Infectious?

Ancient Bardic Oral Tradition

There exists a powerful infectious condition:

The ancient bardic oral tradition!

When exposed, you will be swept along,

By a poem performed as a chant or a song.

Sometimes accompanied by harp or guitar,

By traveling performers from near and from far.

Aided by printing and then phonograph,

Soon you were asking for their autograph.

So many choices as to who you might choose,

From country, folk, pop, rap, jazz, punk, rock and blues.

Guthrie, and Seeger, and Kristofferson,

Buffett, and Dylan, and Denver, and Young,

Parton, and Haggard, Williams father/son,

Lennon, McCartney, Springsteen, Simon,

Jagger & Richards, Garcia, Morrison,

Sorry missing favorites. List will never be done.

Singing the songs of artists present and past,

We memorize music and poems that last.

We all are infected by this marvelous condition,

Celebrating our singer-songwriter tradition!

© Forrest W. Heaton January 2019

Our hope with this post is two-fold: 1) highlight the skills of many of your favorite singer-songwriter musicians as poets, and 2) encourage you to go out to see their live performance(s). In almost all instances, you will see why each of the artists who have staying-power have lasted so long—musical skill, poetic skill, commitment to their audience, inexhaustible energy, powerful message, and extraordinary appeal. 

Mary & I experienced just such an evening recently attending “An Evening with Peter Yarrow” (of Peter, Paul & Mary fame) at The ArtsCenter in Carrboro NC, 16Nov18. We made an evening of it joining Jerry & Minnie Sue Douglas and their daughter, Mindy Douglas & spouse, Tim O’Brien, for dinner and the event. Jerry, a retired physician, church pianist/organist, and an experienced performing musician in his own right, had encouraged our group to get tickets. The events Jerry chooses are almost always outstanding and this evening was no exception.

Here’s what the online promotional piece for the event had to say: “Since the Civil Rights era, Peter Yarrow has committed his time and talent—both with renowned trio Peter, Paul & Mary and as a solo performer—to social justice causes that have utilized his skills as both a performer and an organizer. His gift for songwriting has produced some of the most moving songs Peter, Paul & Mary have recorded, earning several gold and platinum albums and numerous Grammys. Peter Yarrow’s life and work is based on his passionate belief that music, with its power to build community and catalyze change, can be a particularly powerful organizing tool! For this intimate evening of performance and conversation at the ArtsCenter, Yarrow will share his years of music and activism through songs and stories that encourage us to each change our part of the world.”

The evening more than lived up to our expectations. At one point, Yarrow invited the sold-out audience (350-seat theatre) to come up on stage (until full, and it was) and sing with him! It was a moving experience as we all sang from memory Puff the Magic Dragon and other of his world-wide hits. Hopefully the photo included here will give you some of that feeling. Through internet searches, you can study his lyrics and listen to his songs. Perhaps those searches/listening experiences will lead you to find out where he is performing and make it a point to take in his live performance/discussion. It will be a significant contribution to your celebrating singer-songwriters as they carry the banner of our ancient bardic oral tradition!

A choice?

Your Voice

For the world around you,

You have a choice . . .

To change your circumstances,

And find your voice!

© Forrest W. Heaton, January 2019

Born on my Dad’s birthday, 10 September, albeit thirty years later, in 1935, Mary Oliver suffered a difficult childhood, was sexually abused, became more comfortable in the natural world than in the social world, started writing poetry at the age of fourteen, and found writing helped her create a world in which she could excel. She went on to be honored with the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984 for American Primitive, her fifth collection, and the National Book Award for her New and Selected Poems in 1992. Mary died nine days ago, 17January, at the age of 83. We will miss her wisdom, her focus, her inspiration, her ability to choose and order words like almost no other. At the same time, we celebrate her life, her work, her inspiration, and what became for many her “life-saving” poetry—“life-saving” because many, despairing, found inspiration from her poems to rise above their despair to find new affirmation, new purpose, new direction.

In this short post to acknowledge our celebration of Mary Oliver’s life, we’ve chosen just one of her widely-quoted poems as an example of her wisdom, her ability to inspire—The Summer Day. We encourage you to seek out other of her poems and collections.

The Summer Day

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean-

the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

—Mary Oliver

What have we got?

Instead of natural/cultural husbandry,

We’ve got political theatre catastrophe.

You Dear Readers of Mary’s and my blog know that we make every effort to write from the political center and, regardless of the event(s), not to rant. For any of you who might read a political message into this, please don’t. This blog post is a fervent plea for a deeply held passion of Mary’s and mine—the National Parks of United States of America.

As of this writing, 18Jan19, the United States Federal Government has been partially shut down for 28 days. During that time, the Administration has chosen to keep most national parks open even though they are thinly staffed or not staffed at all and those who are working are currently not being paid. Parks, Rangers, visitors and local economies are suffering. The reports of vandalism, trashing and theft in these unique lands are increasing daily. Add to this that the current Administration is working hard to withdraw previous protections and increase the extraction of resources near and in the parks makes the current situation even more urgent.

Ironically, this is all playing out in 2019, the year in which the National Park Conservation Association is celebrating its 100th birthday. But there is no celebrating going on at the NPCA. Many of you will recall that Mary and I are donating all profits from the sales of our The National Park Service Turns One Hundred e-book available at Amazon to the NPCA. They do outstanding work in the protection and conservation of this vital natural and cultural heritage. 

We ask you to please write your U. S. Congressperson and two U. S. Senators urging immediate and effective resolution. Items you might consider including are:

• Until the shutdown is ended, close the parks.

• Find the consensus and end the shutdown.

• Pay all affected employees their back pay.

• Reopen the parks. 

• At each park, resolve negative shutdown issues.

