Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow: A Collaborative Invitation โ€“ 30 Poems in 30 Days

My Dearest Friends,

After some much needed rest following the book launch last week, I have chosen a new event for the month of September to celebrate #1 Amazon New Realease Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow and each of you.

Here is my invitation to you.

Beginning today, and lasting until September 23, I am inviting you to submit a poetic response to your favorite poem from Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow. The poetic response must be in the written word, and can be a poem or a piece of prose.

Please submit your poetic response to jeffflesch.com@gmail.com

In your email, please include the following:

  1. Your name, or Pename.
  2. Your website URL, and/or social media username.
  3. The title of your favorite poem from Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow.
  4. The title of your poetic response.
  5. Your poetic response. Please add your poetic response to the body of the email. No written word attachments, please. You may, however, submit a photo to accompany your poetic response. Please include the photo credit with the image.

Once received, I will, for a timespan of 30 days and up to 30 poetic responses, post your pieces on my blog. I am accepting these poetic responses on a first-received basis.

It is my intention to post everyday for 30 days, yet there may be times, due to other obligations, where I need to miss a day, and post two or more poetic responses on the following day. Either way, I will post your 30 poetic responses to this blog in 30 days.

I will let you know at least 24 hours prior to the posting of your poetic response, so you know when it will be published.

Though I know all of your submissions will resonate with me, at the end of the 30 days, I will select the 5 poetic responses that resonated with me most, and send these poets/writers a signed copy of Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow.

This event will also serve as the basis for a weekly prompt idea I have, which will launch at the conclusion of this collaboration.

Remember, submissions open today, and will remain open for two weeks, closing at 11:59 PM PT (USA) on September 23.

I will begin posting your submissions on September 24.

I look forward to reading your poetic responses.

If you have questions, please email me at the email address listed above.

All my love and blessings,

Jeff


#poetry, #30-poems-in-30-days, #collaboration, #engagement, #event, #nature, #nature-speaks-of-love-and-sorrow, #prose, #publication

Coal Dust, Published at MasticadoresIndia

I am so pleased to announce that my poem, Coal Dust, is now available at MasticadoresIndia. Thank you to Terveen Gill, and the team at MasticadoresIndia for their continued support, and for publishing this piece.

Coal Dust

diamond-like resilience
made from coal dust

and a little bit of luck from the sun

creates flowers
blooming in the garden of my heart

I trustโ€ฆ

I would be honored if you would go here, and read the rest of my poem. Thank you!


Photo by raheel9630, Pixabay


#poetry, #coal-dust, #control, #dark, #faith, #flowers, #healing, #hope, #life, #light, #love, #masticadoresindia, #poem, #trust, #witness

trepidation arising

I find you in the sun, and stars
and

in the trepidation, arising with the dawn

a feeling
like a cold, and misty day
awaiting our time

to dance
with the day

while watching the birds, back and forth
sway


Photo by natureworks, Pixabay


#poetry, #arising, #contemplation, #dance, #dawn, #fear, #introspection, #joy, #life, #love, #nature, #poem, #sun-and-stars, #trepidation

paper moon

the paper moon
holds light up to the pain

while we strive to make gains

out of dust, knowing
weary travels

create a refrain within my heart
looking to you

I wonder
about the stories told to me as a boy
once

fresh from the cocoon
instability, and ability choose

to come along again soon


Photo by RosZie, Pixabay


#poetry, #contentment, #curiosity, #healing, #heart, #hope, #life, #love, #nature, #pain, #paper-moon, #poem, #strive, #wonder

my muse

my muse lives in the wind
and under my skin

bleeding ink over a transparent sky
thin

and rough
around the edges

where the ambit of life is known
and unknown, and

we practice returning the love weโ€™re shown


Photo by ractapopulous, Pixabay


#poetry, #healing, #heart, #hope, #kindness, #known, #life, #love, #muse, #my-muse, #nature, #pain, #poem, #unknown

Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow: A #1 New Release, and The First Review!

I am elated to report that Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow remains an Amazon #1 New Release in both the Poetry About Nature and Poetry About Love Categories. Itโ€™s an amazing experience to see my book on the top of these two lists!

The book is also doing very well in the top 100 Bestsellers of these two categories, currently at #4 in Poetry About Nature, and #19 in Poetry About Love. Amazing!

Hereโ€™s what that looks like.

I am also honored to share the first review of Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow, by Tricia Sankey. I am honored and humbled by Triciaโ€™s beautiful review. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this lovely review Tricia.

If youโ€™ve not yet had the chance to check out Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow, you can do so here.

Have a lovely Friday, and coming weekend!


