(art quotation graphic courtesy of Bright Skylark Literary Productions )  “ Now come the whispers bearing bouquets of moonbeams and sunlight tremblings.” --Aberjhani (from The River of Winged Dreams) Below is a list of a few links that have been shared with me and which fans of The River of Winged Dreams might appreciate as well. I found the Han Chinese translations of “Angel of Earth Days and Seasons” and “Angel of Peace” particularly interesting because other than a couple of poems in Spanish, these are the only ones I've seen anyone attempt to translate (note to foreign rights publishers: if you’re interested please email me). Equally worthy of attention are the poignantly, inspiringly, and humanly profound meditations by Shay MacKay in her blog post “Rising from the Ashes.” For the list and much more on Aberjhani's The River of Winged Dreams please click the link : A River of Winged Dreams                           Valentine's Day Letter

Chief Justice John Roberts administers the oath of office to President Barack Obama. (official White House photo by Lawrence Jackson) “Hope drowned in shadows emerges fiercely splendid–– boldly angelic.” --Aberjhani, from The River of Winged Dreams One of the political jabs with which critics of Barack Obama used to attack him during his first run for the U.S. presidency was that his proposed platform was more rhetorical poetry than political substance. That charge has been largely reversed at this 2013 beginning of his hard-won second term. The cry now––mostly from those frequently described as extremist conservatives, Tea Partiers, and the “ New Plutocrats ”–– is that the poet in President Obama has allowed power to exert its corruptive influence. It has, they charge, caused him to imagine that he is “a king” in a country where monarchy is not the law of the land. The supposed evidence is his successful passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Website logo for 100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance The exact start of the Harlem Renaissance cannot be easily identified––nor, for that matter, can its end. There are in fact those who maintain that the Harlem Renaissance has never come to full head-on conclusion. It has instead adapted, evolved, and shifted forms like a chameleon of cultural consciousness and moved with steady unimpeded grace from one decade to the next and from one century to the next. As for when it started: the physical migration of African Americans out of rural areas of the South, from the Caribbean and elsewhere into the New York City neighborhood of Harlem during the 1910s, certainly set the stage for the dazzling explosion of creative genius that would come to be known as the Harlem Renaissance . The people of African descent who made their way to Harlem “on the first thing smoking,” as Zora Neale Hurston put it, not only became captivating subjects of paintings, plays, novels, poetry,

                                    (Poster courtesy of Bright Skylark Literary Productions ) Recently the following quote from the poem A Poet Is a Clinton D. Powell , also known as “A Poem for a Poet,” has been making the rounds on the Internet: “A poet is a verb that blossoms light.” The poem was written to commemorate my friend Clinton’s inspired life and early death on January 2, 2011. That others have been gleaning some small inspiration and motivation from the phrase seems appropriate enough. He would have liked that because although he was not particularly prolific as a poet, he was an extraordinary champion of the art and those who practiced it. There were few venues in Savannah , Georgia, where he did not turn up for open mics or other poetry showcases (including  classrooms on every educational level) to lend his support.  To read the full post by Aberjhani please click the link : A Bouquet of Light upon Light - Bright Skylark Literary Productions