Aspiring to inspire!

Inspiration! 

What is it? What drives us to aspire to new tasks, to envelope the degrees of difficulty and overcome the highest heights? To master the navigations of damage control, and be the best at what we can do with what we have? What is inspiration?

Upon playing with my nieces that live so far away at a family reunion this weekend… I saw generations of loved ones past sparkling in their youthful eyes. It was both so endearingly sweet and sad at the same time… yet encouraging to me. The progress of our families in the existence of our times…

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Poetry can be inspiring. It draws me into its complicated webs weaved by so many poets of different cultures, places, perspectives, and most of all, dreams. This diversity feeds the poet soul, which is both curious and insatiable for information about the human condition.

Inspiring poems take readers in new directions they may have never considered when they hit the target of the heart. They aim to motivate us, direct us, and push us into becoming someone or something better than what we are. Directly, or in metaphor, these poems are the ones we like to quote or keep as a reminder when things go rough…

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Consider this invitation from “Invictus”, by William Ernest Henley, to remain strong and honorable even in the face of death…:

It matters not how strait the gate

How charged with punishments the scroll

I am the master of my fate

I am the captain of my soul

The two last lines echo the sentiment of positive construction, expression, and direction needed to keep one’s head up and stay on the ball no matter what. We go on!

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What about good old Walt? Not Walt Disney! Walt Whitman… his Song Of Myself continues to bring smiles even to this day to many an English and Literature class with the early morning rays of educational sunshine beaming through those sweet windows…

I celebrate myself, and sing myself, 
  And what I assume you shall assume, 
For every atom belonging to me as

  good belongs to you.

An originality and individual value is within us all, not only to be recognized, but validated and cherished as beautiful as well. Song of Myself says this in so many ways…

    

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Take the breath of Rudyard Kipling in his monumental inspiration entitled “If”:

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run—
   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

This applies not only to “man” but women, children, and all human souls! I live by this fiercely bold and courageous philosophy…. “Yours is the Earth and all upon it, if you can “fill the unforgiving minute”… seize the opportunities laid before you! Take control of your destiny! Shades of Invictus… this is a prevailing theme in inspiring poems.

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Women have an equal (if not more) of a voice in poetry today than has ever been heard in the history of our prestigious craft. Women such as Rupi Kaur, Maya Angelou, Carol Ann Duffy, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson… transcend emotion into inspirational action… 

Take Wheelsong poet Imelda Zapata Garcia, who continues to encourage a strength and determination that is so original, creative, practical, fierce, and beautiful all at once. This is such an awe inspiring exposition…  “The Gambit”:

Each wrung she stepped upon
led to a faltering height
try as she might, to climb
slipped to the base of the flight
the steps which rose up
from the floor 
led straight to another
in store
Beams of illusion it seems
crept in from high up above 
with promise of hope in a dream
naught much else when
push comes to shove 
What shone at the top of the stairs
a blinding white light on the morn
was merely a glimmer of hope
which climbing that crucible 
had worn 

The promise and glimmer of hope sprinkled within this poem exhibit an unbridled exuberance to overcome the most difficult obstacles, to challenge “the gambit” of life, and come out ahead. It reflects dark and light in such a way as to cover the reader in honest shades of brilliant reality… leaving them forearmed to face the day. Such an amazing inspiration! It’s reassuring to know poets such as Imelda are out there interpreting reality for us!!!

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This is a blog for writers by writers. So I have to ask… What do you find inspiring? Does it aid in your writing? How so? Please feel free to comment below! I love hearing from you! 

Thank you for reading, and until next time… write on!! And inspire!

Matt Elmore

Beyond the Pyre

I have known Imelda Garcia for almost two years, but we have never met in person (She lives in Texas and I'm in Plymouth, UK). We have worked together as Admin and moderators on a number of Facebook poetry groups and I have grown to know her and her poetry from a distance. She's been through a lot in her life and this book epitomises many of her trials, joys and challenges. It is a book suffused with optimism and uplifting verses. 

It is with great pleasure that I announce the publication of her debut collection through the Wheelsong Books press - Beyond the Pyre. Here's the blurb I wrote for it...

Beyond the Pyre is the stunning new collection of poetry by Imelda Zapata Garcia. The poems, dwelling on themes of family, love, loss and redemption, are saturated in imagery and metaphor and infused with chicano cultural references. The poet invites you to journey with her through her mind and memories of life, love and relationships. Beyond the Pyre is a poetic anthem to the art of surviving the flames of life.

...and here are a few endorsements from poets and writers:

Beyond the Pyre is a fascinating delve into the mind and deep soul of an absolutely brilliant writer.  Taylor Newman, lyricist for Alice Cooper

Imelda writes with such a rich complexity, her words full of stunning detail.  Brandon Adam Haven, poet and author of Into the Grey 

Imelda Zapata Garcia unearths a mine of poetic treasures. Rafik Romdhani, poet and author of Vapour of the Mind 

Rich in verse, a tapestry of colours to illuminate and shine. Sarfraz Ahmed, poet 

A resounding affirmation of life. Matt Elmore, author of Constellation Road 

Garcia has found her literary voice through this collection. A deft use of rhyme schemes and themes of internal strength and delicate beauty resonate throughout. Genevieve Ray, poet, author and playwright

Treasure to cherish forever. Charlene Phare, poet and author of Cobalt Skies 

A depth of lyricism that really resonates. Rhiannon Owens, poet

An anthem to the art of surviving the flames of life. Steve Wheeler, poet and publisher 

A galvanic poetess with a depth and a sonorous voice that ignites on paper. Alan Patrick Traynor, Irish poet and author of Until the Broken Clouds Answer

Beyond the Pyre is available on Amazon and selected stores across the globe in Kindle, softcover and hardcover editions. All the relevant links can be found on the Wheelsong Books website.

Steve Wheeler