[stylist] New poem

Wed May 28 16:07:59 UTC 2014

I'm impressed with myself!  I figured that out ... but then, I'm from Iowa. 
:)
(Sorry, I've had so much fun learning to smile and frown for sighted folks 
that I can't help writing them.)  Maybe I'll teach JAWS to recognize it as 
such.
And, no, it is spelled Veishea.  For those of you wondering about it, here's 
a bit from Wikipedia for you.
Barbara

The VEISHEA logo displays many traditions of the celebration of and Iowa 
State University

VEISHEA (pronounced "VEE-sha"[1]) is an annual week long celebration held 
each spring on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. The 
celebration features an annual parade and many open-house demonstrations of 
the university facilities and departments. Campus organizations exhibit 
products, technologies, and hold fund raisers for various charity groups. In 
addition, VEISHEA brings speakers, lecturers, and entertainers to Iowa 
State, and throughout its over eight decade history it has hosted such 
distinguished guests as Bob Hope, John Wayne, Tony Bruno, Presidents Harry 
Truman, Ronald Reagan, and Lyndon Johnson, and performers Diana Ross, Billy 
Joel, Sonny and Cher, the Goo Goo Dolls and The Black Eyed Peas.[2] VEISHEA 
is the largest student run festival in the nation, bringing in tens of 
thousands of visitors to the campus each year.

The name of the festival is an acronym for the colleges of the university 
that existed when the festival was founded in 1922:
Veterinary Medicine
Engineering
Industrial Science
Home Economics
Agriculture.

As the colleges have since been changed, the Iowa State Daily considers it 
no longer an acronym, and spells it Veishea, with only the first letter 
capitalized. Official university paraphernalia regarding the event still 
puts it in full caps.

Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.--Robert Frost
-----Original Message----- 
From: Jacobson, Shawn D via stylist
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2014 6:42 AM
To: 'Ashley Bramlett' ; 'Writer's Division MailingList'
Subject: Re: [stylist] New poem

Yes

"Children of the storm" is the name of the poem.

The celebration is Veisha (I believe this is spelled right) that is a annual 
celebration at Iowa State University.  This year, it degenerated into a 
drunken riot and was canceled; that is what the poem is about.  I happened 
to be in Iowa visiting relatives when it happened and was in Ames the day 
before and the day after the riot.

Also, the school nickname is "Cyclones".  This was part of the inspiration.

Thanks for reading the poem and for feeling it was worth asking about.

Shawn

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ashley 
Bramlett via stylist
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2014 7:39 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] New poem

to clarify, is it called children of the storm?
Which celebration is this meant to refer to?

-----Original Message----- 
From: Jacobson, Shawn D
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2014 12:18 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List (stylist at nfbnet.org)'
Subject: [stylist] New poem

Below find a new poem I wrote just recently.  I hope you like it.

Shawn

Children of the Storm

After the fury, silence
the restaurant talk is subdued
on the morning after.
With dull fear and jagged shock
we survey the ruin, the riot storm
set loose the night before.
The feast day shattered, sundered
by their stormy rage.

Darkly I wonder why
what dread spirit turned
this celebration dark, a dread cyclone.
Fierce, angry like dangerous weather,
and bid them caper before the storm
destroying with senseless rage
the celebration made for them
in honor of this place.

What should I say now?
I came here to eat, not judge.
Yet I cannot stay aloof,
removed from all of this.
These cyclonic rioters are mine
my people, my tribe.
So I must own the shock,

the rage, the storm.
So I to must ponder
such dark enchantments
that call the storm from within
the anger and the rage,
the destroying fury of the storm
for I must own the cyclone in my soul
That sunders sanity leaving only shards.

In the storm's shadow
we have unleashed our violence.
We are spent cyclones.

_______________________________________________
Writers Division web site
http://writers.nfb.org/
stylist mailing list
stylist at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
stylist:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/bookwormahb%40earthlink.net

_______________________________________________
Writers Division web site
http://writers.nfb.org/
stylist mailing list
stylist at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
stylist:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/shawn.d.jacobson%40hud.gov

_______________________________________________
Writers Division web site
http://writers.nfb.org/
stylist mailing list
stylist at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
stylist:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/poetlori8%40msn.com 