Welcome to Poetically Yours. This segment showcases poems by northern Illinois poets. This week’s featured poet is Rhonda Parsons.
Parsons discovered she had a talent for writing when she elected to take creative writing at Hononegah High School. The first assignment was not a poem, but a story inspired by the wind. To prepare for the assignment, the class went outside, linked themselves together and ran into the wind. She said it was such a unique way to become inspired. The story was to be read out loud with a piece of music accompanying it. She chose instrumental music, and the wind was metaphorical. Hence, the title: Written on the Wind. That story earned the first of the positive feedback she received that semester. It encouraged her to continue writing after the semester ended.
Since then, she has received an award from Rock Valley College and the Rockford Writers' Guild, for her book, “If A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words.” She’s also shared her vision in newspaper editorials and performed publicly at Holy Day celebrations.
Besides writing, Parsons enjoys painting, hiking, meditating, and playing with her family’s chihuahuas. Here's her poem "Freedom in the New World Order."
Freedom is the sun on the horizon
in the Day the Lord made
the birds gratefully sing
I listen to their chirps and tweets
and hear a beautiful song
of freedom hanging high in the sky
in the Day the Lord made
New world, New world
in the making
better than the old
order through a heart and soul
in love with the will of God
The Gardener’s plucking the weeds
choking all flowers from capitalism to democracy
I can’t foresee all will be
since those songbirds have just begin to sing
still the first verse makes the weary heart jubilee
John Lennon wasn’t a dreamer
when he invited us to Imagine
And John Denver
gave us hope and the means
in his Peace Poem
Not sure if they read the Eternal Word
still, they shared the Vision
of One
God,
religion and
one family
ignorant emotionalism
vague and pious hope
this is not
the Guardian wrote in the Book of Baha
to light the path to the Glory of God
the book is open
the means of peace no longer concealed
Unity is the sun on the horizon
in the Day the Lord made
the birds sing melodically
of the approaching noon hour
the peak of the Sun
when the world understands freedom
New world, New world
in the making
better than the old
order through a heart and soul
in love with the will of God
World peace is the sun on the horizon
in the Day the Lord made
The birds sing beautifully
of those holding roses and singing in harmony
Love of God, service, and consultation waft therefrom
the weeds all plucked
Freedom is the fragrance here
There’s nothing to fear.