• Allocate the funding to reduce/eliminate the currently $11 billion maintenance backlog.

In addition to writing your elected representatives, you can also write the Acting Secretary of the Interior, David Bernhardt, by visiting www.npca.org, click on “ACT NOW”, fill out their form, and you can even personalize their pre-prepared letter should you wish. Thank you for your much-appreciated contributions to this effort! Mary & Forrest

Twice the lift?

 Poemgift

Poemgift? Now that’s a word,

I don’t believe I’ve ever heard.

A poem? “Yes.” A gift? “Yes”, too; 

But tied together, one word from two?

I don’t know if I’ve stolen this, 

Or made a word that others missed.

Write a poem about your gift: 

Your giftee will receive twice the lift!

© Forrest W. Heaton  December 2018

In my 2013 book, The Sixty-Minute Poet, available as an e-book on Amazon, toward the end of the book I advised each reader: “Somewhere, deep inside you, lives your Poet Spirit. She or he only needs your prodding to awaken and then move from her/his bed deep within your unconscious to a chair just outside the door to your consciousness. The more you practice (writing your own poems), the more your Poet Spirit moves to a more ready posture, knocking more frequently on your consciousness door.” 

A bit further in that section, I encouraged readers to consider sharing their poems with others: “One of the most enjoyable aspects of writing poetry is the uniqueness others ascribe to your correspondence when they realize you spent some time thinking about them—perhaps regarding an event such as a birthday or anniversary, perhaps thanking them for something they have done for you.” 

The section concluded with the understanding that your poem can be a stand-alone gift in itself or it can be written about and combined with another item—perhaps an event, an item you’ve made or purchased, art, etc.: “As you practice and get better, you will begin to see the obvious enhancement writing poetry offers when it is combined with another form of art. This mixing is limitless in its application. . . .”

As good fortune would have it, Mary & I received a few days ago (mid-December ‘18) a poemgift from Fearringrton Village neighbors, Vicki & David Field, thanking us for including them in a recent gathering at our home. The gift consisted of David’s scrumptious chocolate chip cookies and Vicki’s superlative poem entitled Holiday Thoughts For 2018. Having savored both cookies and poem, we asked their permission to feature their gift in this blog post as an outstanding example of the impact one can achieve gifting a poemgift. They readily agreed. In your reading, we hope you can taste their cooking excellence and writing wisdom:

Auld Lang Syne

We received many compliments from readers for our 30 December 2017 post giving readers/singers a bit of history about the poem/song Auld Lang Syne and a bit of help with the lyrics. Thus, we felt reprising the post as written last year might provide a wee bit o’ help to readers again this year!

Do y’ know what y’ll be singin’ this comin’ Monday night at midnight Las ‘n Lad? 

Aye, if y’ like most, it’ll be Auld Lang Syne.  But, ask aroun’: few will know it’s a poem by a fellow named Robert Burns.  An’ fewer still will know what all the words mean.  Read this brief post and impress y’ friends!

Robert Burns (1759-1796) is recognized as Scotland’s greatest poet and greatest son (most recognized, most revered).  In addition to writing original poetry and songs, he was also a superb collector of earlier Scottish poetry and songs.  Scholars feel Auld Lang Syne is based on earlier Scottish poems/songs but is mostly Burn’s poetry.  Having written the poem in 1788, he then put the poem to a widely recognized Scottish folk song and published it in 1792.  Not only did it become instantly popular in Scotland (where their New Year’s Eve celebration is called Hogmanay), but it quickly spread around the world as revelers sang out the old year and in the new.  Different resources offer varying lyrics; those we’ve presented here are (we feel) close to Burns’ original intent as well as close to what you hear sung today.  (We’ve put in parentheses in a few spots a brief description in English what his Scottish brogue was saying.)

AULD LANG SYNE (Old long since, long long ago, days gone by, old times)

 [1]           

SHOULD AULD ACQUAINTANCE BE FORGOT, (Should old acquaintances/old times be forgotten,)

AND NEV-ER BROT TO MIN? (And never brought to mind?)

SHOULD AULD ACQUAINTANCE BE FORGOT,

AND DAYS OF AULD LANG SYNE?

[Chorus]

FOR AULD LANG SYNE, MY DEAR, (For the sake of old times, my dear/my friend/my friends,)

FOR AULD LANG SYNE,

WE’LL TAK’ A CUP O’ KIND-NESS YET, (We’ll take a cup of kindness yet,)

FOR AULD LANG SYNE.

[2]

WE TWO HAE RUN ABOUT THE BRAES, (We two have run about the slopes,)

AND PU’D THE GOWANS FINE; (And picked the daisies fine;)

BUT WE’VE WANDER’D MONY A WEARY FOOT (But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,)

SIN’ AULD LANG SYNE. (For/since auld lang syne.)

[3]

WE TWO HAE PAIDL’T I’ THE BURN, (We two have paddled in the stream,)

FROM MORNIN’ SUN TILL DINE;

BUT SEAS BETWEEN US BRAID HAE ROAR’D, (But seas between us broad have roared,)

SIN’ AULD LANG SYNE.        

[4]

AND SURELY YE’LL BE YOUR PINT-STOUP, (And surely you’ll buy your pint cup,)

AND SURELY I’LL BE MINE; (And surely I’ll buy mine;)

AND WE’LL TAK’ A CUP O’ KIND-NESS YET

SIN’ AULD LANG SYNE.

[5]

AND HERE’S A HAND, MY TRUST-Y FRIEN’, (And here’s a hand my trusty friend,)

AND GIE’S A HAND O’ THINE; (And give me a hand of thine;)

WE’LL TAK’ A CUP O’ KIND-NESS YET,

SIN’ AULD LANG SYNE.

