BOND POETICS

"There's only one body, that is why we sing"
--from "Bond Us Together" by Bob Gillman

Sang above hymn today at church, where today also was the culmination of its support for the Nothing But Nets program, with an afternoon/evening festival-fundraiser of games, barbecue and bands (I first typed "bonds"!). And of course I mench this since you Peeps were de facto participants in a modest fundraising viz this blog, as described in the missive below that will be published by the local United Methodist Newsletter:

For UMC Newsletter

We've all heard about Jesus multiplying loaves and fish to feed multitudes. This miracle came to mind with the result of my modest involvement with a fundraiser for Nothing But Nets which I conducted with poetry lovers through the internet.

After hearing about Nothing But Nets through church, I decided to auction a poetry publication that retails for $1.00 entitled 1 DOZ. POISON HAY(NA)KU by Wales-based poet Ivy Alvarez, and published by Big Game Books based in Washington D.C. In various auction-related e-correspondence, I focused mostly on spreading the word about Nothing But Nets. As it would turn out, poetry lovers from around the world would come to agree with me about it being a worthwhile program. Involving poets bidding as far as France, ... Ivy Alvarez's poems would come to net $300.00, all of which was donated [to] supporting Nothing But Nets.

A few years earlier, I had [conceptualized] the "hay(na)ku" as a community-based poetic form. That a hay(na)ku publication would come to mobilize the poetry community to support Nothing But Nets is a highlight, to date, of the hay(na)ku's history. And the exercise also reflects one of my beliefs as a poet: that Poetry, too, is a matter of Faith.

The pastor said that our $300.00 contribution will help save the lives of about a hundred people. I don't know the basis of that calculation, but I do like the idea of turning a dollar poetry chap into a hundred lives saved. Yay and yadda.