Sales Gnosis

Nothing is as beautiful as true sterling silver. It has always been associated with affluence- hence the phrase: “born with a silver spoon in your mouth.” It adds elegance and class to any table setting in the form of flat wear, and everyone admires a beautiful silver tea service.

So why should anyone buy sterling silver instead of something else? Silver plate, nickel and stainless steel items just can’t compare. And they don’t appreciate in value as sterling silver does. No one goes to an estate auction to buy stainless steel flat wear.

Properly cared for, the patina (shine) of silver lasts forever. True, it does tarnish, but that is easy to deal with. Many products are made today to polish silver quickly and special cloths are available that will prevent tarnish from happening in the first place. And they’re not expensive. Keeping the patina should not be the reason one would not choose to buy sterling silver.

What are you looking for? Perhaps a coffee pot, tea set, picture frame, flat wear, jewelry, or maybe old coins will fill the bill. All these things and more were made in sterling silver. A sterling silver picture frame for a 50th wedding anniversary is the perfect gift.

Any gift occasion is a good reason to buy sterling silver. It’s the perfect gift, and often becomes a family heirloom cherished through the ages. No one talks about Grandma’s dish towels from Christmas; they talk about her silver serving bowls and tea service.

Collectors hoping to buy sterling silver have a vast range of items and prices to choose from. Prices vary according to when the item was made, what the item is and who the silversmith was. From a few dollars to millions, silver will always be the most affordable and lasting gift.

In the previous article, “How to Write Poems That Capture the Heart and Imagination of Your Readers”, we said that poems express ideas, experiences or emotions in a more concentrated form than ordinary articles, prose or speech. They can rhyme or be in a rhythmical composition of words. They are one of language’s most powerful forms of expression. So how can you write a poem that truly expounds what you want to say? Here are some key elements in composing and developing the poetic form. Follow these key steps to write a poem that will captures your emotions, ideas and experiences as heart-stirring word imagery.

Capture Imagery Ideas in Writing

Poems are about creating images in the mind of the reader. Use a variety of imagery ideas to like the following, to help you to accomplish this.

• Allusion – a form of indirect reference usually done in different phrases, lines or sentences

• Simile – is used to compare two or more things which are not alike by using the word “like” ((her hair is like a sparkling flow of coffee in the mountain sunlight)

• Symbolism or Metaphor – is used to compare two or more things which are dissimilar using “as” or “is” such as “all the world’s a stage”, “red as a rose”, “black as midnight down in a Cypress swamp”, etc.

Establish a Logical Progression of Thought to be used in the Poem

The lines, thoughts, and ideas expressed in your poem should flow smoothly from one to the next. Don’t jump around illogically. Let your poem flow rhythmically like a gentle stream tu8mbling through the smooth stones of a softly babbling brook in a grassy meadow.

State the Poem’s Theme in One Verse

Create a “theme verse” which can be used repeatedly in your poem to help unify its stanzas. Your poem will flow and sound much better as it is read using this key aspect. A love poem theme verse might be one which begins or ends with something like:

• Have I told you that …

• As always, thoughts of you …

• Any key word or phrase used repeatedly to begin or end a verse or stanza

Other Highly Useful Aids

To help you write your poem, try using these dynamic aids:

• A rhyming dictionary – invaluable for finding rhymes for low-frequency or difficult to rhyme words

• A Thesaurus – an indispensable tool to aid you in broadening the vocabulary used in your poem (personally, I like the Rodale’s far better than Roget’s)

• Alliteration – repetition of a consonant sound in two or more words in a phrase or line such as: beautiful bubbling brown sugar or shafts of shimmering sunshine

• Assonance – similar sounds, like alliteration, but used in the internal syllables of a string of words (birthday weather, father’s brother, further mathematics, etc. to give you an idea)

• Consonance – repetition of certain stressed syllables in a pair, group or string of words (taker, baker, maker, shaker, Quaker but not quicker)

• Onomatopoeia – words which by their pronunciation imitate sounds. Words like whistle, tweet, boom, bag, pow, crash, crunch, slam, zoom, snap, crackle, pop, and zing among many others, fit into this category

These steps will help you along in writing poetry that stirs the feelings and emotions of your readers and can help your poetry writing to excel. For other tips and techniques on composing this most-elusive form of language in context, see the companion article, “How to Write Poems That Capture the Heart and Imagination of Your Readers”.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an expert author and photographer offering Web Content Writing Services for top-quality articles on: Education, Language learning, Salt and Fresh water fishing, exotic foods, South American travel and culture, Ethnic issues – Blacks, Latinos, Indian native tribes, Health, Internet business resources and more … His work has appeared in Transitions Abroad, South American Explorer, Escape From America, Mexico News, Brazil magazine and hundreds of sites online. For fr*e*e sample articles and available web content e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Since Mohamed Ali-then Cassius Clay-announced that he had written “The world’s shortest poem,” I have known that I would be a poet. “ME? WHEE!” His triumphant proclamation evoking shivers within my troubled teenaged identity, for I reasoned in rhyme.

Everyday, hundreds-of-thousands of seemingly sane souls satisfy some innate need to bare their concealed character via atrocious alliteration or in delusional doggerel. As in Kris Kristofferson’s early works, the marvelous magic masquerades within sweet musical lyrics, providing us with eternal material transcending generational barriers.

Even if none but we are ever allowed to examine our hidden essence, an inner longing is unleashed-only to be squished-should we presume to be published.

In1978, I self-published my first poetry book, Beacon©, to an enthusiastic reception of some uninformed who didn’t realize, fearing rejection, I had never submitted my musings to somber publishers. After all, Rod McKuen, suffering countless rejections, had self-published. And he was said-at that time-to be, “The world’s most widely read poet.”