[Chorus]           

Like the bridge over the River Doon which runs through Burns’ hometown village of Alloway in Ayrshire, Scotland, we’ll use this poem/song as our bridge—both our last blog post of 2018 and our first blog post of 2019—dealing with our favorite poet, Rabbie/Robbie/Robert Burns.  Thanks for sharing this journey with us, Dear Ones!  We Love You!  Happy New Year!

Sketch by F.W. Heaton, Brig o' Doon, Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland, 2006

Thankfulness?

‘Tis The Season To Be Thankful

There is so much we are thankful for,

Not the least of which is YOU;

Dear Readers reading website and blog,

Many the whole year through.

Parks, Poems, Spaceship Planet Earth,

We strive to lift all three;

Providing information via inspired . . .

Prose and Poetry!

© Forrest W. Heaton  December 2018

Heaton Publications Readers. Bringing this year to a close, we’re writing to give thanks for our Heaton Publications readers as well as the kind people helping Mary & me in this effort. Some of you have asked what have we published? Here’s a summary:

Heaton’s Holiday Songbook  1989

Heaton’s Hit Parade                                 1995

Channel Island Crusin’                             2000

St. Croix 2004 “Sweet Mary” DVD          2005           

Delts In Duet CD                                      2009           

To Reflect On Thoreau . . . In Poetry      2009

Heaton’s Holiday Songs and Poetry      2011                       

The Sixty-Minute Poet                            2013           

The National Park Service Turns One Hundred                  2016                                   

Mary & Forrest Heaton Publications Website and Blog     Ongoing                              

What are we working on for future publishing?

Heaton’s Songs and Poetry

My Week in the Woods

Walworth’s Then & Now

Kind People Helping Mary & Me. We try to express our thanks every day, but particularly wish to write our thanks this Holiday Season. Helping us on every publication starting in 2008 has been graphics/layout/publishing/printing expert Izzie Myers. Izzie not only makes the work professional, she makes it FUN! Assisting us in our writing re Parks is my Albion College roommate, 31-year National Park Service career professional, Rick Smith. Daughter, Mandy, & spouse, Steve, set up our website and blog in August 2016; thanks to their assistance, we’re thoroughly enjoying sharing poetry events, park visits and blog posts with all of you. We also receive much assistance from readers who recommend topics to cover, places to visit, issues that need highlighting, etc. Mary & I are very grateful for all of this assistance to our Heaton Publications efforts and take none of it for granted. We send heartfelt prayers for a Joyous Holiday Season to each and all of you!

Precious few can now tell the true story?

Precious Few Can Now Tell The True Story!

The U.S. Armed Forces in World War Two,

Fought all over the world;

While women and blacks and immigrants,

On Home Front their strengths they unfurled.

Building ships, and planes, and tanks, and supplies,

Enabling victory in worldwide glory;

But in past seventy years, many have died,

Precious few can now tell the true story!

© Forrest W. Heaton. November 2018

This is the third post in our trilogy on Immigration to America, a topic currently being derided for base political gain (yes, double entendre and, yes, sad) as opposed to celebrated for its creation of the nation we have become and are becoming. We’ve heard from a number of readers who applauded our coverage of the topic under the banner of care for our planet. We also received recommendations as to whom we might consider covering in parts 2 and 3 of the trilogy—John Muir ending up as our selection for part 2 which blasted at noon Saturday, 11 Nov.  

For our final post in this trilogy, writing under the banners of both planet and parks, we’ve chosen to cover a person recommended by two separate readers, both noting this woman is a descendant of a great grandmother born into slavery, understands the perspective of immigrants/minorities from first-hand experience, and, at age ninety-seven, packs the halls with live presentations on behalf of the National Park Service about the contributions of hundreds of thousands of immigrants and descendants of immigrants to America. Her name: Betty Reid Soskin. If you are familiar with Betty’s story, we believe you’ll still find new information of interest in this post. If you are unfamiliar with her, we guarantee you will find this inspirational!

Background. Born Betty Charbonnet in 1921, father of Creole (mixed European and black descent) background, mother of Cajun (southern Louisiana descendants of French Canadians) background, great grandmother born into slavery in 1846. Betty has lived her, to date, ninety-seven years immersed in the issues of minorities in a predominantly white society, women in a predominantly male-dominated society, and immigrants coming to, working in, and contributing to America. 

Credit: NPS Photo/Luther Bailey

Ranger Betty Reid Soskin at the Rosie the Riveter Visitor Education Center.

Brief Bio. At age 97, Betty is the oldest National Park Service Park Ranger serving in the U.S. Wearing her crisp, green NPS uniform with the iconic NPS brimmed campaign hat, Betty comes to work five days a week at Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, CA near San Francisco. Farai Chideya, in her Nov 18 Women of the Year article in Glamour wrote: “ ‘What gets remembered is determined by who is in the room doing the remembering,’ Betty Reid Soskin likes to say. So she’s made it her singular purpose to always be in the room.” In our research about Betty, it quickly became clear she understood early on that the story of the contributions to the World War II effort by women and African-Americans would be muddled or non-existent if told by white men. She felt that the U.S. needed a well-spoken, passionate African-American woman, a place to tell the story, and that the story needs to be told—every day now and into the future! Thus, she became central in the development of this NPS National Historical Park and has been, since its opening in 2000, its prime story-teller, consistently filling the theatre to capacity for each of her presentations.     

Book. Betty’s recent book, Sign My Name to Freedom: A memoir of a Pioneering Life, published Feb 18, is available on Amazon. Here’s Amazon’s author note: “Betty Reid Soskin has been a home front war years worker, a singer-songwriter and performer, a writer, a legislative aide, a National Parks ranger, a national icon, and an honest and tireless fighter, both against discrimination of all forms and for the growth and triumph of the human spirit and values that would benefit us all.” 

