Poetry Pact Blogfest - About family feuds

I’ve been surrounded by family feuds almost all my life. My father never spoke to two of his brother-in-laws, and he refused to talk about it or respond to my mother’s pleas to make amends with his enemies. There were reasons, there were always reasons, mostly having to do with money and business. These family feuds caused a lot of strain and crying in our family. My mother had to see her brothers and their families on her own, and that wasn’t easy in the 1950s and 1960s when she couldn’t even drive a car. Sometimes my dad would drive her to see them and sit outside with a tightly shut mouth and his arms tightly folded across his chest until she was through visiting.

Later on in my generation, my brother’s wife decided she didn’t want to speak to me for while. I never knew why, and thankfully we’ve kissed and made up. She also stopped speaking to her sister for a time as well. My brother didn’t speak to his brother-in-law either.

I never could understand that kind of behavior. We’re on this planet for too short a time. These people must not get that, or they think maybe they’ll get a second chance to be real human beings. But I know that’s not true. My favorite uncle died when I was nine and as much as I daydreamed about him coming back, of course he never did. After the death of my son, I tried magical thinking again, but as we all know, it doesn’t work.

With all the fragility of life, I wonder why people are so mean to each other. We’re here once, so it’s important to make a real effort to get along – especially with family.  

Thankfully my sister and I both feel the same way. She is my baby sister, nine years younger than I. However, we are very close.

My baby sister Sheila and me

We've talked about the family feuds, and we made a pact several years ago that we’ll always be there for each other no matter what – unimaginable good or bad – things happen. We will always be together as sisters.  The thought of never speaking with each other again appalls us. 

Speaking, sharing, loving, visiting, hugging, caring for each other if needed – that’s what being sisters is all about.

Enter to win the new anthology - Poetry Pact 2011

I’m so pleased to be a part of a Facebook poetry group called Poetry Pact. Started 18 months ago by my author colleague Jessica Bell, her goal was for us to write and post a poem a day for a year. When I joined the group I did not commit to either a poem a day or even a poem a week, but I did post over 30 poems onto the site in 2011. And I’m proud to say, several of them were chosen for our first (I hope annual) anthology, Poetry Pact 2011, Volume 1, edited by two of our group poets: Angela Felsted and Richard Merrill. (Angela became our Poetry Pact leader in 2012.)

I can’t tell you enough what a supportive group this is. The membership is small – we keep it a secret – so that we can all get a chance to Like, comment, and critique each other’s work. I have received so many good suggestions on how to improve my poems from this group. The critiques are always given with complete professionalism and care, never making me feel put down or discouraged as a result. It is wonderful to be a part of such an excellent group of poets who come from all over the world.

Here’s a list of the anthology contributors: Angela Felsted (Author), Jessica Bell (Author), Jim Murdoch (Author), Laurel Garver (Author), Lydia Kang (Author), Madeline Sharples (Author), Richard Merrill (Author), Kerala Varma (Author), Glynis Smy (Author), Alaine Benard (Author), Artemis Grey (Author), Roslyn Ross (Author), Angie Ledbetter (Author), Caleb Mannan (Author), Emily Kruse (Author), February Grace (Author), Janice Marie Phelps (Author), J.R. McRae

I encourage you to go to Amazon and purchase a copy. All proceeds will be donated to: Direct Relief International, a charity that provides humanitarian aid worldwide.

And to get you even more interested, I’m offering a free copy to the lucky commenter on this blog post. Just leave a comment by next Friday, June 15, 2012 at 12 midnight PST, and I’ll do the rest. I’m also giving away a copy over at Goodreads, in the giveaway arranged by Jessica.

But, there’s one more thing:

Angela has started a Blogfest to encourage our readers who have their own blogs to put up a story about a secret pact they have made, a friend they are close to, or a close knit group that has helped them through hard times on any day between June 27^th and June 29^th. On Saturday, June 30^th, Angela, after reading each story, will announce six winners. Go here to see the prizes. Please sign up and get busy writing your story.