#poetry, #5-star-review, #amazon-1-new-release, #heart, #love, #nature, #nature-speaks-of-love-and-sorrow, #poem, #publication, #review

Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow: Butterfly Love

I rise from the ashes of past
circumstances

with a ladle of love in my right hand
and butterflies alighting on my left

thinking about the trees dwelling within me
how they do always seem

lost in times of chaos, yet they
keep me warm

tangled emotions
cutting deep within, where love and pain
are perfect twins

and life is lived beneath the texture of your skin


Photo by tommyvideo, Pixabay


Itโ€™s been an amazing day, and I am celebrating with each of you by sharing Butterfly Love, from Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow, which is #1 New Release in Poetry About Love, and is currently #8 overall in this same category. Now available in Paperback and Kindle Editions from Amazon.

Thank you for always being here, and for your unwavering support.

Have a blessed Friday!

#poetry, #ashes, #chaos, #emotions, #experiments-in-fiction, #feelings, #heart, #life, #love, #nature-speaks-of-love-and-sorrow, #order, #pain, #pleasure, #poem, #publication, #resilience, #sorrow

Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow, Now Available!

I am so excited to announce that Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow is now available in Paperback and Kindle Editions from Amazon!

As I write this, the book is already #1 New Release in the Poetry About Nature category at Amazon. What an honor!

Here are some of the Amazon links for various countries.

USA: Amazon.com

India: Amazon.in

Canada: Amazon.caย 

Australia: Amazon.com.au

United Kingdom: Amazon.co.uk

Japan: Amazon.co.jpย 

Spain: Amazon.es

Italy: Amazon.it

France: Amazon.fr

Germany: Amazon.de

Brazil: Amazon.com.br

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for each of you, and for everyone in my life that has supported me getting here today. I appreciate each of you more than words can convey.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your love and support.


#poetry, #debut-poetry-book, #experiments-in-fiction, #love-and-sorrow, #nature, #nature-poems, #nature-speaks-of-love-and-sorrow, #poem, #poems, #publication, #release-day

Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow: A Reflection, Recap, and Release Day Tomorrow!

My Dearest Friends,

Itโ€™s been an amazing month, filled with anticipation, anxiety, and a ton of excitement! Engaging with all of you this month was as it always is, filled with amazing support, kindness, generosity, and love.ย 

I am filled with a ton of emotion as I type these words. Elation and excitement about tomorrowโ€™s release of Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow, gratitude for each of you, and a deep and profound appreciation for our community.

I want to thank Ingrid Wilson, of Experiments in Fiction. Ingrid is an amazingly talented writer, editor, and publisher; without you, Ingrid, I would not be here today. Thank you.

I also want to thank each of the reviewers for the time they put into their advanced reviews. These reviews touched my heart, and I am eternally grateful to each of you. Thank you, Cindy, Terveen, Gabriela, and Jaya. Your reviews mean the world to me.

I am honored to be here, to share my heart and mind with you, and to continue to do so each and every day.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for always being here, and for being the most amazing friends.

With all my love and blessings.

Jeff

Recap

As we are now less than 24 hours away from the release of Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow, I wanted to take a moment, and recap the readings and the reviews weโ€™ve listened to, and read this month, and provide the link to the recent Zoom event recording. Here we go.

Readings

As you all know reading poetry is new to me, and, while this is true, I had a wonderful time creating these poetry readings. So much fun, in fact, I will create more of these poetry readings in the future. Here are this months readings from Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow.

Reviews

As Iโ€™ve mentioned each of these reviews touched my heart. I cannot thank each of these wonderfully talented writes and friends enough for taking the time to read and review Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow. If you missed these beautiful reviews, they are linked below.

Zoom Event Recording

The Special Zoom Event this past Sunday was a blast. Thank you to everyone that was able to make it. I enjoyed seeing each of you, and participating in the lively discussion you created. So much fun! If you were unable to attend, the recording is below.

Release Day, Tomorrow!

Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow will be available tomorrow, September 1, and will be available on Amazon in both Paperback and Kindle editions.

I am so excited, and hope you are too!



#poetry, #hope, #joy, #love, #nature, #nature-speaks-of-love-and-sorrow, #poems, #publication, #readings, #reflections, #release-date, #reviews, #september-1, #sorrow, #zoom-event

take flight

love lives in the sky
a blanket of stars

much deeper than I can know
or, upon rely

and, while Iโ€™ll always try
I know, my love

once hidden, can now take flight


Photo by Matryx, Pixabay


#poetry, #aliveness, #flight, #heart, #hidden, #life, #love, #nature, #poem, #self-expression, #stars