​You sing a sweet song my love
The beauty of your eye beneath the brow
You sing a sweet song my love
And to you I believe I vow
To be one with sound
A valley where the owl bellows
Out it’s only tune
As my heart may allow
As it is immune to their wicked words of song
But in you there’s another word to be heard
I found it true all along
The sort of truth within a string
It whispers that it may belong
You sing a sweet song my love
The earthy air and sky is free upon the hour
The belly of laughter and love upon our skin blooms like a flower
You sing a sweet song
And dreamers are on the prowl
They beg to you for sweetness
You return to them a song
And in them you find your weakness
Yet with you they still feel strong
You sing a sweet song my love
The beauty of your eye beneath the brow
Within I see dimensional wholesome openness somehow
And I can’t contain the feeling
As beneath I hide my brokenness
As we hone our skills
I must obtain the kneeling trees
That bow
Will you dance they would say
Do you know how
And to them you’ll sing
Sing you will
And their roots will grow remarkably well
As tomorrow brings another story
That they’ll never tell
The doves sit in the trees
Singing songs sweet like a million little bells
Getting down upon their knees
As the world will bestow upon thee
A moment to be free
As my heart may allow
You sing a sweet song my love
And I won’t stop until you’re found.

Hi, I am Teri Petz, co-founder of “Tell It Like It Is Poets”.
You may have read my poetry or heard me read poems.
You may have met me on poetry pages
on the internet or seen me on
the Owl Poetry Open Mic series on Youtube
or the Shaw Spotlight Community Channel.
 
This recording is part of our  Tell it like it is poets
Podcast series.

I will read a poem from my poetry book:
A piece of her heart
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Elements
 
The mountains and the water are a part of me
and I am everything that nature is.
I am the fire, the water,
the earth and the wind.
I am the coal of the fire, I feed it.
I am the current of the water, I move it.
I am a mother to earth, I nourish it.
I am the force of the wind;
I tear down and build.
I am life; I was born and I will die;
and every time I die
I turn into a butterfly
and fly like an eagle
soaring high up in the sky.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 
Thank you for listening and I am looking forward to
sharing our poems with you.
You can catch us in our next podcast.
I am Teri Petz, co-founder of Tell It Like It Is Poets.
 
Connect with us on the “Tell It Like It Is Poets” blog
on worksofbeauty.ca, our Facebook page,
“Tell It Like It Is Poets” or on Instagram @tellitlikeitispoets. 

There is no better way to announce our podcast series than with a screenshot from an Email, Buzzsprout sent me today after publishing our first podcast. Buzzsprout is the website that hosts our podcasts. 

The first episode is an invitation addressed to the poets to send us their poems in an audio for for our poetry podcast series. 

​Click below to listen!

But still, you feel small
Your petals are minuscule
Your ideas of self worth are comparative
​
​The rain comes again in the fall
But you didn’t know you were still
Growing beneath it all
The roots grow stronger with time
So in the summer
When the sunlight hit you
You broke open
And it is scary,
To break
But that is the art of blooming.
Before a flower blooms
It must endure the fiercest rains
In the darkest hour
While still beneath the dirt

But then, there in the soil
There is a crack
Where the sun shines through

And so you begin to follow that light
You emerge on the other side
But still, you feel small
Your petals are minuscule
Your ideas of self worth are comparative
The rain comes again in the fall
But you didn’t know you were still
Growing beneath it all
The roots grow stronger with time
So in the summer
When the sunlight hit you
You broke open
And it is scary,
To break
But that is the art of blooming.
​Sarah Wallace

Small worlds unite when people meet
and share their stories.
We all have our own story to share.
We rejoice when we find a common theme
and feel connected by the invisible tread
of our common humanity.
We listen with the intent to learn and understand
when we hear a story different from ours.
We want to know more detail,
more understanding in areas we can grow.
Small worlds unite when people meet
and share their stories
and when many small worlds unite
our small world grows and grows and grows
until it becomes a unified universe.
 
​Teri Petz

​May all of us who feel
the deep of life, who sense
the mystery just beyond our grasp,
who love the words with which
we ponder, who bear the urge
to paint in words the visions, 
inklings, intimations that
come to us, come through us,
bidden or not--

May we be blessed.

May our lives be blessed,
our homes, our hearts, our hands;
our pens and pencils, blank bits
of paper, our waiting keyboard--
May all our tools be blessed.

May we be blessed with beauty.
May we be blessed with light, both 
within and without, blessed with 
eyes to see and ears to hear,
both within and without, 
hearts to know, and a safe place to be.

May we who gather here to share
the poets’ words, to share our words,
our longings, our deepest fears, 
may our gathering be blessed.

May all be richly blessed
who have a poet’s soul
and pour it into words for
this world’s bettering.
​
Jill Ebsworth 10 Nov 2020

I wanted to thank you, and you,
and you and all of you
for sharing your poetry with me.
Sharing the sadness, the joy,
the frustrations, the humour,
the beauty, sharing your thoughts,
your hopes, your dreams. 
Every time you share your poems
you share more than words with me.
You share a sacred piece of you.
And as we share, we relate,
we connect and we bond with each other
in a deep meaningful way.
Because when I see you
for who you truly are
I appreciate you more
than if we had a superficial
talk about the weather.
Thank you for sharing the sadness,
the joy, the frustrations, the humour,
the beauty, sharing your thoughts,
your hopes and your dreams. 
Thank you for sharing your poetry with me.

​Teri Petz

1. The Closet Poet Series

The Closet Poet series explores the things we do when we are unsure of ourselves, when we consider ourselves amateur poets. It looks at what beginner poets often do. Some of them might act as a mirror as you see yourself in them, giving you a few funny, "aha "moments. When you read them, you may discover things that you did in the beginning phase of your poetry career. Our goal is to let you know it is perfectly OK and normal to not want to put it all out there in the beginning.
 
However we want to encourage you to come out of the so called "poetry" closet and share your work. You may want to start in baby steps and only share it with people you trust and once you feel more comfortable you can share your poems publicly. There are so many ways and places to share your poems when you are ready. Once you learned a few poetry hacks and feel more experienced we would be happy to connect you with the wonderful world of poetry communities.
 
Keep going, keep writing!  We were all beginners once.


2. The Good Poet Series

The Good Poet series dives into what it takes to be a good poet. When you no longer think of yourself as a beginner poet, when you have gained some confidence in your writing, you can relate to the posts. Heck, you can even write some for us!  The truth is, there is no one way to write poetry, there are many ways. There is no one characteristic or quality it takes to be a good poet. Again, it takes many. The most important thing is to believe in yourself and your abilities. The best way to do that is by reading other people's poems and to surround yourself with a supportive community. One good tip is to read your poem aloud.  Listen to the rhythm, listen for any clunky parts.

​Click here for Tell It Like It Is Poets on Instagram