
100 Thousand Poets for Change:
Online Gallery
Lost Horse Press and BCHRTF are proud to sponsor 100 Thousand Poets for Change, a worldwide online in which poets, musicians, and artists from around the world join together to promote peace, sustainability and justice.
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This gallery features submissions from local artists, writers, and musicians who are using their art to bring about serious social, environmental, and political change. Worldwide submissions can be found at www.100tpc.org.
Jody Pignolet
Jody Pignolet
Jody Pignolet
I'm not giving up on peace today
I have been inspired lately imagining what we would be without war
Imagining what we could do with our energy if we weren't spending it on opposition I want to blame the others
That's certainly divisive
But it takes two to tango and both sides must contribute
It is 2020, I know peace is possible
We're simply lacking in imagination if we think it is not
We have smart phones, space stations and robots
Don't tell me it's impossible
I don't believe that nonsense
Peace is always possible for those who want it
I'm not giving up on peace today
You're either working towards it or preparing for war
You can't do both
I'm just as guilty as the next guy
I'm just as capable of pointing the finger
It's what we know
And we should know it, we've been dancing this step for millennia
We're accomplished at participating in conflict
We're adept at creating and fostering separation
Most of us can do it in our sleep
Awareness is the first step
To break out of the old pattern requires consciousness
To believe in a third option requires inspiration
And it can start with just two
I'm not giving up on peace today
I reject the conclusion that it's too late
I believe peace is who we are at our cores
That it is preset in everyone
Even in those who look like the enemy
They love their mama, they pet their dog this morning
They want something and fear losing it
Chances are, at the core, it is the same thing as you
Don't tell me it's hopeless
Even when it appears that way
Today I'm going to keep on believing
Perhaps it can start with just one
Jody Pignolet
It is long past time to get about the business of creating a better world
As humans we have brought to fruition marvels of mortal imagination
We have also played - on repeat - the brutal destruction of those we don't like
We make up countless and original justifications but it's all the same plot
We have desired the top
It is long past time to get about the business of creating a better world
As humans we have fought for the idea of freedom
We have stood on foreign land and railed against global oppression and bullying
We have also turned a blind eye and given enthusiastic oppressors a pass on our own soil
We have desired the win
It is long past time to get about the business of creating a better world
As humans we have been waking up to the possibility of peace
We have, in actuality, been doing so for thousands of years
We have known for at least that long that our experiments in extinguishing those we don't like won't yield the lasting peace we say we want
We have desired the drama
It is long past time to get about the business of creating a better world
As humans we have had the audacity to dream, compose, engineer and heal
We have continued to expand the scope of what is possible for the human mind to materialize We have proclaimed our commitment to advancement while leaving others in the dust of poverty
We have desired the glory
It is long past time to get about the business of creating a better world
As humans we have been ready and able, though are we willing to bring to fruition equality for all
We have been ready and able, though are we willing to fight for freedom for all
We have been ready and able, though are we willing to work for peace for all
We have been ready and able, though are we willing to materialize opportunity for all
It is long past time to get about the business of creating a better world for all
Brian D' Aoust (with apologies to Mr. Frost)
Something there is that doesn't love a brain
Could it be from Mother Nature's shame
At what God wrought; knowing not who to blame Nor what evolving instincts sought to tame?
As coalescing tribes found ways to thrive
By targeting "the other"-as bad lies
While promising nirvana when we die!
These myths, persisting for millennia-are lies. But rather than admit some new beginnings
Man clung to worn out tropes with logic thinning And shallow thought then came to be "new normal" With common folk rejecting all things formal
So, civil discourse landing with a bump,
Small wonder that we ended up with Trump!
Jackie Henrion
New life springs from the soaked black soil g c
Some of it, she pulls up from the roots g d7
Weeding, while thinking of mother things g c
Sometimes she wonders - who is she to choose? d7 em em
Turning, she sees her baby toddling c g
Proud that he's motoring along am d7
Yesterday he was only crawling g c
Now he runs headlong into her arms d7 d7
Kneeling, she sees the world em bm
From a different view c d7
Trust ---- strength ---- am em
Love she can't overdo d7 d7 d7
Buttoning his raincoat for the walk to school g c
Reminding him she will always love him g d7
"Call for me when you need strength" g c
Rising, her smile flashes above him d7 em em
Now I'm kneeling in this place I call holy c g
Trying to figure out how feelings flow am d7
How a man can kneel for nine minutes g c
And not feel what mothers know d7 d7
Kneeling, we see the world em bm
From a different view c d7
Trust --- strength ---- am em
And love overdue d7 d7 d7
Losing twenty dollars takes a moment c g
But taking a life, moves humankind am d7
For the Lost and Found are in the same place g c
And we search there many, many times d7 d7
Kneeling, we see the world em bm From a different view c d7
Trust --- strength -- am em
And love------ overdue d7 d7 em
And love-------- long overdue d7 d7 em
Christi Kramer
The fifth element: alley Young boy running from the devil, or cobble, hop. In his story,
she never understood alley.
Where her birth and running were all trees. Climbing vertical, root even, though down.
Then someone said Beloved and she knew: the object of the alley.
Enter seller, basket weaver.
Since we are all invited, let us move to alley. Call out, shall we: watermelon, onion, milk.
You see that weaver, he returns to the same window each night. Sometimes fifty cents mean I love you. The tarry, please, light your lamp.
If we begin to do the work of alley: we all become light.
So, if in the alley, and you see a caged creature, offer key. And drink
Sit then: cup unwashed, alloy of yansoon and mint.