptureIndy, a photography project to reflect what the city and the surrounding areas have to offer.  There are 8 chapters or categories for the photos, and I have more than 25 photos entered in this contest.

The end result will be a coffee table-style book and all those who enter photos will be given a CD of all the photos submitted.  Those images published in the book will be chosen by a few photo editors and the viewing public via the Internet.   The book will go to press around October, so you can vote often over the next two months.

So I need your votes. I’ve done the hard works.  Just to go http:// www.captureindy.com/people/mhall7175 and get to my page.  Look at the thumbnail photos, and click on any picture. Then the full photo will appear and you can cast your vote for that photo with the click of your mouse. After votong for one photo, you can click on other photos by Mike Hall and vote for them. You may have to register with CaptureIndy to make the vote or votes stick.  There are other pictures from other photographers to check out, too.

The Peasant Princess now in five languages 

The children’s story on the World of Words by Elias Tobias, The Peasant Princess, has been been translated into four additional languages: German, French, Spanish and Arabic for additional readership.  Copy it and read it to your children.
 

Be a cut above in your kitchen

I have a former Engish 111 student who has  become an authorized Cutco Cutlery distributor, and after seeing her practice demonstration, Jordan Crosby asked me for more references. I said I have a web site. I didn’t need any new kitchen knives at the time, but the knives are sharp and so is her presentation. In the Indianapolis-Central Indiana area, call 317-690-9027 for a personal demonstation today.

New Elias Tobias brochure ready to download

Start a new Elias Tobias fan club with a new Elias Tobias brochure.  Use this, along with other free downloads, as material to let other people now about the poet and and his work at The World of Words by Elias Tobias.  To get the two 8 1/2 x 11 pages just click on the two thumbnail images above. Also a PDF verson is available, and if a print quality version in desired, contact me at contact@eliastobias.net and with a working e-mail, the latest vewrsion can be sent to you. If you print these with a home computer, so be sure not to get the pages upside down.

Back to the Basics

The use of the older poetry was such a big hit that the same theme will be used for July. The poems  I wrote in high school and the  first years of college, especially the ones that were published, will be put on the web blog.  Some daily blogs will contain several poems, since the older works are typically shorter. Each week this month will feature at least four poems per week: a Spanish poem, unpublished poems, and a previously published poem, linked to the publishing credits. The publishing credits history page has been updated so that poems already on the web blog are now easily accessible, and as the older published poems appear, links to these poems will be set to the poems listed in the publishing credits.

    Poem of the Month

These eyes  

These eyes have been a witness to
the best and worst of what people bring.
The capacity to care and give has exceeded
some people’s material possessions and means.
But here are others who sanitize their sanity, and
stay clean of touching lives of their fellow man.
Charity is not the act of giving something for a hope
of some return; it’s helping another person stand
on their own two feet, and giving them food to eat.
It’s an activity that doesn’t happen at Christmastime.
It’s something people should often repeat.

These eyes have been a witness to
the best and worst of what people bring.
Two people look at each other, and feelings grow
into a relationship promised by wedding rings.
Then over the years, the feelings start to fade, and
the damage continues even after the divorce.
They say there is the other woman or man, but
The problem really stems from another source,
the feelings of jealously or bad communication.
They key to successful long-term affairs is not sex,
but a sense of respect without any conditions.

These eyes have been a witness to
the best and worst of what people bring.
When special groups or nations can’t solve
their differences, they fight for their king,
and for property, for commerce, for a god,
and others who died. The only solution is a war,
and any resolution for a peaceful deal is used
 as a stalling weapon as soldiers go out the door.
Men and machine guns step in ankle –deep mud,
blood and bodies as they rush to take a strategic hill.
their answer to the solution is to kill, kill, kill.

These eyes have been a witness to
the best and worst of what people do and say.
There are problems which need to be solved,
but for each one, there is more than one way
to arrive at the best alternative; and the secret
to the solution is how much people want to give.