Community leaders, including Georgia State Sen. Lester Jackson (center), gather to celebrate 100th anniversary of the Carnegie Branch Library in Savannah with a new historic marker . (photograph by Aberjhani) Measuring the success of a given year by the percentage of profits gained or lost is a sensible enough practice for many individuals and an essential one for various organizations. However, I decided going into 2014 that I wanted to commit time throughout the year to finding ways that creatively honored the concept of mutually-empowering and life-enhancing partnerships. The goal was to combine as much as possible measures of social responsibility with different types of creative endeavors. Why such an intensely-focused approach? Because the still-straggling uncertainty of the economy, the domestic gun violence that broke America’s collectively-beating heart nearly every other week, and rising waves of conflict on the global front made it far too easy to succumb to su

( Feathers of Gold, Feathers of Silver art graphic courtesy of Bright Skylark Literary Productions ) In July 2006, I sat down to write a short simple thank you note to fellow @poets and +writers who had graciously wished me well on my birthday. To my surprise, the intended short simple note came out of my pen in the form of the following poem: ANGEL OF GRATITUDE Each, shaped from a heart divine—such is the nature of your humble wings. Love, Mercy, and Grace, sisters all, attend your wounds of silence and hope. You are the good twin and the bad. Not arrogant, but jubilant…sweet… With grief or without, your flight commands awareness of joy beyond pain.     Holy starbright of infinite heavens, for these tears––I do thank you.     Just the fact that it was a poem was the first big surprise. The second was the style in which it was written, a variation on the haiku that I had never used before. Had my muse taken on the form of an

"You were born a child of light's wonderful secret-- you return to the beauty you have always been." Quotation from the poem Holiday Letter for a Poet Gone to War from the book VISIONS OF A SKYLARK DRESSED IN BLACK by Aberjhani. One of the greater joys of my endeavors as an author and poet has been an occasional opportunity to compose poems, essays, and articles to supplement the vibrant works of visual artists with my own literary constructions. That was the case in 2011 when providing panel text for paintings featured in the extremely gifted artist Michele Wood’s I See the Rhythm of Gospel exhibition. Previously, I had been blessed with a similar honor when composing ekphrastic poems for the art of Luther E. Vann in ELEMENTAL The Power of Illuminated Love . And I’ve written any number of essays reviewing the works or chronicling the lives of other contemporary artists such as Allen Fireall (who currently, heartbreakingly, is challenged by the need for a hear

Visitors to Creative Thinkers International in many ways are as much a part of the community as our members because they help validate the value of our purpose for being here. We have not kept track over the past five years of where all of them are but our friends at Google Analytics have provided a simple snapshot of the 70 neighborhoods where last month’s visitors were when they dropped in.   For the full list and blog please click the link : Love and Gratitude from Creative Thinkers International - Welcome to Creative Thinkers International

The new Literary Savannah magazine . The title “Literary Savannah” over the past decade has deservedly been associated with the Hill Street Press travel anthology edited by Patrick Allen, so readers may at first experience some difficulty distinguishing it from the recent online publication of Literary Savannah magazine. But the magazine has indeed made its debut and features work by some of the Southeast’s most gifted writers, poets, and artists. To continue reading please click this link : Literary Savannah magazine launches with winter edition - National African-American Art | Examiner.com