Tag: Dragons

Podcast The Art of War: Enter the Dragon
Audio · Bagua · Podcasts · Poetry · Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul · Publication · Tai Chi · Writing · Xing Yi

Podcast The Art of War: Enter the Dragon

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I have a new podcast up to commemorate International Women’s Day, which is March 8, 2020.

https://meelosmom.podbean.com/e/the-art-of-war-enter-the-dragon/

This memoir is dedicated to victims of sexual abuse, domestic violence, rape, incest, and sex trafficking, and murdered and missing indigenous women. I apply the teachings of Sun Tzu in the ancient Chinese text, The Art of War, to show how I have called on my inner dragon throughout my life to ward off jackals, perpetrators of violence against women.

I include my poems “The Art of War: Enter the Dragon” and “Life Finds a Way”.

I also read a poem by a woman named Latesha, whose courage in the face of ongoing rape and assault beginning at the age of 5 is clearly seen in her poem “I Just Write”. There are hundreds of other poems like hers at

https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/healing-from-rape-with-writing.

I would like to highlight the fact that both men and women, girls and boys endure rape, incest, murder, sex trafficking, and sexual assault. Also, females are capable of performing these acts…not just men. In this podcast, I limited the scope of the topic to girls and women for time purposes.

If you know of cases of rape, abuse, sex trafficking, or incest, especially against children, or if you are a victim, please report it to law enforcement authorities. Only by prosecuting the offenders, the jackals, can we stop these vile acts. Perpetrators are found is all social classes, occupations, and races. …..both males and females …… We can’t make assumptions about who is capable of abuse. Check out “California Megan’s Law Website” to read the facts about sexual assault, rape and abuse.

If you would like to contribute poetry to this podcast, you may submit it to me in a Word document attached in an email to me at meelosmom@gmail.com. On the subject line, indicate it is a submission to this podcast. I can fit it into a theme. In the email, include any pertinent information on yourself and publications you want me to promote, especially for the work submitted.

©Featured  Image, podcast, and my poetry Barbara Leonhard, extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog and meelosmom.podbean.com

Poem “I just Write” © by Latesha. https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/healing-from-rape-with-writing.

 

New Audio: In the Emperor’s Throne
Audio · Poem · Poetry

New Audio: In the Emperor’s Throne

extraordinarysunshineweaver3 Comments

I am a stranger

In a strange land

Bone to bone with natives

Capturing a sight once

Forbidden by the kingdom –

The Emperor’s throne.

It holds secrets revealed,

Legends, unfolding like silk

In stories bound in parchment

And sealed by scholars

Tested in cages;

Their triumphs, their duty.

The Emperor’s throne,

Guarded by Fu Lions and

Heated by cauldrons

Brewing the spoils of

Valiant conquests

Ending in tombs with mercury rivers.

The Emperor’s throne

Gave birth to the Dragon,

Stretching for eras

In wakeful slumber

Tended to by the masses

And nurtured into stone.

Up his steep spine,

I am pushed and pulled breathless,

Stepping on the shadows

Of ancient sentries guarding

The Emperor’s treasures of

Jade, silk, porcelain, and gold,

Gilded, woven, carved, and

Etched to perfection

In the likeness of antiquity.

At the peak, visible to all,

The Great Beast ends –

That way of stone –

To a train station in Shanghai,

Where a doll-eyed girl with long black braids

Greets me at the KFC.

To a city park in Nanjing, where

People walk their dogs,

Play Tai Chi, fly kites,

Dance to music from ‘Grease”,

And bring their caged birds

To greet the sunrise

In the shadow of the throne.

To a country road

Lined with carts of fruit and vegetables

And a farmer’s wife waving

As I snap pictures of her

Roosters, hens, and pigs

In the gaze of the Great Dragon.

To a landscape of people

In their daily toil –

Cooks in white linen,

Fishers sorting their catches,

Vendors lining the walkways

With silk slippers, gilded bags, and wooden combs.

To a city intersection with

Young girls on pink mopeds

Darting between students on bikes,

Families in cars, and workers on buses,

All frantically moving head on into

A silent agreement to part ways.

© 2017 Barbara Harris Leonhard

Image:

The Throne in the Hall of Preserving Harmony

Public Domain

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