Another book by the Bards

Hi everyone,

BOB STEPHENS, a former mayor of Springfield, Missouri, is not only a poet but a devout advocate and promoter of poetry readings in our community. Under his leadership and collaboration with Ozarks Literacy Council and its director, AMY JARDELL, more than a dozen local poets now belong to a group called The Bards of Moon City. Readings are routinely held in churches, bars, book stores, gift stores, libraries, and any other venus that invite us in. Last year, Bob edited an anthology of poems by members of the group. Proceeds from sales went to support Ozarks Literacy Council. It sold out.

Already for this year, Bob has booked the Bards in at least eighteen places. And once again the poets have contributed samples of their work for an anthology to raise more money for Ozarks Literacy Council. The new book just came out. Here it is. Thanks to Bard Gemma Campanini for creating a colorful flyer.

Each Bard chose five poems for this new book. Among mine is my poem, “Missouri,” written to celebrate my naming as Missouri Poet Laureate. I’ve read the poem aloud to number of audiences, but this is the first time it has been in print.

Bob Stephens featured on Poetry from Daily Life

Hi everyone,

It is my pleasure to welcome BOB STEPHENS, a man of many interests and talents, including being Mayor of Springfield, Missouri (2012-2017), as my guest on this week’s issue of Poetry from Daily Life, in the Springfield News-Leader and papers in other states.

Bob’s column appeared in print yesterday and is online today. Here’s the link so you can enjoy it and share it with others. I received two new leads for possible host papers this week. I’m grateful for the help and always follow up.

https://www.news-leader.com/in-depth/entertainment/2024/01/14/poetry-from-daily-life-everyone-understands-kitchen-drawer/72194403007/ I need to make one correction. In the introduction I erroneously refer to the Bards of Moon City as the Bards of Queen City. True, Springfield has long been referred to as the queen city of the Ozarks, but it doesn’t apply in this case. Sorry, Bards!

Many thanks, Bob. I enjoyed your column.

Robert (Bob) Stephens featured this week on Poetry from Daily Life

Hi everyone,

One of the best known figures in the Springfield regional area is my guest this weekend on Poetry from Daily Life. BOB STEPHENS was Mayor of Springfield from 2012-2017. Citizen Stephens is anything but retired from the community scene. Poetry is one of his chief interests and he spends considerable time writing poems, fostering an awareness of poetry, and booking reading events for the Bards of Moon City (a group of local poets). Going further, Bob has already edited and published an anthology of poetry by the Bards and is at work on a second volume. Proceeds from sales of these books benefit Ozark Literacy Council.

Bob’s column appears in Springfield News-Leader and other papers this weekend. On Sunday I’ll publish a link so readers in other parts of the country and beyond can also enjoy his love for poetry and what he has to say about it. One major takeaway is that poetry imbues our lives with beauty and meaning no matter what else we may be doing. Poetry is for everyone with equal access to all. Thank you, Bob!

Murphy’s and the geese

Hi everyone,

My thanks again to BOB STEPHENS for arranging the reading last night and to NATHAN P. MURPHY himself for hosting the event. I’ve been on stages before but none with the same blue-light ambiance. My thanks to KAREN CRAIGO for taking the picture after she finished her own reading. There were nine Bards there last night so it turned out to be quite a reading.

On other matters, I have talked about how hostile the geese of Goose Lake were when we first moved here in 1989. Here’s a poem from my one and only e-book, Goose Lake, A Year in the Life of a Lake, artfully illustrated by SLADJANA VASIC.

Meeting Our Neighbors



When we moved here in 1989, we were not welcome. As I stooped in the driveway for my first morning paper, a delegation of geese hissing like punctured tires flat-footed it toward me across the grass. This was not a social call. My new house squatting on their land beside their lake was an outrage. Indignant to their pinfeathers the geese closed ranks and delivered their ultimatum in a furious chorus:



Bills hard as chisels,

tails aquiver,

necks recoiling like missile launchers

firing off fierce glares

the posse bristles pigeon-toed

to enforce goose law: 



Trespassers

will be hissed  

until

they learn their lesson.  

The geese of today have taken to different tactics, perhaps influenced by modern society’s penchant for staging demonstrations. Trying to leave my driveway the other day to make an appointment, I was confronted by this attitude of geese.

Begrudgingly, they eventually allowed me to pass. But on my return home a little later, they remaned vigilant.

They’re no longer hissing, but this silent treatment may be worse.

The Bards of Moon City are reading

Hi everyone,

Thanks to our leader, BOB STEPHENS, our band of local poets — the Bards of Moon City — are giving a reading tonight from 7:00 – 8:30. Here’s more about the event.

This will be my first time to visit Nathan Murphy’s (https://www.facebook.com/p/Nathan-P-Murphys-100048477325997/) so I look forward to joining my colleagues, some ten or more, to take the stage and have my turn reading half a dozen or so poems.

I’ll spend this morning going through the files to make my selections. If you are in the area and would like to start your week with a unique adventure, see you at Murphy’s this evening!