Blog. We must confess, dear Heaton Publications blog readers, that we find it inspirational that, at age 97, Betty not only writes her own blog but contributes almost daily! Here’s Amazon’s note re her blog: “In her blog . . . she writes, ‘Life has never been richer, nor more abundantly lyrical,’ and ‘I’ve grown into someone I’d like to know—were I not me already!’” Website: cbreaux.blogspot.com.

Learn More. As you dig deeper into Betty’s life and how she has so positively influenced others worldwide, we believe you will find inspiration in her story and helpful detail about the contributions of women/minorities/immigrants to our nation’s survival/growth about which you were previously unfamiliar. Way to go Betty! Although not a National Park Service campaign hat, we take our hat off to YOU!

A cinematic treat?

A Cinematic Treat

Want to experience a cinematic treat?

Check out Honnold at three thousand feet!

© Forrest W. Heaton 14 November 2018

We interrupt this trilogy on Immigration to America to bring you a newsflash: 

“Free Solo”, National Geographic documentary,

playing for a short time in select theaters!

Free Solo: “Free solo climbing . . . is a form of free climbing and solo climbing where the climber (or free soloist) performs alone and without using any ropes, harnesses or other protective equipment, relying entirely on his or her ability instead.”

If you are an athlete, a rock climber or a National Park enthusiast, this film is a must see! Mary & I and a friend attended this evening (14 November) in Durham NC, the film having been recommended to us by 31-year National Park Service career friend and college roommate, Rick Smith. Thank you, Rick! The film, copyright 2018, was shot predominately in Yosemite National Park. Any of you who have been to Yosemite or wish to go to Yosemite will see Yosemite in this film in a way you would never otherwise see it! Extraordinary! 

Here are a few online reviews:

- “You don’t have to be a fan of rock climbing to love ‘Free Solo.’ ”

- “Despite the gravity-defying cinematography and alpine setting, ‘Free Solo’ transcends the climbing world and intimately examines something universal.”

Let us hear from you if you take us up on this recommendation.

“Father of our National Parks”?

“Father of our National Parks”

“Engineer, Naturalist, Philosopher, Geologist,

Biologist, Writer and Poet”;

Each skill refined in the one who defined,

How to walk the natural world and know it.

An immigrant from Scotland in eighteen forty-nine,

Early advocate for America’s grandeur;

Became “Father of our National Parks”,

Led the way, his name was John Muir.

© Forrest W. Heaton October 2018

Yes, good going to those of you who guessed that the second post in our trilogy on Immigration to America would focus on Scottish immigrant, John Muir. Muir was eleven when his family immigrated to Wisconsin to begin farming in the small town of Portage. The reason for their immigration appears to have been Muir’s father’s feeling that Scottish religious practices were not strict enough. Those writing on the subject agree Muir’s father regularly whipped his son for not properly memorizing scripture. It is reported that Muir, at age eleven, could recite from memory the New Testament and much of the Old Testament. It seems extraordinary, in retrospect, that a person experiencing such punishment at that young age could grow up to be such an intelligent, caring, sharing person, committed to the welfare of his fellow citizens, his new adopted country, and the planet!

In our book available on Amazon, The National Park Service Turns One Hundred, published in 2016, Mary & I closed the book with the famous photo of Muir sitting alone in the Sierra Nevada and included one of his many memorable quotes: “Keep close to Nature’s heart . . . and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” Wash your spirit clean! Isn’t that magnificent! 

The lands we now know as Yosemite had been set aside in 1864, the first federal government action for preservation and public use of lands which led to the 1872 creation of Yellowstone, America’s and the world’s first National Park. Having set aside the California Sierra Nevada lands, the federal government then ceded the lands to the State of California where they received minimal management/protection from commercial exploitation. It was Muir’s three-day trip in May 1903 guiding President Theodore Roosevelt through Yosemite, sleeping on the ground in the snow with endless talking around the campfire, Muir encouraging the President not only to offer federal protection to Yosemite but to many of America’s extraordinary lands threatened by commercial exploitation. The impression Roosevelt took away from his three days with Muir led to the federal government’s 1906 resumption of control over the lands as Yosemite National Park. Muir walked, talked, wrote, sketched, and explained nature in such a way that we as a nation began to focus on resource conservation, forest preservation, wilderness protection, and environmental awareness. Muir went on to become known as the “Father of our National Parks” and defined, better than anyone before, the very manner in which we understand the natural world.

There are so many resources available on the internet on Muir that we feel it best to simply recommend to those of you who wish to learn more to explore the internet at your leisure. You will be rewarded the more you learn about this extraordinary individual. It will also help underscore Mary’s & my purpose for writing this trilogy: it is immigrants, descendants of immigrants and indigenous peoples who made and are making us the extraordinary nation we are becoming! 

Should some of you wish to read or own perhaps one book on Muir, our recommendation is the same as the recommendation of Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan: “My First Summer in the Sierra,” by John Muir, the 100thAnniversary Illustrated Edition, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011, Forward by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns. Quoting from the Forward: “Writing, Muir once said, is ‘like the life of a glacier, one eternal grind.’ My First Summer in the Sierra, his best and most enduring book, extends the analogy. Just as the unforgettable granite domes of Yosemite, so impressive, impassive, and seemingly impermeable, were molded and shaped by patient glaciation, each journal entry here has been sculpted and polished by the man who considered glaciers proof of ‘Nature as a poet, an enthusiastic workingman.’ ‘Everything in Nature called destruction must be creation, a change from beauty to beauty.’ Muir advises us in these pages, distilling what he learned during his life-changing three and a half months in the Sierra. In the mountains he called the ‘Range of Light,’ such insights come more easily, he said, because ‘everything is perfectly clean and pure and full of divine lessons . . . until the hand of God becomes visible.’” In our judgment, this book helps get you as close to walking the Sierra Nevada as one can get without actually walking the Sierra Nevada. We hope some of you will read it or own it. It is a masterpiece from the master.

