Category: Poems about Relationships

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Leaping to the Top of the iBookstore Charts

Dear Readers,

Number FIVE! I thought my dream of hitting the top 10 in poetry in the iBookstore by Spring 2012 was a pipe dream. But I did set it as a goal a couple weeks ago, when I realized how well both my poetry ebooks were selling on Lulu.comĀ  I thought, okay, now to top the charts of the iBookstore!

Today, Leap is #5 in Top Poetry Paid Books in the Canadian iBookstore! It is also being featured in the What’s Hot section of the Canadian and US iBookstores.Ā  Where the Butterflies Go is trailing behind at #141 (I published this an a ebook a little later than ‘Leap’) but I’m thrilled it’s on the list at all.

Ebooks don’t make a lot of money. Hell, poetry doesn’t make a lot of money! So I have always felt the thing to do with proceeds from these two collections is to donate half to making a small difference in the world. Since 2008, we’ve been able to help four children go to school for a year, and provided part of the teachers’ salaries too. We’ve contributed a little to the grand expense of building desks for a small school in India, and this past Christmas, we donated pencils to an entire school.

I’m donating to Unicef again today (enough to give pencils to an entire school) as a way of thanking all of you for reading, buying and sharing my poetry links; for helping more people discover my work, and for helping me achieve my charity donation goals.

Thank you. I couldn’t have done any of this without you loyal readers.

Life is short. Keep on laughing. Keep on loving. Never stop leaping.

All my best,
Heather
PS Watch for ‘The Groovy Granny’ as an ebook on Lulu.com and in the iBookstore soon, and my new collection of poetry and photographs by Spring 2012.

#5! Top Paid Poetry Books - iBookstore August 24, 2011

Heather Grace Stewart with the epub 'Leap' for the iPad

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Poet Robert Smith

untitled love poem

‘i have sat among those in love and watched it live
and die right before my eyes’ the old man said to me
my heart was crumbling with loss and here was the
old man talking to me in my moment of
solitude
pain
suffering
anguish
loss.
‘full love is as rare as a full life. i lost mine
a long time ago.’ he told me.
‘how’s that?’
‘i lost her with my lies.’
‘you deceived her?’
‘and myself. i told her it was over, i told
her i no longer cared, that my mind and soul
were mixed up. haste makes such waste. i wish
i only knew then what i know now.’
‘what’s that?’
He ignored my question.
‘i let her go you know. painfully, sorrowfully.
i was depressed. i could have gotten her
i know i could have changed her mind.
i just didn’t try. i wasn’t thinking straight.
foolish man pride. i should have tried harder,
flowers, candy, love letters, all corny, but true.
i could have sang her a song, wrote her name
in the sky, told her that i lied. i lied when i said
it was over. i lied when i said i didn’t love her
no more. i lied when i said that she was the fool.
i know that it is the heart that makes the young man
such a fool. for if the young man truly loves with all
of his heart he will give whatever it takes,
and take whatever he gets, to achieve
love.’

______________________

Robert Smith is a poet originally from Outside of Buffalo, NY, who lived in California, but now lives in Georgia. His Twitter page @rasmithii says he tweets his poems ā€œfrom an airport near you.ā€

Thanks for reading Poets for Tsunami Relief.

Please consider a donation to The Red Cross.

In Canada, go to: http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=000043&tid=016

In the UK, go to: http://www.redcross.org.uk/Donate-Now

In Both Canada and the US, click on the red buttons Iā€™ve added on my sidebar

(red buttons are on the HOME PAGE http://atomic-temporary-2589064.wpcomstaging.com), top right.

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Poet Robert Smith

Now it’s beautiful

Now it’s beautiful.

The snow drips from the heavens
in white large frozen tears of
the angels and i am hypnotized
like a man struck by just how
a woman walking can leave him
speechless.

Now it’s beautiful.

Whereas before it was rainy
and gloomy, and the snow was
black and iced hard except for
the slush that was loose and ready
to give out under you no matter
how well you strut. But,

now it’s beautiful,

and i sit in the dark here in my
room. 15 stories from the ground
and the dripping tears dance
backlit by the lights of Times Square
and all i can think of is

now it’s beautiful.

