Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought 
and the thought has found words.
– Robert Frost

cover art DREAMER Through the Storm by ajanovic

Sally Cronin, Author/Blogger, United Kingdom

Hello. My name is Sally Cronin. I am an Author and Blogger serving up health, music and words for a great life at Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life. I am delighted in presenting the 2014 Thepublicblogger Awards Nominees for Best Poetry/Spiritual Healing blog or post. Without further adieu.

and the nominees are…..

 Poesy plus Polemics
nominated for the post ‘Music of Scars’

‘Stoic’ by Kim Roberti from Music of Scars

Traditional family values, staunch conservative, flag waving, gun shooting, judgemental and unapologetic are the words Paul  F. Lenzi of New Hampshire, uses in description of who and what he is, and if viewing through a political lense, he appears to be a polarizing person. We may believe, since ultimately, every man must live and die for himself in the choices that we make, that a rigid stance in our positioning, lessens our own uncertainties. But, perhaps, it is the disabling disease or his open space of philosophy “all this has quality of a subjective truth” a deeper look inside his work is a man who understands, he is a part of and concerned with all of mankind “climbing the senses of notes, that express the best in a wounded humanity” From the blog, Poesy plus Polemics, Music of Scars a poetic post, receives a nod.

Emotional Wellness
blog nomination

Emotional Wellness

Diagnosed and living with Bipolar II Disorder since the wide-eyed age of  18, by the time she was 32, Rachel Miller of Norwich, United Kingdom, had had enough. She would quit her emotionally draining job and  embark on a journey of self-love, forgiveness and acceptance. She now shares her experiences –  from emotional chaos to self-love & balance – in words, remedies and art. And for the all-compassing, unfolding story of healing through spiritual development, Emotional Wellness receives a nomination for the entire blog.

Poetry Box
blog nomination

‘A Te Papa Welcome’ from Poetry Box

Any blog with a section titled Review by Children offers parents a chance to breathe and exhale. With so many  tales of scammers and cyberbullies and child starkers and porn taken over the web, Paula Green of Auckland, New Zealand delivers a safe place for children, enabling parents a collective sigh of relief. A collection of children’s poems by herself and her target audience alike, but what may be most enduring is the section titled Reviews By Children, giving our youth the chance to publish their interpretations of what they read, and forming their own voice. And for the security it offers, as much as the innocence of its prose, Poetry Box has been nominated for the entire blog.

andyonandy
nominated for the post ‘When the War Came to Ghana’

spoken word festival from When the War Came to Ghana

We are conditioned to think that great poets only exist if we learn of their work in our schools. Humbleness is a noble quality but we still must posses a self-awareness of our strengths, less humility lead to doubt, that our accomplishments are not as good as we  had thought. Spoken word poetry – a difficult craft to conquer – allows us to perform the words from the thoughts of our emotions, creating a living art. Andy Aryeetey from the West African nation of Ghana, does more than simply perform in the nominated audio post  When The War Came To Ghana – from the blog andyonandy – he succeeds in hitting a double: a brilliant oratory of the history of his country delivered as poetry in motion, then making history himself, by landing Ghana its first nomination in any category.

Operator’s Manual
nominated for the post ‘Andromeda Unbound

Andromeda chained to a rock by Frederic Leighton

The subtleties of the word epic are so slight, that its accidental overuse, can diminish the actual heroics, and its purposeful overuse {every game between longstanding rivals is not necessarily an epic battle}, take the power out of the word itself. Epic should rarely be used before an event it describes, has yet to take place. We cannot predict epic for it is something that becomes. The covert mysteriousness of the blog, Operator’s Manual – no pictures, no bio, no contact information of any kind – creating an arena for only words to occupy the reader’s mind, and rather the blogger has lured us in a purposeful manner or just has no time or interest in the social nature of blogging, made no difference in the daring nomination of Andromeda Unchained. As a poetic post, it is still evolving, but becoming epic, no less.

Helen Midgley
nominated for the post ‘Parent’

Suenito by Ignacio from Parent

Helen Midgley of North Yorkshire, United Kingdom is a happy contradiction of how we perceive ourselves. Anger, sadness and resentment is how we imagine we would feel if engaged in a fight for survival against a life-threatening illness like cancer. Reading through her bio, our emotions are confused, a humorous autobiographical short of her journey with cervical cancer are her chosen words in describing her first short story. But – from the blog of her own name – the nominated post Parent is a poem that helps us to understand, she is not in denial or releasing  sarcasm as a way to deal with life’s pain, but rather extracts beauty and laughter and  appreciation, not allowing struggles to become everything. Perhaps the ability to always smile, may have played a role in the fact, she is now a cancer survivor.

Jstewart413’s Blog
nominated for the post ‘(See Where) This Story Goes

(See Where) This Story Goes

Each of us are different and we blossom at different times. Some of us do not discover who we are until much later in life. Some of us, live lives of structure, since grade school setting targets and always hitting our mark. But a fall from grace and a successful act two, exists on equal planes. Contrasting styles, opposing philosophies, different generations, one down south, the other up north, our final nominee Joshua Ryan Stewart of Fairmont, West Virginia – from the blog Jstewart413’s Blog – and our first contender, our two people on paper, that never should have met. While poetry and spiritual healing may be separate genres, both styles of writing, evoke deeper emotions, insightful thoughts, and a poetic healing, which allow  a peaceful meeting of polarized strangers, on an international stage. (See Where) This Story Goes nominated as a post

on deck: 2014 Best Self-Help blog or post Nominees
Recording Genius: 2014 Song of the Year Nominees

thepublicblogger.com, where writing is a performance art and every post is a show.