A Community of Voices
Speaking Out in a Community and Majda Gama's Signature Poem
Joan Kwon Glass on Community
We began this week watching Trump and Musk burning down the democracy that had served this country for nearly 250 years. It’s a horrifying display that strikes at the emotional vulnerability of all people of good will. Last Monday at Café Muse Online, poet-historian, Joan Kwon Glass opened her reading with a brief statement of the importance of community in a time such as this and I thought it was well worth revisiting here:
Thank you Joan for pointing out the need for all of us to stay together in community and resist this American Commodus and his Silicone Souled partner.
Signature Poem - Majda Gama
Participating in a writing group is a way of being in community. For the past decade Majda Gama and I have had the pleasure of writing poems with some of my favorite area poets as members of the Surrey Street Poets. We began writing together as civilians a little over 10 years ago and have since produced several books and literally dozens of published poems.
Newly available for prerelease is Majda Gama’s latest award winning book, In the House of Modern Upbringing for Girls. To celebrate, I asked her to come on to Everyday Poet and read a signature poem from the work. Check it out:
Way to go, Majda!
Please help me by giving feedback on these Signature Poem segments as I develop this feature of Everyday Poet. Also, let me know if you have a new book or publication you’d like to read.
Tech Tip - How to link to a Specific Topic in Substack
One of the best things about Substack is its combination of social media, blog, newsletter, and multimedia website. Because it’s a website, you can link topics in a Substack to any platform you prefer. To get to the web version of any individual newsletter, click on the newsletter heading. For this post it is “A Community of Voices” up at the top. That will take you to the web version of this post where you can just hover your mouse over any topic heading. You should see the little “link” symbol appear on the left side of the title. Click it and the link will be copied to your clipboard for further linking and posting.
If you’ve enjoyed any item in Everyday Poet or been featured here, feel free to link specifically to a social media platform of your choice. Not bad for a commercial free, algorithm free, Schmuckerberg free space, delivered to the poetry community at no cost.
Parting Shots
Last Tuesday the Everyday Poet joined poet Karren Alenier along with thousands of others in protesting the billionaire who bought our country for cash. Let’s be clear, there is no constitutional or statutory basis for an unelected campaign donor to take control of the government as co-president. But poor Elon, what else can you give the richest man in the world?
Just think about how many of the poorest children could have been afforded a quality education, how many people could have been provided comprehensive health care or young people relieved of student debt had we only taxed these tech oligarchs in the first place. Instead, we let them grow so wealthy that they are able to buy personal space programs or get their own media platforms or purchase presidential power. Shame on every one of them as well as their enablers.
Coming Up
Sistah Joy Alford’s List of Prince George’s County Black History Month Events
On February 15, 2025 at 2:00 pm, Don Illich and Courtney Le Blanc will be hosting Love / Anti-Love Poems: Poetry Reading & Open Mic at the Georgetown Public Library, 3260 R St NW, Washington, D.C.
March 15 at 2:00 pm Eastern, a poetry reading to launch Delmarva Review: The Best of 2008 - 2023 at the The Writer's Center 4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD.
Thursday, March 20, 2025, in-person and via Zoom, 7:00 EST
Long Island Poetry & Literature Repository (LIP&LR) 1650 Sycamore Avenue, Suite 46 Bohemia, NY 11716.
Have a reading or event coming up? Let me know and I’ll pass it along. And as always, feel free to email me with questions or comments at henrycrawfordpoetry@gmail.com. Use the subject “Coming Up” Stay creative!
If you’d like me to list an upcoming poetry event in Everyday Poet, please let me know by emailing me at henrycrawfordpoetry@gmail.com. Use the subject: “Coming Up”.