_________________________________
Robert Smith is a poet originally from Outside of Buffalo, NY, who lived in California, but now lives in Georgia. His Twitter page @rasmithii says he tweets his poems ā€œfrom an airport near you.ā€

Thanks for reading Poets for Tsunami Relief.

Please consider a donation to The Red Cross.

In Canada, go to: http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=000043&tid=016

In the UK, go to: http://www.redcross.org.uk/Donate-Now

In the US, click on the red button Iā€™ve added on my sidebar

(red button is on the home page http://atomic-temporary-2589064.wpcomstaging.com), top right.

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Don’t Leap!

This is about the only time I’d ever say that–as the author of a book titled, ‘Leap,’ I’d say I’m a pretty big fan of jumping in and going for it. But “Don’t Leap!” is definitely the appropriate title for the latest entry in my “By Leaps and Bounds” Photo Contest. This photo was taken by Tony Jurado on May 6, 2010, from the observation deck on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building in New York City, NY, USA. You can vote for this and other photos in the contest on my Facebook Author Page, and enter your own photo by following the rules in my previous blog post “By Leaps and Bounds Photo Contest”. Keep on leaping, everyone–I can’t wait to see what else you come up with for this contest!
Don't Leap!

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‘By Leaps and Bounds’ Photo Contest

I’d love to know more about my readers –where you live, where you’ve leapt, where you’ve leapt with ‘Leap’! Here’s hoping we all have
some fun with this three-month-long photo contest.

RULES, VOTING, RED WINE AND DARK CHOCOLATE

1) Take a photo of ‘Leap’ somewhere in your home, town, or city, or someplace special you’ve traveled to–it can be as close-up as against an old tree in your backyard, or as far-away as a wide-angle of Times Square, with ‘Leap’ somewhere on the sidewalk. We just need to be able to see the book ‘Leap,’ and you need to be creative. You don’t need to be in the photo, if you’re not comfortable with that, since all entries will be published here on my blog and on my Facebook Author Page too, however, you need to think outside the box with this. You need to Leap!

2) E-mail the photo to me at writer@hgrace.com, and include the place where it was taken and the photographer’s name, so I can give the photo a credit, and get the entrant’s name. If you don’t want to use your real name on the Net, give me a pseudonym to use as the credit, that’s fine. As long as I have your e-mail to contact you if you’re the winner, it’s great.

3) Visit here as often as you can to check out and discuss the competition! Then visit my Facebook Author Page to VOTE. Every thumbs-up on that Facebook Author Page is a vote. Every positive comment or a comment with simply the word ‘VOTE’ is another vote. You may vote on your own photo. You may comment on your own photo as many times as you want –however, your vote in the comments section only counts once. You can also convince all your friends and family to join my Author Page and vote on your photo, too. They can give it a thumbs up AND make a comment (or simply the word ‘VOTE’) and that counts as 2 votes. Everyone can vote on as many photos as they wish! I will not be allowed to vote on the photographs on Facebook but I might comment on some –any comments from me under the photos will not count as votes, however.

4) You may enter up to two photographs.

5) Contest begins Wednesday, April 28th and ends Sunday, August 1st at noon. The winner will be announced some time that week.

6) Should there be a tie in the peer-voting on Facebook, I have chosen three impartial judges who, together, will choose a winner.

7) The winner will receive a very fine bottle of red wine and boxes of dark chocolate, or, if they don’t drink wine, a cheesecake delivered to their door. (Yes, this can be done, some wonderful people have done it for me, and I’ll never forget it, and want to spread the joy!) Wine, chocolate, cake–these are the finer things in life, and I want to share them with my readers, as a way of thanking you for reading and sharing my poems.

HAVE FUN AND ENJOY THE JOURNEY!

Heather Grace Stewart- Canadian Poet (for Facebook Search)

FIRST ENTRY RECEIVED TODAY:

By Kimberly Jurado

Photo by Kimberly Jurado

“Leapt into one of my favorite village home decor shops today for some spring cleaning inspiration!” April 2010