We heard from a number of you about our post on this topic, appreciate your interest, and are happy our blog can help in a more reasoned discussion of life in America and on our planet today. The third post in our trilogy on Immigration to America, due in approximately one week, covers a female, whose forbearers were brought to America as slaves, whom thefederal government hired when she was eighty-five to tell stories about race, social change and immigrant contributions to America to live audiences. At age ninety-seven she’s still going strong, filling the halls, telling spellbinding stories about hundreds of thousands of people from varied countries and walks of life without whom we would have been not only poorer but possibly out of existence as the nation we know ourselves to be today. Stay tuned.

Immigration to America

From Immigrants We Do Descend

Almost all who live in the United States,

From immigrants we do descend;

Bringing strong work ethic and fresh ideas,

On which vibrant societies depend.

© Forrest W. Heaton October 2018

We post a new blog approximately every two weeks, attempting to provide our readers a source of inspiration, new information, celebration and a fresh look at our lives and events of the day. We concentrate our focus on poetry, parks and planet. Today’s post, focusing on our planet, is the first of a trilogy dealing with the very current topic of Immigration to America.

At the time of this writing (31 October 2018), walking north toward the Mexico - US border are an estimated 4,500 persons, originating 12 October as a group of 120 people in Honduras, others joining the “caravan” from various Central American countries along the way, all identifying home country hunger, violence and death as their motivation, all seeking to immigrate to the United States. A large number of our citizens apparently agree with our current political leadership that many or most are “terrorists or criminals, many coming from the Middle East”, and all need to be turned back, with armed force if necessary. The purpose of this blog post is to encourage intelligent debate, compassion and understanding, as opposed to demagoguery, political theatre and racism. 

Were one to have been in 1700’s colonial New York or mid-1800’s San Francisco or turn of the century Ellis Island and observing those seeking to immigrate to America, it is likely some observers raised a similar specter of fear—some truth, mostly falsehood. That, in fact, is the definition of a demagogue: “a leader in a democracy who gains popularity by exploiting prejudice and ignorance among the common people, whipping up the passions of the crowd and shutting down reasoned deliberation.” Yes, some seeking to immigrate were undesirable, but, on individual examination, they came for deeply understandable reasons—hunger, persecution, death. Most made positive contributions to the grand experiment in democracy our country has become. We would have been poorer without them. We believe the events causing these migrations will steadily increase as climate change worsens supply of food, fresh water, and stable societies. Required now is governmental leadership toward truth, intelligent discussion, creative solutions to the causes of mass migration, and a better educated and compassionate citizenry.

In almost all cases, those leaving family, friends, and their past behind for the possibility of a better present and future in a new land walk/sail/fly with hope in their hearts and a desire to positively contribute in a more welcoming society. Each represents immigrants from former times. With millions from which to choose, our second post in this trilogy (coming in two to three weeks) will deal with one such immigrant from former times who was born in Scotland, immigrated to the US in 1849, and became our most influential US citizen to improve resource conservation, forest preservation, wilderness protection, environmental awareness, and define the very manner in which we understand the natural world. Do you know who she/he was? (Good time to do some research on your own.) Stay tuned!

Trouble? Double?

Trouble? Double?

Poetry’s death has been robustly forecasted,

It’s reading a downward straight line;

Too hard to teach and too hard to learn,

No wonder it’s in decline!

But hold on a minute, what’s that you say,

The youth are fixing that trouble!

Their writing and reading of all forms of poetry,

Over previous years is now double!

© Forrest W. Heaton October 2018

Poetry reading by young people has doubled since 2012!

Poetry reading by young people has doubled since 2012!

No, you’re not seeing double. There is a surprising societal change underway in the increase of the reading and writing of poetry. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has just reported:

- “The share of adults reading poetry grew by an astounding 76 percent between 2012 and 2017 . . . . Some 28 million adults reported reading poetry in 2017.”

- “The results are even more dramatic for young people. The percentage of poetry readers age 18-24 doubled during that period.”

Mary & I would like our blog to take full credit for this dramatic change; however, we’ve learned we need to share the credit with the internet. It turns out that many examining these trends credit social media and the internet in drawing more people in: 1) reading the poetry of others and, 2) for the first time in their lives, expressing themselves thru writing poems they share either by name or anonymously online. Just three years ago the Washington Post reported NEA data in an Apr15 article “Poetry Is Going Extinct, Government Data Show”: “Since 2002, the share of poetry-readers has contracted by 45 percent—resulting in the steepest decline in participation in any literary genre.” Thus, the 2012 to 2017 NEA data is a fascinating development!  

High school senior Vanessa Tahay recites a poem of hers during a public recital at Pershing Square in Los Angeles on May 23, 2017. Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times/TNS

When you start to look, you will begin to find astonishing examples of this writing/reading explosion by young people. For example, our guess is most people born before, say, 1990 have never heard of Wattpad. However, if younger, there’s a good chance they at least know what Wattpad is if not having participated. Wattpad is an online community claiming an audience of 65 million users enabling writers/readers to publish their writing including poetry and share their opinions with fellow writers/readers. For the fun of it, take a look at other examples by entering into your search engine “12 Best Poetry Websites for Kids – Interactives and Collections”, or “6 Great Websites for Teen Writers.” More than likely your reaction will be similar to ours—we had no idea all of this was/is happening!

