Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Mother's Day: A Peace n' Justice Holiday

Many people think Mother's Day is a manufactured holiday invented by Hallmark, but it was actually founded by women activists to promote peace and justice. I've been really enjoying working on a campaign for a Canadian aid & development NGO where we made a short movie on the origins of the day. Ameena has graciously allowed me to post it even though it's not poetry. (Poetry in motion, perhaps? Hmm... now that's a stretch :-)

Hope you like it!
Sandy
HelloCoolWorld.com

2 comments:

Franci said...

Ah Julia Ward Howe, a Unitarian BTW. Here's my poem for my mother...

MY MOTHER
for Gertie Louise (Rudolph) Workman (1912 – 2005)


she could do anything, my Mom
my Mom was The
Original Recycler

back then it wasn’t fashion
we didn’t think about the planet
we didn’t plan it

her list of things
made from other things
would have been a best-seller

Mom could have been an artist
she made our lives
her art

twelve kinds of Christmas cookies;
she drew bunny paw-prints
for Easter morning

she made every item of clothing
from headgear to footwear
(except, possibly, underwear)

my Mom was une grande dame
make that one grand dame
just grand (as she would say)

but Mom was modest
and she wouldn’t want me
to tell you . . .




Franci Louann flouann@telus.net February 20, 1995
(edited on Mother’s Day, 2005
& on Mother´s Day in Argentina! October 21, 2007)

Ryan Andrew Murphy said...

hey nice work.
it's cool to see these intersections of poetry and (other) activist practices.
this post reminded me of a protest song i wrote for my mom a long time ago...
cheers / Sláinte,
ryan