To the accolade of local yokel fans, the following year, I followed up with Imperfections©, Verse by Russ Miles, songs and thoughts reflecting who, where, and what I was-at that time in my life. Even more well received, I was enjoying the affirmative attention of a metropolitan newspaper poetry editor insisting that I co-chair a college invitational symposium for wantabe poets with the State Poet LaTourette. My books selling well, a youthful, insatiable ego was being satisfactorily stroked.

Then, a strange thing happened. I caught a case of conscience. What if an unforgiving God held me accountable for my wanton actions or the impact of foisting my unholy understandings upon innocents?

Frightening purgatorial-or worse-reprisal prospects triggered instantaneous actions. Removing all remaining copies from the marketplaces which I had developed for distribution, I stopped penning poetry for the next twenty-five years.

Disabled at age fifty-three by Multiple Sclerosis, I found myself writing another book, For Sale By Owners:FSBO©. A mystery thriller novel evolved offering some insights that only a self-absorbed, worldly man of three messed-upped marriages could possibly convey.

I continue learning that God is so forgiving. How He can inspire good to come of all things. Even some of my old songs are once more awaiting discovery thanks to the song-writing, truck-driving character appearing between the FSBO covers.

By today’s standards, Red Haring’s vivid verse words and wayward rhyme renderings are no longer abysmal. Rather they reflect the subtle “It’s all about me” immoral fiber of a masculine male-wrestling with post 9-11 internal issues-choosing to make changes in his so self-consumed life. Red’s songs emerge to stimulate reflections within Brooklyn Best, the no-saint heroine, real estate agent with whom he becomes romantically involved-while being knitted together to unravel some horrific homicides-in this reality based novel. Through its use in a sub-plot, my poetry is being reborn.

As for Beacon© and Imperfections©, perhaps I’ll offer my few remaining hand signed & numbered “First Edition” & “Limited Edition” poetry books on e-Bay®. After all, John Grisham’s originally published novels are now collector’s items aren’t they?

Free-Reprint Article Written by: Russ Miles
See Terms of Reprint Below.

Article Copyright: 2005

Author Contact Email: mailto:MilesRuss@Gmail.com

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Russ Miles is the author of the novel, For Sale By Owners:FSBO.
Seasoned Real Estate NAR® Broker Disabled by Multiple Sclerosis,
FOR SALE BY OWNERS:FSBO ISBN 0-595-28703-4,in trade paperback,
is available by phone or Internet:1-800-Authors to order direct!
Very HOT-LINK Adobe e-book & hard cover editions also available
FSBO at Amazon.com at Barnes and Noble and other fine booksellers.

Comments: MilesRuss@Gmail.com.

Personal referrals to his publisher

Do not be afraid to shine.
This world needs what you have to give.
Open up the areas of your being;
expose them to yourself – to others.
You are valuable.
You are unique.
You have much to give.
Do not be afraid to give it.

As we risk ourselves, we grow.
Each new experience is a risk:
we can try, and maybe fail,
and as a result, grow -
or hold back and stagnate.

You have the potential
to be anything you want to be!
You are free to choose.
You are limited only by your fears.
Let your dreams take over,
fly with the eagles,
soar into life,
the world is waiting for you!

Copyright 1987
Fran Watson

This poem was selected to be included the Motivational Poems at Words of Wisdom 4U.

For more poetry and stories you can go to Fran’s webpage http://www.franwatson.ca

Snowfall
Looking out on the field of purest white
That our peaceful neighborhood has become,
I feel wind and snowflakes so very light
Gently touching my face in the night’s cold glum.

Coming back in to warm my cold hands
In front of the old fireplace,
I look out at the winter wonderland
Painted with a sparkling layer of icy lace.

Carried on a steady eastern breeze,
This is a snowstorm like no other;
It lays a white blanket on the bare ground and trees,
And makes for beautiful weather.

Needing neither rhyme nor reason,
Children will wake to see the white glow,
Don coat and glove, and enjoy the season,
Throwing snowballs and making angels in the snow!

A robe of white has covered all that is ugly,
Like the robes we’ll wear in God’s Paradise,
When we join Him for a resplendent Eternity,
Rejoicing on the unending day of our new lives!

Of Dreams and Ambitions
From the day a soul
Is pulled from the Guff
To inhabit its 70-year hull,
Are its Dreams and Innocence not enough
To succeed,
And to heed
God’s plan
For man?

Yet, do not the cares of the world
Eventually depress the soul
With their harsh conditions?
Into the void our innocence is hurled,
So our dreams we must hold on to,
And begin to form into ambitions.

In using our new-found experience,
Do we not realize our ambitions,
Formed from innocent dreams,
And once again realize innocence?

Lucid
I. Stomping ground.
Traversing the rural fringes
Of urban reality,
Haunting the spirits
With lamps and curious minds.

II. Marble city.
I know when you were born and died,
But I want to see beyond the moss
On your gravestone.
Who were you in life?

III. Cathedral.
I go back in time as I brush webs of dust
From the stained glass window,
Wondering what secrets this
Old church buried with its dead.

IV. Esoteric.
As stained as memory,
This old window yet reflects light
Like the sermons once held
In the holy hall.

Owen Johnston lives and teaches Wado ryu Karate in Lake City, South Carolina. He enjoys reading, writing, training, and spending time with his fiance. The above poetry is excerpted from the author’s “Heaven on Earth”, a sample of which is available at Johnston Wado ryu Karate – Online Community.