Farewell?

Farewell

“Farewell” carries with it . . . a fi-nal-i-ty,

Not intended to happen again;

Thus, when applied to a favorite thing,

We prefer “a bientôt,” “until then.”

© Forrest W. Heaton  September 2018

I have filled my life with poetry and music. Thus, when writers and artists come along whose poetry and musical artistry help fill our lives with joy, we try hard to pass along that joy to others, sometimes with our guitar and singing, sometimes with the gift of a songbook, poembook or poem, sometimes with our website and blog. In this case, Mary & I are using our blog to pass along to readers the joy we experienced Saturday 29Sep18 at the Durham Performing Arts Center attending the “Farewell Tour” of poet/writer/activist/performer, Joan Baez!

My Mom & Dad were accomplished musicians/singers, Dad having taught me how to play his favorite instrument, the ukulele. When I was in high school, a friend two years ahead of me, Alan Sonner, began teaching me how to transfer those uke chords to a guitar and how to sing what were becoming known as “folk songs,” songs such as “I Ride An Old Paint,” “You Are My Sunshine,” et. al. I’ve not seen Alan since high school; however, we reconnected a few years ago by phone and email and learned we both still play our guitars and sing. When Mary & I realized that Joan’s Farewell Tour included Durham (a short half-hour away), we purchased four tickets and invited Alan and his friend, Barbara Hall, to join us—thereby guaranteeing double joy: supporting Joan in her Farewell Tour as well as reconnecting with Alan and Barbara to honor that musically/poetically formative time all those years ago. We reveled together at the concert and again the following day in our home, singing/playing together for the first time in sixty-three years! 

Here’s a partial summary of some of Joan’s accomplishments as listed in a 2016 performance bulletin at a concert we attended at Duke University: “Joan remains a musical force of nature. She marched on the front line of the civil rights movement with Martin Luther King, inspired Vaclav Havel in his fight for a Czech Republic, sang on the first Amnesty International Tour, and stood alongside Nelson Mandela celebrating his 90thbirthday in London’s Hyde Park. She shone a spotlight on the Free Speech Movement, took to the fields with Cesar Chavez, organized resistance to the Vietnam War, then forty years later saluted the Dixie Chicks for their courage in protesting the war in Iraq. Her earliest recordings fed a host of traditional ballads into the rock vernacular, before she unselfconsciously introduced Bob Dylan to the world in 1963, beginning a tradition of mutual mentoring that continues to this day.”

We’ve included two photos: the covers of Joan’s first three vinyl albums that my wife, Sally, & I purchased on their release dates in 1960 – 1962—all having achieved gold record status and all of which we still have; the second is of Joan during her 2018 Farewell Tour. The link takes you to a songsheet of “Gospel Ship”, an African-American spiritual which became part of white spiritual/gospel in the 20’s and 30’s; Joan chose this song to lead off Side Two of her “Joan Baez in Concert” album. Mary & I prepared this songsheet utilizing Joan’s lyrics for the first three verses and chorus and wrote a fourth verse for Stephen Ministry, using that songsheet to lead the singing of our University Presbyterian Church Stephen Ministers in training, 7Oct03. Later that same evening, we caught the last half of Joan’s performance in Chapel Hill, after which we had a lovely chat with Joan and she signed our songsheet! Joan Baez is clarity in voice and guitar: a story to learn, a message to act upon, a presentation to celebrate! We encourage you to attend her Farewell Tour, enjoy her recordings, support her causes, and celebrate her life!

Photo from the New York Times

October

October

April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs

Out of the dead land, mingling memory

And desire.

T. S. Eliot, The Wasteland

October is the kindest month of all,

When breeding April’s hint of hope has passed.

No lilacs offer their enticing call

And early, urgent longings fade at last.

October is an interlude of peace

Between the fervid burgeoning of Spring

And those white days when life appears to cease,

When wisdom learns at last what time must bring.

October’s ebbing light is edged with gold

In token of its plenty, parting gift

Before the final coming of that cold

In which the circling stars are set adrift.

Having lived through April’s hope and fear,

I am content to know October’s here.

© Thomas Allen Little, Jr.

New Wine In Old Skins, 2004

Poetry is a key focus of this Blog. Since the topic of “Poetry” is diverse—poetry taking on many forms of expression, presentation, meaning—our periodic posts on poetry attempt to bring to our readers examples of that diversity. Today’s post deals with depth—the extraordinary depth that a writer can achieve with poetry that is often illusive when writing in prose. The example we’re using is a poem written by a close friend, Tom Little, who passed away in 2005. Tom’s wife, Shirley, has given us permission to post Tom’s poem in this way. His poem, entitled “October”, is a powerful example assisting readers’ understanding of poetry’s limitless depth.  

In 1912, when founding Poetry Magazine (the leading monthly poetry journal in the English-speaking world and still maintaining its original purpose), Harriet Monroe, stating the magazine’s raison d’être, wrote: “. . . . while the ordinary magazines must minister to a large public little interested in poetry, this magazine will appeal to, and it may be hoped, will develop, a public primarily interested in poetry as an art, as the highest, most complete expression of truth and beauty.” One will have to travel a very long way to find a poem which does a better job of embodying “the highest, most complete expression of truth and beauty” than Tom’s “October.”

