by Jimmie Ware

In Gospel Gone Blues, Jimmie Ware speaks directly from her soul to share her poetic truth—thoughts on the human condition alongside an intimate look into her personal life. Employing her talents as an acclaimed spoken word performer, she weaves the raw, the tender, the not-always-pretty side of life with the pulse of jazz and blues as a backdrop for her captivating poems.

About the Author

Jimmie Ware is truly a Poetic Soul, which was the name of her award winning Anchorage and Chicago television show. She is founder of the Black Feather Poets, which honors her cultural backgrounds. Growing up in the Windy City was definitely a concrete jungle she survived. Jimmie ultimately became a freelance writer, community organizer, inspirational speaker, performance poet and advocate for suicide awareness with her Reasons2Live PSA campaign in Alaska. Her nonprofit organization was officially honored by Mayor Mark Begich, proclaiming February 27th as Black Feather Poet’s Day in Anchorage.

Jimmie’s poems and short stories have been published in numerous books including:  Chicken Soup for the Soul, Uptown Déjà vu, River Tales, Southwest Persona Poems, Vox Poetica and Open My Eyes, Open My Soul which was the brainchild of Dr. Martin Luther King’s daughter Yolanda King and Elodia Tate.

She has donated her time and talent to help victims of abuse, domestic violence, youth and women’s empowerment. She is also an author for The Good Men Project online publication.

For Jimmie, poetry is like the air she breathes and a very necessary healing source for today’s world and societal ills.

What They’re Saying…

Jimmie Ware’s Gospel Gone Blues is a lyrical-poetic offering of and to those spaces between praise, pleasure and pain in which we all inhabit. These short, thoughtful poems are a wise woman’s recognition that true wisdom comes with scars—and that the light that finds us after the darkest night is most beautiful when seen through the prism of tears. Ware’s Gospel Gone Blues is an homage to the sensual aspects of loving and loss that only jazz can capture, and is itself, a musical tribute to those who have offered the poet their musical magic that has helped her, and many of us, transform our sorrows into symphonies and our howls into hymns!

~ Regie Gibson, literary performer poet, author, educator

I fell in love the first time I heard her. Jimmie Ware has a magical way of weaving life into art and art into action. Her sweet words fall on your soul like the softest feathers, soothing any distress right out of your days.

~ J. Ivy, award-winning poet, author, actor

Jimmie Ware is enjoying the soundtrack of her life as she glimpses strikingly intimate moments and guides you from heartbreak to heroism. Gospel Gone Blues features Jimmie’s relentless optimism and emotional honesty while escaping the blues, embracing the staccato of jazz and dancing through the tears with a playlist of passion, purpose, and personality that only Jimmie could bring to readers with such depth, honesty and energy.”

~ Stacy Eden, slam artist, poet

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Poems about Music

675 poets from across the globe answered the call to share their musically inspired poetry. We chose 88 poems—one for each key on a piano. Upon these pages you’ll discover poems inspired by music genres ranging from classical to country, from jazz to rock-n-roll, and everything in between. Join us on a musical journey of discovery and nostalgia. And let the poetry tug on your heartstrings, like a virtuoso glides the bow across the strings of a violin.

Contributing Poets from Around the Globe:

A.J. Huffman • Ada Jill Schneider • Akua Lezli Hope • Alan Catlin • Amy Miller • Anne Harding Woodworth • Anne Whitehouse • Annette L. Grunseth • Bill Cushing • Bill Frayer • Brad G. Garber • Carol Taylor Was • Carolyn A. Dahl • Carolyn Martin • Charles Rammelkamp • Christopher Luna • Christopher Scribner • Claudia F. Savage • Colette Tennant • Connie Post • Cynthia Linville • Dan Raphael • David Belmont • David Jibson • Deborah J. Meltvedt • Diana Cole • Diane Elayne Dees • Donna Barkman • Douglas Spangle • Eileen McGurn • Ellaraine Lockie • Gabriella Brand • Helen Kerner • Jack Maze • Jacqueline Jules • Jan Haag • Jane Miller • Jane Yolen • Janel Cloyd • Jeffrey H. MacLachlan • Jennifer Fenn • Jennifer Hambrick • Joan Leotta • JoAnn Anglin • Josh Gaines • Judith Arcana • Judith Barrington • Judith Kelly Quaempts • Judith Skillman • Julene Tripp Weaver • Julie Valin • Karla Linn Merrifield • Kate M. Wells • Kathleen Corcoran • Katy Brown • Kenneth Salzmann • Leah Mueller • Lennart Lundh • Linda Ferguson • Linda Goulden • Lynn M. Knapp • Marilyn Johnston • Marj Hahne • Mark Kerstetter • Michael T. Coolen • Nancy Haskett • Orel Protopopescu • Peter D. Goodwin • Peter Larsen • Robert Coats • Rosemary Douglas Lombard • Sandra Hanks • Sarah Key • Scott Thomas Outlar • Shahe Mankerian • Shawn Aveningo • Susan P. Blevins • Susana H. Case • Suzanne Bailie • Suzanne DeWitt Hall • Tiffany M. Burba • Todd Cirillo • Toni Partington • Tricia Knoll • Wayne Lee

The post The Poeming Pigeon: Poems about Music appeared first on The Poetry Box.