Mary & I had joined University Presbyterian Church upon moving to Chapel Hill in 2002 and immediately met Tom & Shirley through Stephen Ministry, Shirley a UPC Stephen Minister at the time. In 2004, when Tom learned of my love of poetry, he gave us a copy of his book, New Wine in Old Skins, encompassing fourteen poems “celebrating the past and the timeless,” which he had just published that year. Mary & I read through the poems a number of times and did some research on the topic of sonnets, the form in which “October” is written—difficult to achieve but beautiful when achieved. We were enthralled . . . and we told him so. Subsequently, on one of our Stephen Ministry Hospital Visitation visits to members of UPC in UNC Hospitals, Tom was among the patients we visited. Knowing this in advance gave us the opportunity to bring along our copy of his book. What a special evening that was, reading Tom’s poems to Tom & Shirley, experiencing more closely their artistry, their love, connecting on a deeper level. 

Tom died 10 June 2005. Shirley advised that in the ten years prior to Tom’s passing, he had been wrestling with, as Tom explained in his introduction to this poem, the issues of “. . . aging, and the acceptance of death.” For Tom, this poem was among his favorites of his writings. Shirley asked me if I would read his poem at Tom’s Memorial Service 13 June 2005 at University Presbyterian Church. I advised it would be a privilege . . . and it was a privilege . . . to explain to the congregation something of Tom’s amazing talents as a man, a pastor, a poet, a friend. We love you, Shirley. We love you, Tom. Thank you, Tom, for your wisdom, your talent, your friendship, and letting us know you were content to know “October’s here.”

Celebration?

Celebration!

When something’s big to celebrate,

Drive a stake in the ground, routine to shake,

Special & different, a trip to take,

Gathering family & friends—Memory to make!

© Forrest W. Heaton  September 2018    

This blog post is about Celebration, in this case, two celebrations. The first was in the summer of 1978 when my wife, Sally, & I took our three kids, Matt, Sara & Mandy, on a seven-week “Western Trip” to visit the great western national parks including Grand Teton to celebrate the kids getting ready to go off to college! The second was forty years later, this time gathering our sixteen-member Heaton Clan back in Grand Teton to celebrate my eightieth birthday!

The first photo was taken by a Montgomery Village MD neighbor as we packed our Buick for the long drive, each of us “allowed” one duffel plus much camping gear, some of which met a difficult fate at the hands of a bear one night at 8,600 feet elevation camping in Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite. The “kids” will tell you many stories about the trip; this is just a teaser for you to ask them for more.

A staff member at Jackson Lake Lodge took the second photo, our Heaton Clan including: Son Matt Heaton & Ondrea Hall, Hampton VA; Daughter Sara Heaton & Eric Helman, Waynesboro PA; Daughter Mandy Heaton & Steve Erts, Portland OR; Granddaughter Claire & Rachel Gillespie & Great Grandson Joshua Guisasola, Springville UT; Granddaughter Amber & Jeff & Great Grandson Bryan Fehnel, Frederick, MD; Granddaughter Christine Heaton & Ian Rogan, Cary NC; Gramie & Grandpa, Fearrington Village NC. Our celebration visit included both Grand Teton and Yellowstone, with river run, hikes, ranger programs and meals together throughout. Since Mary & I have already posted a Yellowstone Park Visit covering our Dec16–Jan17 New Year’s celebration, we’ve written up this 25Jun-2Jul18 Grand Teton visit separately, per the link below. We hope you enjoy! We hope you go yourself to celebrate!

Wall Poetry?

Wall Poetry

A reader was thinking about Mary & me,

And wrote to let us know;

That just down the road is “Wall Poetry,”

And recommended we should go.

In downtown Charlotte, just a two-hour drive,

North Carolina poets on display;

“Murals that bring poetry to the people”

In the midst of their work and play!

© Forrest W. Heaton  July 2018

Every so often a blog should start out with a test just to see who’s paying attention. So, here goes: 

1 How many walls in downtown Charlotte NC sport a huge poem by a North Carolina poet?

2 When did Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands first start their wall poem project? How many wall poems currently exist in Leiden?

3 What has been the reception of bringing poetry to the people in this way?

4 How many of these projects have you personally seen?

Well, Mary & I have some idea of the answers to numbers 1 thru 3 but must confess to our “None” for number 4 . . . but not for long! 

Beth Cooper, friend and neighbor and blog subscriber, having read our 9Jun18 blog “Blog Readers = Poetry Leaders,” wrote to us asking if we were aware of the wall poems of Charlotte NC, expressing it was a “lovely idea” and providing a link for us to check out. No, we were not aware of either Charlotte’s wall poems nor the wall poetry projects around the world. We do, however, love the idea—bringing poetry into places of work and play for poetry to become important in the lives of people everywhere. 

We’re in hopes many of you will have as much fun as we did learning about these projects and will consider including them in your travels. Below are two links to get you started.

World Ranger Day?

World Ranger Day

It’s 31 July and we’ve come to say . . .

Thank You Park Rangers on World Ranger Day!

Bill Smith, brother of my Albion College roommate, Rick Smith, sent out an email this past Tuesday, advising that 31 July was World Ranger Day and congratulating Rick and colleagues on that recognition! Here’s Bill’s email: Thank you to Rick, Roger and park rangers everywhere who help protect our planet’s most valuable and scenic treasures as well as the people who visit them. On World Ranger Day, our deepest heartfelt thanks go out to those rangers who gave their lives in service to the public while protecting the earth’s lands, wildlife and natural resources.

I called Rick to congratulate him and advise that, considering the outstanding job park rangers perform, often under difficult circumstances, it seemed to me this recognition should be longer than one day, perhaps 31 days, one day for each of Rick’s 31 years in his distinguished NPS career.

Rick & I first met as incoming freshmen, Albion College Michigan, September 1956, roomed together during our Albion years, and have been friends ever since. After careers in the Peace Corps and in teaching, Rick joined the National Park Service for what became a distinguished thirty-one-year career, starting out in Yellowstone, the photo above taken in Yellowstone when he was around 24/25. Rick completed his NPS career as Acting Superintendent of Yellowstone! As readers of Mary’s & my e-book, The National Park Service Turns One Hundred, know, Rick wrote the Forward for our book and has helped our family become well-travelled in the parks. 

The United States was the first nation to set aside lands as a national park, President Ulysses S. Grant signing Yellowstone National Park into law in 1872. In 1916, the United States became the first nation in the world to create a National Park Service to manage the growing number of parks which, in 2018, number 417 locations. Of the approximately 20,000 current U.S. National Park Service employees, approximately one-third are NPS Park Rangers. In addition to helping build our National Park Service, a number of retired rangers have assisted other countries in creating their own protected areas, the nations having officially set aside such areas currently numbering approximately 145.  

Regarding the conditions under which these rangers work, many are operating in countries experiencing dangerous conditions, many are poorly paid, and many are poorly supported by their governments. Sadly, many have died during their service to their nation. These men and women dedicate their lives to protecting the land, sea, air, animals, plants, people, culture and history that make up these parks/protected areas—the natural and cultural patrimony of our fragile spaceship planet Earth! They deserve our applause, our gratitude, our setting aside 31 July to honor them, and our visits to the glorious places they serve! 

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It's Nelson Mandela’s 100th birthday!

Today, 18 July 2018, is Nelson Mandela’s 100th birthday! President Obama is in South Africa representing the American people expressing our admiration/gratitude for Mandela’s courage, wisdom and example he set of how one can lead a life of bringing people together as opposed to splitting them apart. He was  one of the best examples Mary & I know of modeling how to rid fear and revive reconciliation. Below is a reprise of our 26 June 2017 Blog Post on Mandela and my poem gift to him on his 95th birthday. Happy Birthday President Mandela! Happy 100th Birthday! 

June 26, 2017

Your Poem As Your Gift?

Mandela

Twenty-seven years he was in jail.

Yet all that time his holy grail,

Was reconciliation.

Though restricted, he chose to get word out,

That compassion, understanding he was about,

Bridge-building communication.

Though wounded, we each have our time.

To express our love in prose or rhyme,

Even to build a nation.

© F.W. HeatonMarch, 2013

This blog post is on the subject of how, if you work at it, your poetry can become a gift, even a particularly important gift, one you might wish to share with others.  To illustrate this opportunity, I’ve chosen my March, 2013 poem I sent to Nelson Mandela to celebrate his 95th birthday.  Thinking on the subject of attitude, focusing particularly on the saying “Life is ten-percent what happens to you and ninety-percent how you react to it,” I meditated on Mandela’s life under South African apartheid. He endured a twenty-seven-year imprisonment, and, upon release in 1990, dedicated his life to reconciliation, the dissolution of apartheid, the forming of a democracy and becoming the first President of democratic South Africa 1994-1999.  Time and attitude are two precious commodities.  We have little control over the first other than attempted wise use; we have considerable control over the second, having the opportunity to choose, as did Mandela, one’s life approach.  I wrote this poem in March, 2013 when Mandela was hospitalized, his fourth hospitalization since December, 2012.  With prayers from family, friends and admirers around the world, Mandela recovered to the point of release from hospital July, 2013.  I sent this poem to Mandela and to the media as both a prayer of thanksgiving and as a birthday gift 18 July, 2013!  Mandela died that following December.

Blog Readers = Poetry Leaders!

We are thrilled to write that our Blog has single handedly increased poetry readership. Ok, maybe not single handedly, but this is an awesome start and great news! 

We thank you! You are part of this statistic! Read the story below...

Our government is hiding truth, telling lies?

Hide Truth, Tell Lies

Hide truth, tell lies,

The people receive;

Do it often enough,

The people believe!

© F.W. Heaton  May 2018

Two Polar-Opposite Responses to Global Climate Change/Rising Sea-Levels. We write this blog post as a follow-up to our April/May trilogy of Global Climate Change posts, this post discussing two polar-opposite responses to the same phenomena—global climate change, more frequent and more violent storms, and rising sea-levels. Most climate change deniers postulate that, since its inception, planet Earth has gone through heating/cooling/heating cycles and we are currently experiencing just another cycle. Their lack of study into the causes and current rate of acceleration as well as their lack of empathy for the life/ways of life threatened by these changes is staggering. It is because life itself is so threatened all over the globe that we place such emphasis on the citizens of the world to demand TRUTH rather than fiction from their elected representatives and to take ACTION, to the fullest extent possible, to save life/ways of life NOW!

The first response to Global Climate Change/Rising Sea-Levels that we would like to highlight is from the The Southeast Florida Climate Compact.  Established in 2009, this intergovernmental collaboration between Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties is working in partnership to address the climate change challenges threatening the region. The lessons being learned, actions taken and actions in planning stages will be of immense value to the Southeast Florida region as well as to other regions of the U.S. and around the world who might be less advanced in addressing these challenges. Civic leader and recipient of numerous environmental and community involvement awards, Harvey Ruvin, has written an instructive Miami HeraldOp-Ed article summarizing the work and plans of the Southeast Florida Climate Compact. Should you search his credentials on the internet, you will be impressed.  For his Op-Ed article, please click the below button:

The second outlook on Global Climate Change/Rising Sea-Levels that we want to highlight is from The National Park Service under the current administration. Mary’s & my most recent visit to Everglades National Park was February 2018. This visit was exceptional for two primary reasons: 1) the threats to life/ways of life from global climate change/rising sea-levels are on full view for all to see and 2) we experienced first-hand the hiding of the truth/telling of lies by the current administration under Mr. Trump and Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke. The Everglades itself remains spectacular; it’s just that some people are messing it up. We’ve just published our Park Visit summary in the “Parks” section of our website; to access the visit summary, please click the below button: